Fleet sets sail for Raiatea

Nearly 1000 years after the last of the great Polynesian migration journeys across the Pacific, a group of descendants set sail in a fleet of replica canoes on Sunday to relive the voyages.

Four double-hulled canoes with crews of up to 16 people each departed from Auckland to sail 4000km to the French Polynesian island of Raiatea believed to have been the departure point for the last great Polynesian migrations to New Zealand, Hawaii and Easter Island around 700 to 1000 years ago.

The crews from New Zealand, Fiji, the Cook Islands and a multi-national crew from Samoa, Vanuatu, and Tonga, expect it will take 20-25 days before they reach land. They will then be joined by a Tahitian crew for a 1200km voyage to the Cook Islands before returning to their home ports.

The 22m long, twin-masted canoes were built over the past year and combine the traditional and the hi-tech, with the fibreglass hulls lashed with rope.