Johnson Tumai-Totorewa, 17, wasn't worried about the potential for 20-metre ocean swells as he embarked on a 10,000-nautical mile voyage on a waka hourua, double hulled sailing canoe today.
When his waka Ngahiraka Mai Tawhiti, and its elder sibling Te Aurere reach Rapanui/Easter Island in October it'll be the start of the cyclone season. He's not worried about that either.
The Mangere teenager, who said the trip was the first off the North Island, is the youngest of 23 sailors. But the only thing giving him twinges was how it would feel to miss someone, he said with a smile.
"My mummy. I'm a mummy's boy but everything else - well, I have confidence in all those around me. Most of all for me I think it's going to be awesome following in the footsteps of our tupuna."
The trip has been the dream of Hekenukumai Busby, the master waka builder who built both vessels. At 80 he is won't do the full trip but hopes to hop back on board as they get closer to the eastern tip of the Polynesian Triangle. Today, Mr Busby along with the Royal New Zealand Navy, a couple of hundred whanau and well-wishers farewelled the canoes with song and haka, the sounds echoing out over glassy Waitemata water.