The Jukong Tradition

The lagoon's heritage sails as the jukong: the Cocos Malay community's own boat type - slim, shallow hulls evolved from the islands' working craft, once the fishing and transport fleet, now kept and raced as living tradition with race days (Self Determination Day's regatta the flagship) filling the lagoon with the white wings and the shore with the community's occasion. Boat sheds on Home Island maintain the craft between events; visitors watch race days from jetty and beach, hear the building lore by courtesy, and read in the hulls the atoll's whole cultural voyage - Malay seamanship keeping its own course.

What you'll find

• The race days - jukong wings filling the lagoon.
• The regatta occasions - Self Determination Day's flagship.
• The boat sheds - hulls kept between events.
• The building lore - craft tradition by courtesy.

When to go

April to October's trades suit sailing; the occasions calendar (April's Self Determination Day foremost) sets the spectacles.

Practical notes

Race days are community occasions - spectate warmly from the public edges; shed visits run on introduction and courtesy.

Nearby

Bantam's lanes, the jetty and the lagoon entire.