This paper presents a new geometry of the western Pacific based on an analysis of the time necessary for canoes to sail to islands around Samoa. Using methods proposed by Francis Galton in 1866 and 1881, updated by a computer simulation of sailing trajectories, the author demonstrates the existence of a navigational threshold east of Samoa through systematic 'displacement' of islands according to sailing time in winter and summer - a threshold that helps explain the ca 2000 year pause between the Lapita era settlement of Melanesia-West Polynesia and the settlement of East Polynesia.