Waka voyage across Pacific
Four weeks after setting sail from Auckland’s Viaduct Harbour, the Te Matau a Maui canoe is within days of completing the first leg of its year-long voyage around the Pacific.
Te Matau a Maui is in a fleet of seven that have had to battle bad weather which put them about two weeks behind scheduled landfall at Fakarava, French Polynesia.
The fleet is on an almost 32, 000 kilometre journey from New Zealand to San Diego on the US west coast, taking in parts of the Pacific including Hawaii, Tahiti and the Solomon Islands, and returning home by June next year.
The crews rely on the stars, wind, sealife and swell movement to navigate.
Tauranga skipper Frank Te Mihinui Kawe, aboard Te Matau a Maui, says for the each waka the journey is about re-kindling Pacific relationships as well as making sure that traditional navigating is kept alive.
Funding comes from a German organisation called Okeanos which finances scientific projects devoted to promoting awareness of marine conservation.
“We are very fortunate to be able to fund this type of journey, which is truly unique to Maori and Pacific Island people [and] that we are able to promote environmental awareness along the way is a big bonus for us,” Okeanos’ Magnus Danbolt said.
The vessels have no fossil fuel-burning engines and use natural gas for cooking. Solar power is used for energy and a satellite phone on each vessel allows the crew to blog about their experiences.
One member who blogged aboard another of the waka, Haunui, has said: “[It] was a little cold in the middle of the night, pounded and thrashed by sea and squalls, soaked in spray but looking forward to getting through this. A few minor injuries- toes, bruises [from] the heavy weather, nothing serious. Wet clothes, wet boots, wet jackets, wet galley, wet everything. [However] spirits are high, getting near the end.”
Among crew members aboard Haunui are Waikato skipper Hoturoa Barclay-Kerr, who is a professor of Maori studies at Te Wananga Aotearoa’s Hamilton campus, and his son Turanga Kerr.
