Sakman Mario Borja is the son of a fisherman and a carpenter. It was from his father’s mentorship that he gained an applied appreciation for carpentry and ocean activities. He learned how to build his first 8-ft fishing canoe, the Galaide, out of corrugated roofing tins when he was only 10 years old. It was from this first build that he developed a life-long desire to build canoes.

It was 36 years later that he had the opportunity to build another functional 12-ft canoe out of wood. This time it was to welcome the Hokulea for its first visit to San Diego back in July 1995. It was this serendipitous arrival of this double-hulled Hawaiian canoe that instilled in him a deep aspiration to learn more about his ancestral seafaring history. It was several years later, after learning the craft of building models of a large sailing vessel called the “flying proa”, that Sakman Mario embarked on building a full-scaled version in a year in 2011 in San Diego California, only 6200 nautical miles from its birthplace. The Sakman was built following a drawing of a canoe captured on the Mariana island of Tinian circa 1742. And the journey had just begun.

Today, after learning how to sail the Sakman outrigger in San Diego and Guam, and the Sakman now in Saipan with 500 Sails, Sakman Mario now devotes his studies to discovering the hidden culturally-based mathematics in the construction of the Sakman. His quest to digitize this ancient Anson Drawing of 1742 has led to the projection of an additional engineering view called the “Isometric” to supplement this original blueprint. From this effort emerged the first ever 3D computer-printed model of this ancient Chamorro vessel designed for deep-sea fishing and long-distance voyaging. His ambitious goal is to inundate every classroom in the Marianas with a Sakman model as a testament to our Chamorro seafaring revival.

Sakman Mario continues to share the story of the Sakman at every opportunity. His stories involve cultural and mathematical perspectives which have enhanced the appreciation for the timely reconstruction of the Marianas flying proa.

These computer-printed models have led to our better appreciation and understanding of the simplicity and ingenuity in the design of our ancient Chamorro vessels. This internship program will continue with the modeling of these Sakman models in pursuit of the same.

Sakman Mario is a military veteran with over 21 years of service. He has a background in avionics technology and space surveillance. He earned his BS in Astronautical Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin and proceeded on to his MS in Astrodynamics from the Air Force of Institute of Technology at Wright-Patterson AFB in Ohio. He worked his last ten years in the military in space surveillance for the Air Force Space Command in Colorado which culminated in his production of a foreign launch handbook that continues serving the space surveillance industry today.

With his teaching credentials in Secondary Mathematics, Sakman Mario has taught mathematics at the middle/high school levels as well as adult classes in data telecommunications. His more recent classroom activities were with students at the University of California in San Diego working in the Design and Innovation Building modeling and building canoes.

In addition to his work preserving Chamorro seafaring culture, Sakman Mario also serves as a court interpreter and translator of his native Chamorro language.