Hawke's Bay-based waka Te Matau a Maui has had to bail out of the opening of the New Zealand Festival's Waka Odyssey in Wellington to avoid the major storm which hit the Cook Strait this week.
Te Matau a Maui was one of seven of the ocean-going, twin-hulled, rigged waka horua which had been heading for the capital when their entry to Wellington Harbour was blocked by the storm and the huge seas.
Sailing from the West Quay moorings in the Napier inner harbour on February 15, captains and crew of Te Matau a Maui, Apia-based waka Gaualofa and Auckland-based Haunui were aware of the likely need to ride out the storm off the south Wairarapa coast near Cape Palliser.
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But two days later the three waka were heading back to Napier accompanied by two Tauranga waka, Hinemoana and Ngahiraka-mai-Tawhiti.