Another Catamaran Voyaging Canoe Takes to the Water

I've seen the Hawaiian versions of these boats they are the real thing and it's fabulous to see this tradition being revived.

http://pidp.eastwestcenter.org/pireport/2009/August/08-04-14.htm

MAORI VOYAGING CANOE LAUNCHED IN AUCKLAND
‘Waka’ to sail to Hawaii, Cook Isles next year

By Helen Greig
RAROTONGA Cook Islands (Cook Islands News, July 28, 2009) - A new ‘waka hourua’ (double-hulled vessel) has been launched by Ngati Kahungunu to sail among a fleet to Hawai΄i and later feature as part of the Rugby World Cup 2011 celebrations in Hawke’s Bay.

Cook Island Voyaging Society members helped build the waka and were at the launch on July 15 from the Salthouse boat builders yard in Greenhithe, Auckland.

The vaka is the third to be built in the same design as the Cook Islands and Samoa ocean voyaging canoes.

The Cook Islands vaka, Marumaru Atua, was launched in April and is modeled on Te Au O Tonga which is berthed in Avatiu wharf.

The waka’s first major outing will be its maiden voyage from Rarotonga to Hawai΄i in around May or June next year with other Pacific canoes.

The fleet will sail to Hawai΄i at the invitation of the Polynesian Voyaging Society and the Makali’i Voyaging Society.

The participating groups intend to celebrate the formation of Pacific Voyagers -- a network of voyaging groups in American Samoa, Cook Islands, Fiji, New Zealand, Tahiti, Tonga and Western Samoa, which was formed in February.

The Pacific Voyagers’ network project has won funding and support from the Okeanos Foundation, an international philanthropic organization based in Germany, formed with the objective of protecting the ocean environment and marine life.

Cook Islands News:
http://www.cinews.co.ck/index.htm

http://pvs.kcc.hawaii.edu/

Cools news.

Love those boats.
Was on my buddies in the Pacifc, a Wharam type:
http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/Oceania/Australia/West/Northern_Territory/Tuvalu/photo736467.htm

Now he build his own design:
http://arpex.blogspot.com/2008/03/hans-klaars-traditional-tacking.html

Currently somewhere between Tahiti and Fiji...
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I helped carry the first CI vaka into the harbour at Avatiu, about 1996 or so. It immediately began to sink. We had to pull it out of the shallows with a backhoe on a long rope. Turns out one needs to soak the wood for a few months so it expands and fills up all the cracks. As there wasn't time for that, they put epoxy in all the cracks.

So, the design is traditional, and most of the material is traditional. but I wouldn't be surprised if any new vaka also had some modern stuff in it as well.

"I wouldn't be surprised if any new vaka also had some modern stuff in it as well. "

Here in British Columbia the Haida people steer their flagship canoe Lootas with a second hand steering wheel.

They started off with a steering paddle but somewhere along the line modernity crept in, I saw it leave Vancouver inna traditional stylee and a few years later in the Queen Charlotte Islands it had a non-trad driver in the rear.

I saw the new va'a for American Samoa in Pago Pago harbor a few days ago. It had just arrived from New Zealand .....in a cargo ship. Made of modern materials but traditonal design.

{quote:It had just arrived from New Zealand .....in a cargo ship.{quote}

Duhh, that's a bit of a bummer...
Can't they sail it over????
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"Can't they sail it over????"

Probably need to recruit/train a crew to do that.

Yes...some guy is meant to be coming to help train them. The group of people who got the va'a are still looking for interested people who have time to work with the boat. There is plans for one in Apia too. Finding people with time to give on the project seems to be a problem so if you are a retired person looking for something new you might want to check it out.

Crew, training, building, all takes a lot of time - and money...
Hard to find for projects like this.

Wonder how much the construction of a va'a is budgeted?
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