Please select your home edition
Edition
Maritimo 2023 M600 LEADERBOARD

Sails set for Pacific endeavour

by Debra Douglas on 11 Apr 2010
Te Kumete O Te Mona Nui regatta for four Vaka. Chris Cameron www.chriscameron.co.nz

A sight not seen for hundreds of years greeted boaties on Auckland’s Waitemata Harbour on Sunday, when four traditional vaka sailed in an inner harbour regatta.

The skippers of the double-hulled, 13-tonne, 22m-long vaka were fine-tuning their vessels in readiness for a voyage across the Pacific. The fleet will sail from Auckland on Wednesday April 14th (weather permitting) to French Polynesia, Cook Islands, Samoa, Tonga and Fiji.

Discovery was the prime motivator when the last vaka fleets crossed the Pacific more than 1000 years ago. This year’s voyage is one of rediscovery; aimed at re-establishing cultural links through traditional voyaging and raising awareness of the key environmental issues threatening the Pacific Ocean. This includes pollution, ocean noise, habitat destruction, overfishing, acidification and de-oxidation and climate change.


At each Pacific destination a vaka will stay behind to continue training crew to use the vaka for cultural and educational purposes, encompassing enterprise, kinship, navigation and ocean conservation.

The four vaka, which took part in the Te Kumete O Te Moana Nui (The bowl of the Pacific) regatta and will undertake the ocean voyage are: Te Matua a Maui (New Zealand crew), Hine Moana (Western Samoa, Vanuatu, Tongan crew), Uto Ni Yalo (Fijian crew) and Maramaru Atua (Cook Islands crew). A fifth vaka, Faafaite, will join the voyagers at Tahiti.

Built at the Salthouse yard at Greenhithe, Auckland, the vessels carry up to16 crew and are based on a traditional Tahitian design. Modern boatbuilding techniques are combined with established craftsmanship. The hulls are constructed from E-glass and foam and lashed together with wooden beams and rope. Two of the vaka use a solar power system for an auxiliary propulsion system.


At the regatta’s opening ceremony a bowl (te kumete) was passed to the Fijian crew for safe keeping until the next regatta.

The fleet will be back in Auckland next year when seven vaka will undertake a longer Pacific voyage to Hawaii via French Polynesia. This voyage will also serve as a reminder that the Pacific Ocean is an invisible continent connecting the peoples of the Pacific and that their continent is at risk.

The regatta and Pacific voyages have been initiated and supported by Okeanos, a German philanthropic organisation committed to highlighting environmental issues affecting the world’s oceans.




Allen Dynamic 40 FooterRS Sailing 2021 - FOOTERPredictWind - Offshore App 728x90 BOTTOM

Related Articles

29th Superyacht Cup Palma fleet is ready to go
Crews are now able to size-up the competition in their respective classes The owners, captains and crews of the spectacular array of yachts gathered for the 29th edition of the Superyacht Cup Palma are making their final preparations ahead of the start of racing next Thursday.
Posted today at 3:42 pm
Hardald Findlay on the 2025 Edgartown Race Weekend
A Q&A with Harald Findlay on the 2025 Edgartown Race Weekend When it comes to racing sailboats on the East Coast of the United States in the summer months, few places are as classic as the waters surrounding Martha's Vineyard's northwestern flank.
Posted today at 3:00 pm
Behind Rooster Kit: Designed by Women, for Women
Introducing the Women's Technical Shorts 2.0 Our 2025 collection brings a host of new innovations - but this one marks a real shift. Introducing the Women's Technical Shorts 2.0 — the first women-specific technical shorts in the Rooster range.
Posted today at 1:30 pm
Melges 24 US Nationals open for entries
Online Registration is officially open for Pensacola event in November The U.S. Melges 24 Class is thrilled to announce that Online Registration is officially open for the 2025 U.S. National Championship, hosted by Pensacola Yacht Club (PYC) on November 14-16, 2025.
Posted today at 9:17 am
Class40 top guns enter Rolex Fastnet Race
One of the most successful genre of offshore race boat ever Now 20+ years old, the Class40 has proved itself one of the most successful genre of offshore race boat ever.
Posted today at 6:45 am
First all-women crew finish Annapolis-Newport Race
A historic milestone celebrated last week The 2025 Annapolis to Newport Race celebrated a historic milestone last week as the J/42 Allegiant became the first all-women crew to complete the legendary 475-nautical-mile offshore race.
Posted today at 12:42 am
Thayer Trophy Women's Team Race preview
Regatta has become a catalyst for developing women's sailing teams When the Corinthian YC launched the National Women's Invitational Team Race for the Thayer Trophy in 2021, the goal was to give women sailors the opportunity to compete in a high-intensity format on par with the world's most renowned team racing events.
Posted on 17 Jun
Finn World Masters in Medemblik Day 2
Pieter-Jan Postma leads after the second day of racing in The Netherlands Pieter-Jan Postma, from The Netherlands, is leading the fleet of 307 Finns from 27 countries after everyone sailed two more races at the 2025 Finn World Masters in Medemblik. France's Laurent Hay is second with Germany's Fabian Lemmel in third.
Posted on 17 Jun
World Sailing launches the World Sailing Academy
A new online learning platform for the global sailing community World Sailing officially launched the World Sailing Academy, an innovative new online learning platform designed to provide comprehensive educational resources and training to sailors, coaches, officials, administrators, and the global sailing community.
Posted on 17 Jun
Sailing and the summer solstice
Celebrating sailing and the longest day of the year If you love long evenings and early mornings, this is one of the best times of the whole year, as the summer solstice (Friday, June 20) and the entire rich expanse of summer are about to burst into bloom.
Posted on 17 Jun