Pacific voyage rite of passage for sailors

Hine Moana, a twin-hulled vaka, will have a crew of up to 16. Photo / Greg Bowker

A thousand years on from Maori arriving here, a fleet of double-hulled canoes will be moving in the opposite direction to their ancestors on a journey that will take them through the Pacific.

Four 13-tonne 22m-long vessels built on the upper Waitemata will sail from Auckland next Wednesday to pick up a Tahitian-crewed vaka before the fleet moves on to French Polynesia, the Cook Islands, Samoa, Tonga and Fiji.

Hine Moana, the last of the four canoes built in Auckland, was launched yesterday. It was only a gentle dipping to get its bottom wet because it still has to be oiled and the rigging has to be completed.

Pacific voyaging societies across the region are sailing to raise awareness of environmental issues threatening the Pacific, including climate change, overfishing, habitat destruction, acidification and pollution.

Hoturoa Barclay-Kerr of the tertiary education provider Te Wananga o Aotearoa said the voyage was also about Pacific cultures reconnecting with one another and young people rediscovering ocean-going traditions.

"The experiences that these waka offer are the kinds of rites of passage that have all but disappeared. There's nothing like being out on the water to learn about the ocean, to reconnect us to the environment, to our tupuna like Tangaroa [God of the Sea] and Tawhirimatea [God of Weather]."

That Polynesians colonised the Pacific with Maori ending up here never failed to fire his imagination, Mr Barclay-Kerr said.

"We're heading the other way. For us it's the beginning of new stories that we'll be able to tell our grandchildren."

The canoes carry up to 16 crew and are based on a traditional Tahitian design, although the hulls are made from E-Glass and foam that are lashed together using wooden beams and rope.

Solar panels will feed an electric engine to provide auxiliary propulsion but the vaka, which average 7 knots, will rely on the wind for the most part.

Aucklanders will be able to get a look at Hine Moana, Te Matau a Maui, Uto Ni Yalo and Maramaru Atua at a regatta taking them out to Motuihe Island on Sunday.