Royal blessing for new waka

The fourth twin-hull voyaging canoe to be built in New Zealand was launched in royal style at Doubtless Bay on Saturday.

The Maori King, Te Arikinui Tuheitia Paki, was one of hundreds to attend the launch of Aurere waka builder Hector Busby’s third waka hourua at Taipa.

Mr Busby – who has overseen the construction of 25 waka in New Zealand and overseas – says it was a great honour that the King paid his respects at the launch.

"I am quite thrilled he came up because his mother attended the launch of Te Aurere," he says of the late Maori Queen Dame Te Arikinui Te Atairangikaahu and his
first waka hourua.

Mr Busby says launching the waka, which he named Ngahiraka Mai Tawhiti after his wife Ngahiraka who died 12 years ago, was a moving experience.

He was also relieved that the waka, which he, James Eruera and John Harding had taken eight years to build from two kauri trees felled in the Herekino forest in 1999, was finally ready to go to sea.

"The boys were thrilled with it. It was very easy to steer," he says of the vessel which is lashed together with rope and is navigated by the stars, moon, sun, wind, wave patterns and birds.

Ngahiraka Mai Tawhiti will join Te Aurere as Te Tai Tokerau Tarai Waka’s second training and voyaging vessel.

The trust has sailed the older waka 40,000kms to Rarotonga, Tahiti, the Marquesas, Hawaii, New Caledonia and Norfolk Island since it launched her in 1992.

It hopes to send the new waka on a voyage to Rapa Nui – Easter Island – this time next year and is looking for a sponsor to meet its costs of flying a return-leg crew to the island, says Mr Busby.

In the meantime, the 76-year-old isn’t ruling out building more waka.

Pacific Island waka enthusiasts who attended the launch have asked him to help them build a waka hourua, he says.

To contact Te Tai Tokerau Tarai Waka, phone Michael Harding on 09-408-7320 or email te.aurere@xtra.co.nz.