Hawaiki Nui Va’a
Unassailable Outrigger Paddlers Of Tahiti
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The small and normally quiet village of Fare on the island of Huahine in French Polynesia is abuzz with activity. Children play in the ocean, climbing the mooring line of a large ship, and jump, as kids do into the water below. Local vendors of island crafts and food sell their wares along the main road, which has been closed to vehicles to accommodate the invasion of people.
Large men carry their paddles through town while Va’a (outrigger canoe) teams take turns carrying their canoes to the water. This is the opening ceremony of the Hawaiki Nui Va’a, the largest annual sporting event in French Polynesia. In this race nearly a hundred, six-man paddle teams from island nations and beyond gather to put their experience, determination and strength to the test.
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The Hawaiki Nui Va’a begins on Huahine, and the three-day, race takes the teams to Raiatea and Taha’a before finally finishing in Bora Bora. The event is deeply rooted in Polynesian culture and is very prestigious. Competitors train rigorously all year. It’s also very much a spectator sport with what can seem like the entire nation coming to watch. All the schools are closed for the whole weekand many businesses shut their doors as well. This is the Super Bowl of the outrigger canoe world.
The Hawaiki Nui is a three-day, Tour de France-style challenge that sees the best teams from Tahiti and the surrounding islands battle it out alongside a few brave (yet foolhardy) international crews. Pretty much the only place where outrigger canoeing is more popular than in Hawaii is in French Polynesia. Here, outrigger (va’a) isn’t just a sport; it’s quite literally a way of life. The top teams are paid to train, and they become like soccer super stars in their own communities.
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The Hawaiki Nui is a three-day, 129km torture test. It’s an “Iron Race” as opposed to a relay, so once you start; you don’t swap the crew at all. That basically means you have to paddle all day non-stop. Unlike an outrigger relay where you jump in and out of the canoe mid-race in the Hawaiki Nui you literally can’t stop. So its three days between the islands of French Polynesia, with times added up to find out who wins overall. Some teams do it as a pure iron race, meaning they use the same six guys every day for three days. Other teams make a compromise and switch in some fresh guys on the 2nd and 3rd mornings.
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On speaking with one of the international team crew they said the cruel thing about the Hawaiki Nui is that despite each day being a marathon, the pace is more or less at sprinting speed. That’s mainly due to the abilities of the local crews that can paddle at a super high rate all day without a break. Va’a (as outrigger canoeing is known locally) is actually a career for some in Tahiti. It’s so popular that kids grow up wanting to be a professional outrigger paddler just like Kiwi kids want to be All Blacks to Tahitian kids want to race Va’a. So over time the level of talent, passion, drive, motivation, dedication and team work has risen to outrageous levels in Tahiti. The competition to get a spot on one of the top crews, as well as beat your interisland rivals, is so fierce that it leaves virtually no room for the international crews to compete. Watching a top Tahitian paddle crew is like watching a perfectly choreographed dance. It’s a thing of beauty. They are so elegant yet aggressive, smooth and still powerful, efficient and fluent and yet still extremely fast. The teams from Hawaii/California/Australia/New Zealand etc. simply cannot compete with Tahiti at the moment. It wasn’t always this way, Hawaii used to be the dominant force in the world of outrigger canoe, but that is no longer the case. I don’t think Tahiti has lost a major outrigger canoe race for the past decade. They’ve won the Molokai race eight or nine years running and never been beaten at home.
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This year’s race was the first year it wasn’t baking hot from start to finish. It was actually raining for the first two days, which was very welcomed by the paddlers. Normally racing in Tahiti is like competing in an oven. It’s often the heat not necessarily the distance that wears paddlers down.
The first day was so overcast and that on the press boat couldn’t actually see where we’re going. I don’t think any of the boats could. It seems none of the canoes in Tahiti use a GPS they rely on sight. So I guess it is just natural talent and experience that gets them from one island to the next.
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Photo: Gergoire Le Bacon
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On the opening day they had a tough race between the islands of Huahine and Raiatea. The fastest crew did 3:44:09. Day two was between Raiatea and Tahaa – which they call a sprint – but it’s not it’s just a slightly shorter tortuous route on the inside of the lagoon. Day 3 was the long one which goes from the island of Tahaa to the legendary island of Bora Bora. It was 58.2 kilometres with literally no rest.
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The finish line each day is a huge celebration especially at Bora Bora on the final day. Hundreds of spectators form a line on either side to create this amazing arena over the final few hundred metres. Screaming, yelling, splashing water on the crews everyone supporting their own favourite crew or island or family, everyone seems somehow related to everyone else.
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The 129 kms was completed by EDT Va’a, who flew home in 9:54:58 (the only team to break ten hours).
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In fact EDT Va’a is so good that even their “B team” came home fourth overall. Shell Va’a, the crew that wins the Molokai Ho pretty much every year, came home in sixth place, which highlights just how ridiculously deep the talent pool goes in Tahiti.
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The passion, the love, the commitment, the skill level, the canoes, the thousands of spectators loaded on escort boats, the colours, the scenery. Put it all together and you have what looks like the Tour de France on water. But really, the Hawaiki Nui Va’a is too amazing for words… I don’t know how to properly describe it. It’s something you can only experience. Words just don’t do it justice.
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Bora Bora The Romantic Island
Huahine Garden of Eden
Under a one hour flight from the island of Tahiti or Moorea, the island of Bora Bora, with a lagoon resembling an artist’s palette of blues and greens. Romantics from around the world have laid claim to this island where the castle-like Mount Otemanu pierces the sky. Lush tropical slopes and valleys blossom with hibiscus, while palm-covered motu’s circles the shallow lagoon like a delicate necklace. Perfect white-sand beaches give way to emerald waters where coloured fish animate the coral gardens as they greet the giant manta rays. Simply said, Bora Bora is the most beautiful island in the world.
About thirty minutes by plane from the island of Tahiti, Huahine, with its lush forests, untamed landscape, and quaint villages, is one of Polynesia’s best-kept secrets.
Pora Pora The ancient name, meaning “first born,” came from legends describing this as the first island to rise≈when Taaroa, the supreme god, fished it out of the waters after the mythical creation of Havai’i, now known as Raiatea. Although the first letter “B” does not exist in the Tahitian language, when Captain Cook first heard the name he mistook the softened sound of the Tahitian “P” for “B” and called the island Bola Bola.
A deep, crystal-clear lagoon surrounds the two islands while magnificent bays and white-sand beaches add drama and solitude to their virtues. Relatively unchanged by the modern world, Huahine offer a slower taste of old Polynesia. With only eight small villages scattered across the island. Not surprisingly, this fertile world offers rich soil providing the local farmers a bountiful harvest of vanilla, melons, and bananas.
Hermosa This name bestowed by Captain Cook in 1769 means “beautiful” in Spanish. The name Huahine may come from the profile of a mountain which reveals the shape of a pregnant woman. Mythology provides two legends for the creation of the two islands of Huahine: either the god Hiro cut the island in half with his canoe or a spear thrown in a contest among gods pierced Moorea’s Mt. Mouaputa and then sailed 100 miles where it split Huahine in two!
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Taha’a The Vanilla Island Taha’a, with the rich aroma of vanilla lingering heavily in the air, offers a glimpse of the traditional, tranquil life of the Tahitians. The flower-shaped island’s simple beauty is charmed by soft mountain shapes and surrounded by tiny motu with bright sand beaches. In the fertile valleys cutting within the island, local farmers grow watermelon, vanilla, and copra.
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Raiatea The Sacred Island Raiatea, meaning “faraway heaven” and “sky with soft light”, was first named Havai’i after the homeland of the ancient Polynesians and is the most sacred island in the South Pacific. This, the second largest Tahitian isle, was the centre of religion and culture over 1000 years ago and still lends enchantment to ancient legends told to this day. The green-carpeted mountains include the celebrated and scared Mt. Temehani.
Tiare Apetahi Flower Upon Mt. Temehani on Raiatea lives the Tiare Apetahi, a flower so rare it can be grown no place else on earth. Each dawn the petals open with a slight crackling sound. Legends describe this as the sound of the broken heart of common women who was not allowed to marry the son of the Tahitian king.
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Tahiti
It’s quite literally a way of life
It’s called ‘active relaxation’
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