Golden Rule “Peace in the Pacific” Voyage Begins

Golden Rule peace boat as she heads for the Pacific Ocean. Photo by Helen Jaccard.

By Ann Wright and Helen Jaccard

After well over a year of planning, the Golden Rule, a project of Veterans For Peace, started the first ocean crossing of its “Peace in the Pacific” Voyage from San Diego to Hilo, Hawai'i on May 1!

We’re sailing to Hawai'i as part of a two-and-a-half year voyage to bring attention to the environmental and human cost of nuclear and military activity on Pacific Islands.

The crossing will take three to four weeks.

Hawaiian elder Puna Kalama Dawson flew from Hawai’i to San Diego to give an invitation and a blessing for the Golden Rule to come to Hawai’i.

Puna thanked Veterans For Peace, the Captain, and crew for their commitment to peace in the world and for using the vessel as an educational vehicle for discussions about the folly of nuclear weapons.

The Golden Rule will visit as many ports as possible in Hawai'i.

The goals of the voyage to Hawai'i, the Marshall Islands, Guam, Okinawa, Korea and Japan are to support the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons; to support steps to avert the possibility of nuclear war; and to raise awareness of the dangers of all nuclear activities and militarism to the environment and humanity.

In speaking about the mission of the Golden Rule, Gerry Condon, National President of Veterans for Peace said, "We are sailing for a nuclear-free world and a peaceful, sustainable future. Now it is time for us to visit the island nations of the Pacific, which have suffered so much damage from nuclear testing and military bases.”

Crew members and Golden Rule Ambassadors will speak with students, civic groups, faith-based organizations, and groups whose focus is peace, justice, environment, climate change, nuclear disarmament, clean energy, atomic veterans, historic wooden boats, and history.

We’ll visit many areas affected by nuclear bomb tests and foreign military bases all over the Pacific.

Hawai'i: There are dozens of military bases in Hawai'i and we’ll support efforts to close them and get them cleaned up. In Honolulu, virtually all of the Pacific Islands are represented, so we’ll hold a symposium there to talk about the effects of nuclear bomb tests and military bases.

Marshall Islands: The Golden Rule was originally headed to the Marshall Islands in 1958 in an attempt to stop nuclear bomb tests. In December 2019, the captain and crew will visit the Marshall Islands and learn about how they are coping with the continued radiation exposure and rising seas due to climate change. US nuclear testing from 1946 to 1958 blew up several islands and atolls and radiated many Marshallese, who are still suffering from the effects of the nuclear explosions.

Guam, Okinawa, and Korea are suffering greatly from the effects of military bases.  The new base being built in Hanoko, Okinawa will almost certainly spell the extinction of the dugong, a sea mammal similar to the manatee.

In Japan, we’ll commemorate the 75th anniversary of the US nuclear bombing of the civilian populations of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August of 2020. Then we’ll make the connections between nuclear power and nuclear weapons as we visit Fukushima Prefecture.  

Finally, we’ll wait until it is safe to return to the US via Alaska in the spring of 2021, making many stops along the way to discuss our findings.

The Crew to Hawai'i

From left, Captain Dan Lappala, Crew member Chris Mayer, Hawai'i elder Puna Kalama Dawson, Crew member "C Be" Burton, Crew member Jamie Skinner, First Mate Tom Rogers, and Golden Rule Project Manager Helen Jaccard. Photo by Ann Wright.

Captain Dan Lappala of Hilo, Hawai'i has been a professional sailor for decades, has owned his own sailing company in Hawai’i and has already sailed from the West Coast of the U.S. to Hawai'i four times.

First Mate Tom Rogers of Keyport, Washington is a retired US Navy Captain who was the commander of nuclear submarines.

After he retired from the US Navy, he became a peace activist and is a volunteer with Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action which is near the Trident nuclear submarine base in Bangor, Washington.

When asked why he wants to eliminate nuclear weapons, Rogers said, “Our kids deserve to grow up in a world without nuclear weapons. It is a failure of our generation that they must live in fear of nuclear annihilation and bear the cost of a massive modernization of our nuclear weapons complex.”

Connie Burton known as “C Be” is a sailor from Anahole, Kauai, Hawai’i and was taught to sail by Captain Dan in 2002. She has been sailing in Hawai'i and Mexico ever since, including the “Baha Ha Ha” race from San Diego to Cabo.

She has been involved with the Hokulea of the Polynesian Voyaging Society and has crewed on the Hawaiian Chieftain historic sailboat. “C” said she enjoys being a part of projects with an important purpose and “trying to inform people about the dangers of the nuclear weapons race is as important as it comes.”

In the 1980s she walked the length of Florida with a group challenging nuclear weapons.

Jamie Skinner from La Center, Washington was a pilot in the U.S. Navy and had a career as an airline pilot. He is also a Quaker, as was the 1958 crew of the Golden Rule.

Jamie is now retired and has extensive sailing experience in the Pacific Northwest.

Jamie has been battling cancer, but it is in remission. “I feel it’s a privilege to be a part of the crew on this voyage and I hope to be an advocate for a greater awareness of nuclear disarmament and trying to work towards world peace.”

In Hawai'i, crew member Chris Mayer from Berkeley, California will sail with us around the Hawaiian Islands and take people sailing around Hawaiian Island Bays. Chris has helped with a multitude of tasks during the preparation of the boat for the voyage.  

Chris has extensive coastal and San Francisco Bay sailing experience.

Follow the Voyage

You can follow the Golden Rule's voyage on a map that updates every 10 minutes and with a daily blog.

Email vfpgoldenruleproject@gmail.com to receive the blog link by email.

About the Authors

Ann Wright served 29 years in the US Army/Army Reserves and retired as a colonel. She was a US diplomat for 16 years and worked in US Embassies in Nicaragua, Grenada, Somalia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Sierra Leone, Micronesia, Afghanistan, and Mongolia. She resigned from the US Government in March 2003 in opposition to the US war on Iraq. She is the co-author of Dissent: Voices of Conscience. www.voicesofconscience.com

Helen Jaccard is a longtime member of Veterans For Peace and WILPF.  She has been the Veterans For Peace Golden Rule Project Manager since 2015 and often crews on the Golden Rule.