I have to question the standard of NZ's investigative journalism when I have not seen one article questioning the 10,000 nautical mile Waka Tapu journey from NZ to Easter Island and back, allegedly done by only using maori 'traditional, non-instrument-navigation techniques” using the sun, stars, moon, wildlife and currents. This may sound mysterious, romantic and complicated to some people who may just dismiss it as some super power maori are born with and the rest of us are not, but having been a professional navigator and master mariner in the merchant navy, I am very familiar with navigational methods and am very sceptical of the claims from the maori canoe.
When I check their website on”Navigator's Update” I am reading things like 'nautical miles”, 'latitude”, 'course line”, 'AIS”, 'knots”, 'north/east/ etc”.
Now call me cynical but I don't believe that ancient maori paddlers knew what a 'nautical mile” (1852m) was nor had any way of measuring one. As for ‘latitude', that implies they are now using a co-ordinate reference system which I understood was not a maori invention and certainly not traditional. A ‘course line' implies that a compass and nautical chart is being used, and I was unaware that the points of the compass were used by maori hundreds of years ago let alone charts! An AIS is a ship ID system that gives details of the ship and its position in a latitude/longitude format so from any passing ship, it will be very simple to work out their own position.
They even have a GPS on board but its for emergency use only!! Hmmmm. Apart from getting an extremely vague idea which way east, west, north and south are, this whole romantic sounding voyage of following the 'traditional ways of navigating by stars and the sun” etc is extremely dubious.
In my opinion it is a total fraud. If one stops and thinks about it with an inquisitive open mind rather than a PC open-my-mouth-and-spoon-feed-me-whatever-you-like mind it will be blatantly obvious that this is yet another maori myth that we are expected to believe for fear of being labelled a racist.
D. Gordon, Mount Maunganui.
13 comments
Yes Well
Posted on 19-10-2012 22:44 | By Fonzie
The two Waka keeping in close contact with each other using only traditional methods I would like to know how that was done also
Put that on your tab
Posted on 20-10-2012 16:41 | By lurking
i'd like to know who is paying for this little "paddle on the wild side".i know some are civil servants on paid cultural leave...gud work if ya can get it aye bro
Last time...
Posted on 21-10-2012 00:08 | By SpeakUp
...I heard about a waka was one sinking...in a little wind on lake Rotorua.
Moya
Posted on 22-10-2012 18:41 | By Moya
So I guess they swam here then. Wow! You have a very narrow mind-set.
Traditional AND Non-Traditional
Posted on 23-10-2012 11:17 | By Te Wheke
Quickly responding to narrow-minded comments. I sailed aboard these vessels as an offshore captain and as crew, and although the captains are required by modern law to use Non-traditional equipment, everyday aboard is used by Traditional Navigators and training traditional nav students to practice the art of wayfinding. THEY DO NOT CONSULT THE NON-TRADITIONAL EQUIPMENT! A blog or report only relates position in terms the audience understands. Sometimes its nautical miles and knots, sometimes its houses and stars and swells. Crew can learn both or focus on one method. Multiple canoes of old could simply sail closely together like the current Waka Tapu voyage, but today we can use vhf for convenience. This is not mysterious, nor is it doing it hard EXACTLY like the ancestors/tupuna, but the skill is real to revere those ancient voyagers/navigators and honour those that uphold the traditon.
an unqualified opinion
Posted on 23-10-2012 15:17 | By waka
I would like to respond to the letter from Mr D. Gordon published Friday 19th October, firstly I would like to acknowledge Mr Gordon, how do you do? I respectfully disagree that this trip to Easter is a farce. Firstly I would like to make the point that the "art of dead reckoning" is the closest equivalent to ancient polynesian navigation but is much more sophisticated that dead reckoning and I am sure that Mr Gordon would agree that "dead reckoning" exists, in fact it was a New Zealander who was part of Shackleton's doomed expedition to the antartic who relying on "dead reckoning alone got them from a remote antartic island to the shores of South Georgia 800 miles away. Another point is that Jack Thatcher the chief navigator on this voyage to Easter Island was taught his skills from Mau Pialug who was a micronesian with whom was one of the last people to know the ancient navigational skills, this triggered a renaisance which created the Voyagers Society. So to deny this waka would be to deny the recent facts from people like Nainoa Thompson who on one of his many voyages using only ancient skills sailed from Hawai'i to Tahiti. To say these skills never existed and even today is to deny the great polynesian navigators of old and of today. I suggest Mr Gordon you do some actual research and not just online, given this you will realise (and it's Ok to be wrong) that your letter was an unqualified opinion.
Fraudster
Posted on 23-10-2012 22:28 | By piripi
Dearest Mr Gordon, I invite you to come onto our 56 foot double hulled waka, for 43 days traveling over 2000 miles in rough conditions, successfully navigating through storms, endless cloudy nights and becalmed days without any support vessel to see how you handle it…… as a master mariner and professional navigator. If one steps back with an inquisitive open mind of which you obviously do not have you would have researched into this subject before joining the likes of Andrew Sharpe and company who believe that we as Polynesians accidentally discovered the many islands of Polynesia. As a master mariner and professional navigator I am surprised that you are not aware of one of the greatest migrations known to man kind which was the population of the Polynesian Islands. I am a student of traditional navigation involved with the waka tapu voyage and can give you a technical account of how we can successfully navigate across the ocean. It should firstly be said that we are not trying to match the feats of our forefathers, that would be impossible as they were true master mariners and navigators, we are mere students trying re learn a fraction of what they achieved. But make no mistake we are not fraudsters. The concept of North (Raki), South (Tonga), East (Whitinga) and West (Tomokanga) was known to our ancestors, as well was the concept of latitude, distance traveled and course lines, there are Polynesian names for all these concepts but for the purpose of updating followers of the website it is easier for us to use layman English terms so the message can be understood. In terms of the navigation, our ancestors broke the horizon up into the rising and setting points of the sun, moon, stars and wind directions. In more recent times for passing the knowledge on this has been simplified into the horizon being broken up into quadrants and what we term houses (whare) of which there are 32 in 360 degrees. One house is measured on ones outstretched hand span which also serves a similar purpose to a sextant. We memorize the rising and setting points (houses) of approximately 60 stars as well as the daily rising a setting points of the sun and moon. In knowing these points, we can accurately determine the direction of the waka once the objects are spotted above the horizon, we then have to take into account the strength of the wind and currents which we can estimate from the wake of the waka by looking behind. If we can estimate the average speed of the waka over a 24 hour period we can estimate the distance traveled in 24 hours, both these concepts were not foreign to our ancestors, however for the simplicity of learning and teaching others we use units such as nautical miles and knots which are more universally known. With these two concepts; direction and distance traveled, I'm sure as a professional navigator you will come to the conclusion that it is possible to successfully navigate an ocean going vessel. Before a voyage is taken we decide on what the course line or reference line will be which takes into account prevailing winds and ocean currents. This is the only time a traditional navigator will see a chart. The original founders of Aotearoa such as Kupe on the waka Matahourua never had a course line or reference line, however he did pass his navigation instructions and course line onto future waka who traveled to Aotearoa. The concept of latitude and North /South traveling was also practiced, the area half way between the North and South celestial poles was known as ‘Te Pito o Watea' which could be translated as the area around the Equator. Exact measurements such as star declinations might not have been known but the general concept was there. Again we use universal units such as declination these days so that concepts can be more easily understood. There was no concept of longitude and you will not see any reference to this on the website, the website update notes are from the captain (not the navigator as the website states). The captain has access to AIS for safety purposes alone, the onboard GPS sends automatic updates to the website for the waka tracker so family and friends can track the voyage, the captain may have access to this information occasionally however the captain does not discuss any co-ordinates with the crew or the navigator, Crew members will not see a watch, GPS or compass for the entire leg. The navigator is in charge of the direction of the waka and provides estimates as to where the waka is in relation to the reference line, in terms of distance traveled and how far from the reference line. For a more in depth account of traditional navigation I encourage you to read ‘We the Navigators' by David Lewis, who was a staunch supporter of our waka Te Aurere, also visit the Polynesian Voyaging Website http://hokulea.org/. Once again I would like to stress that we are not trying to sail and navigate exactly how our ancestors did, we are trying to follow in the wake of our ancestors to pass this knowledge on to future generations in a positive way so it will never be lost.
YEAH RIGHT as they say
Posted on 24-10-2012 13:56 | By Scambuster
Well that brought the pigeons out of the loft didn't but methinks you wakaites doth protest too much.The Captain makes some good points and the feigned indignation has the mythical look about it all.Does anyone on board have a real job ? The questions that have never been answered is how much is this junket as an exercise in futility costing and who is paying for it all ??
waka fraud
Posted on 24-10-2012 23:06 | By Captain Sensible
Totally agree with Mr Gordon. And Piripi I think you are looking at this with rosey spectacles. You say maoris had a concept of latitude and polynesians had names for these concepts... well maori now have names for the Inland Revenue and Digital TV but they are all recently made up. So tell me, without using Latitude and Longitude, what are you actually aiming for?? Like a lot of maori culture, it's make it up as you go. Ancient maoris did not use anything like a sextant and to say they did is a lie. Stoneage culture now trying to rewrite history to try for some kudos, but it just does not wash. It would be easier to find a piece of a needle in a haystack than Easter Island using the methods you claim. There's no doubt a sneek peek at the GPS is happening on a regular basis.
mimi pohara
Posted on 25-10-2012 14:34 | By Mimi Pohara
Scambuster O n e of the crew on this waka is Candice Paewai who is a very succesfull Maori bussiness woman, in fact you can rent out her luxurious home while she is away for $500 a day.
A Rapanui / tipuna blond moment
Posted on 26-10-2012 07:05 | By Scambuster
Mimi what business would that be exactly ? publishing or resort rafting not Waitangi settlements growth grievance industry work I trust.Well @ $500 a night that sounds like a Coromandel resort not a house so what's the go pray tell?
Dear scambuster
Posted on 30-10-2012 09:55 | By twt4
No need to worry mate, it's not being funded by your tax paying dollar and in terms of how it's being funded- well that's a bit of information I hope you toil over.
NARROW MINDED
Posted on 07-11-2012 10:07 | By MrsPalmer
YOUR JUST UPSET THAT YOU HAD TO BE TAUGHT IN A CLASS ROOM OVER MANY YEARS, AND THE CREW OUT THERE ARE SAILING WITH THE MASTER JACK THATCHER SOMETHING YOU WILL NEVER UNDERSTAND YOUR TOO ARROGANT AND ITS OBVIOUS THAT JELOUSY IS EATING YOU UP. MAORI/POLYNESIAN SAILORS WERE FAR MORE ADVANCED NAVAGATING AND SAILING THE OCCEAN THAN ANY OF YOU SO CALLED PROFFESSIONAL MARINES.
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