Vaka crew

The following is a news report of the Vaka from the Cook Islands which is voyaging home with my friends. They have been beating to windward in 35 foot seas. The massive oar (35 ft long) which is used to steer the vaka has been snapped in two by the force of the waves. We hear some radio reports, but, what follows is one of the few written reports of the journey.

The above picture shows some of the crew members in blue shirts with white flowers. Malcolm Laxton-Blinkhorn is the second from the left. He was born in England, but, he owns a motel in Rorotonga and was the cook on board.

PACIFIC ISLANDS REPORT

Pacific Islands Development Program/East-West CenterWith Support From Center for Pacific Islands Studies/University of Hawai‘i

COOKS VOYAGING CANOE READIES FOR RETURN VOYAGE

Vaka Te Au O Tonga to leave Pago Pago

RAROTONGA, Cook Islands (Cook Islands News, August 8,2008) – Vaka Te Au O Tonga is set sail from Pago Pago in American Samoa on Friday afternoon. Because of wind direction they expect the homeward journey to take up to two weeks. Two new crew members have joined the vaka on her return voyage as watch captain Te Aturangi Nepia-Clamp had to fly to New Zealand for his Masters of Art studies while chief cook Malcolm Blinkhorn will be returning home by plane. Nepia-Clamp has been replaced by the president of the American Samoa Voyaging Society. Blinkhorn has been replaced by Clinton Charlie.

Vaka captain Garth Henderson has placed new ‘learning watch captains’ in charge for the voyage home. The new learning watch captains have been attached to a mentor and are Masterton Enjoy mentored by Tua Pitman, Harry Goodwin mentored by Ti Pekepo and Nick Henry under the watchful eye of Teheu Kamana.

Crew member Nick Henry reported that before they departed, "Minister of Culture Wilkie Rasmussen did an incredible karakia from the heart. It was a Northern island style from Tongareva, everybody was shaking, it was a very emotional moment."

After two and a half hours of sailing at speeds of 4.5 knots, the vaka was 12 miles from the Pago Pago coast on a 150-160 degree course.

Cook Islands News: http://www.cinews.co.ck/index.htm
Copyright © 2005 Cook Islands News. All Rights Reserved

Friends rigging boats

This is a picture of friends on the lawn between the Pago Pago Yacht Club and the Harbor. My friend. Jim M., in the hat has a daughter who just graduated from MIT in Engineering.

Copy my URL http://pagodoc.blogspot.com

Maliu Mai

This is a pool fed by an underground stream of fresh water. At low tide the pool is full of fresh water. At high tide, the pool fills with salt water. This bar belongs to one of my friends who is also one of our veterans.

You know the water is excellent, because there are these exotic little tropical fish in there. This pool is not really salt water, so there are no crabs, sea weed or urchins.

Samoa is not perfect, but, some parts are very nice indeed.

Cool little man from New Guinea

This man attended the Catholic Church on Sunday. Walking back to his dormitory he was accosted by a pack of dogs. I "rescued" him with my car. He joined my regular group for lunch and kept us entranced with stories of life in New Guinea. In his country he is considered to be famous. He is the leader of the cultural group which preserves the dance, clothes and implements of his people. He teaches dance in New Guinea. What the reviewers have been saying about him at the Festival is that he moves like he is dancing on air.

I actually saw him dance several nights ago. This was before I met him in person. He is obviously easy to remember as you can detect from his stature. As small as he is, he has a large presence on stage. He is, by the way, a very committed Catholic.