A group of voyagers have spent the last ten years preparing for their journey to Samoa, guided by the traditional navigation methods of their ancestors.
This week, they will set sail aboard the waka hourua Ngahiraka Mai Tawhiti on their voyage, Te Hekenga Ki Tua, retracing the pathways their tīpuna once followed.
“Koinei tō mātau terenga whakamātautau. Kua tekau tau mātau e ako ana ki te tātai ngā tohu o te rangi, o ngā hau, o ngā ngaru, o ngā whenua hoki e tae ai mātau ki tētahi moutere,” says Hinerapa Rupuha (Ngāti Kahungunu, Te Whānau a Apanui), a trainee navigator at Te Kura Waka.
The voyage is expected to last 2 to 4 weeks and will be done without modern navigational technology. Originally planned five years ago, the journey was delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic and recently, by adverse weather.
Nine crew members are part of the voyage - one captain, one quartermaster and seven student navigators from Te Kura Waka, a school dedicated to traditional, non-instrument celestial navigation. They will sail Te Moana Nui a Kiwa using only the stars, sun, moon, winds, waves and landforms to guide them.
“Kāre hoki e whakaaetia ana ngā matawā. Me ako mātau ki te tātai i te wā mā te whakamahi i ngā whetū, te rā, te marama hoki i ētahi wā,” Rupuha says.
The captain will carry all required safety gear, including GPS and navigation devices, but the remaining kaumoana will rely on celestial navigation to guide them.
“We’ll give our estimations to the captain, he’ll plot them next to the actual [GPS] – he’ll do that all the way," Rupuha explains.
“If we get further than 100 nautical miles then this is when the captain will come and kind of take over from there.”
Kua takoto te mānuka mō te reanga hou
The crew has trained under Pwo Navigator Jack Thatcher for the past decade. Thatcher is a master of Pacific wayfinding, having sailed over 60,000 nautical miles in more than 30 years.
He is confident in their skills.
“Kī taku ngākau ki te [kite i] te kaha i roto i te tokowhitu. Ko te tokowhitu e whai ana i raro i te manaakitanga o ngā tūpuna.”
Thatcher says it is time to pass on the knowledge and responsibility.
“He kaupapa nui ki ahau i runga i taku pakeketanga. Ko taku whakaaro, ko te waiho i te nui o ngā mātauranga ki a rātou, e waiho ana te waka nei i roto i ō rātou nei ringa mō te haerenga ki tua.”
He hopes his tauira will one day establish kura waka within their iwi.
He tātai i ngā tohu o te taiao
To guide them, the crew will use celestial markers such as Mahutonga (the Southern Cross) to calculate time, direction and location.
“Ka tirohia rātau ki te Tonga, ki a Mahutonga. E heke ana a Mahutonga ki raro, tērā he tohu ki Te Tai Tonga,” Thatcher says.
Rupuha says waka’s first stop will be Rangitāhuahua.
“Ko Rangitāhuahua te wāhi i tū ai ngā waka i mua i te taenga mai ki konei. E ai ki a rātau, gas station o ngā waka hourua,” she says.
Each crew member has a defined role - kaihautū, kaihautū tohunga whakatere, ringawera and kaumoana. They will operate in 4 hour shifts. The waka has five moenga onboard and the ringawera has spent weeks preparing preserved kai for the journey.
Rupuha first approached Thatcher as a teenager. Now, she is one of the waka’s key navigators and has shared her story online leading up to the voyage.
Raised in Kōhanga Reo and Kura Kaupapa Māori, Rupuha says her upbringing was full of ancestral knowledge - knowledge she now lives by.
“I rongo taku katoa i tētahi momo reka, i te whakaaro, ka whai pea au te ara o ngā tūpuna.”
She compares navigation to her ancestors’ mathematics.
“Kei te ako mātau i te pangarau a ngā tīpuna.”
“Ehara i te mea kei te whai noa iho i ngā nama, engari kei te whai i tētahi tirohanga kē ki te ao.”
Te ao o te kaiwhakatere waka
Ocean voyaging today comes with financial and practical challenges. Despite their commitment, the crew receive no payment.
“Kia whakatere atu ki tētahi moutere, e hia mano rau tāra kia utu i tētahi terenga. Arā, ko Jacko tonu e kimi ana i ngā pūtea,” Rupuha says.
“Kāore tētahi i Ngahiraka Mai Tawhiti e utua, i te mea kāore he pūtea. Engari kei te kimi mātau i tētahi arā, ehara i te mea e whai rawa ai, engari e whakarea pūtea ai mātau.”
Trainee navigator Toiora Hawira recalls his first voyage was on Te Aurere with Sir Hekenukumai Busby. His most important journey was a 2012 voyage to Rapa Nui, which sparked his passion for navigation.
Now a partner and father of two, Hawira acknowledges many navigators balance their ocean journeys with commitments on land.
“Ko ētahi o o mātau kaumoana he māmā, he pāpā. He mea nui tērā ngā tamariki, kia mōhio pai rātau i tō rātau noho ki te whenua.”
Still, he highlights their commitment to keep these customs alive.
“Mō tātau ngā kaumoana, ko tētahi mea nui ki a mātau, me whakatere i te moana, [kia] kore ai ēnei mātauranga e [ngaro].”
Ngahiraka Mai Tawhiti will begin her voyage to Samoa on Wednesday.
