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Anyone interested in following the voyage of the four double-hulled canoe
vessels that recently set off from Auckland can follow progress at-
http://www.voyaging.co.ck/
and then clicking on "latest updates".

There, direct messages can be found that have not been filtered through a
press agency.

It seems that one of the four is navigating without instruments. The other
three appear to be fully equipped, including GPS, and all are travelling in
close company and radio contact.

In a previous posting I had speculated whether there might be some guide
vessel. A message on 23 April clarifies that, stating-
"It is sometimes frustrating waiting for  the other canoes but from a
safety point of view it is important that the canoes are close together so
our support vessels can track us." There had been no mention of support
vessels in the press releases, but that seems a sensible precaution, if
detracting a bit from the image that has been presented..

George.

contact George Huxtable, at  george@hux.me.uk
or at +44 1865 820222 (from UK, 01865 820222)
or at 1 Sandy Lane, Southmoor, Abingdon, Oxon OX13 5HX, UK.
----- Original Message -----
From: "George Huxtable" 
To: 
Sent: Monday, April 19, 2010 6:02 PM
Subject: [NavList] Re: Polynesian canoes set off from New Zealand to
Raiatea (French Polynesia)


| Peter Fogg drew our attention to the following press release, copied
below
| and to be found, in the Sydney Morning Herald and elsewhere, such as-
|
| http://www.smh.com.au/world/in-their-ancestors-wake-20100418-smo2.html
|
| We would be well-advised to take such details with a pinch of salt, as
with
| all such publicity material.
|
| It differs significantly from a BBC report, at -
| http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8628185.stm
|
| though I wouldn't choose to credit one or the other with a monopoly on
| truth.
|
| For example, a "fleet of replica canoes" has become "... fibreglass hulls
| which have been lashed together with wooden beams and ropes." Not much of
a
| replica, then. In that small picture, details of the rig are rather hard
to
| make out, but it looks suspiciously like alloy spars and wire stays;
hardly
| a Polynesian tradition..
|
| And I note that an earlier canoe from the Cook Islands Voyaging Society
was
| fitted with an engine, so it's worth asking whether these are, too.
Which,
| if so, may well be a wise precaution, but may raise questions about the
| genuine achievement in any "re-enactment". The publicity material may
well
| be reticent about such matters, but they are legitimate questions that
need
| asking, and answering. Another question is whether the four canoes are to
| be accompanied by a conventional "guide vessel".
|
| The very different notions about the expected duration of the voyage, in
| the two reports, are notable.
|
| Nowadays, the papers tend to publish such hand-out material as-is,
without
| any questions asked. Such is the degradation of the press.
|
| contact George Huxtable, at  george@hux.me.uk
| or at +44 1865 820222 (from UK, 01865 820222)
| or at 1 Sandy Lane, Southmoor, Abingdon, Oxon OX13 5HX, UK.
|
| ======================
| ----- Original Message -----
| From: "Peter Fogg" 
| To: 
| Sent: Monday, April 19, 2010 6:35 AM
| Subject: [NavList] Polynesian canoes set off from New Zealand to Raiatea
| (French Polynesia)
|
|
| WELLINGTON: Nearly 1000 years after the last of the great Polynesian
| migration journeys across the Pacific, a group of descendants have set
sail
| in a fleet of replica canoes to relive the voyages.
|
| Four double-hulled canoes with crews of up to 16 people left Auckland
| yesterday to sail 4000 kilometres to the French Polynesian island of
| Raiatea.
|
| Raiatea is believed to have been the departure point for the last great
| Polynesian migrations to New Zealand, Hawaii and Easter Island between
700
| and 1000 years ago.
|
| The crews - from New Zealand, Fiji and the Cook Islands, and a
| multinational one from Samoa, Vanuatu and Tonga - expect that the voyage
| will take 20 to 25 days.
|
| They will then be joined by a Tahitian crew for a voyage of 1200
kilometres
| to the Cook Islands before returning to their home ports.
|
| ''It will be the first time since the great migration that a fleet of
| canoes has sailed from Raiatea to Rarotonga [in the Cook Islands] on that
| sacred route down to New Zealand,'' said Te Aturangi Nepia-Clamp, the
| acting president of the Cook Islands Voyaging Society.
|
| With strong winds and clear skies, the captain of the New Zealand canoe,
| Magnus Danbolt, told Radio New Zealand that the weather would be perfect
| for the next few days but the crews would have to be vigilant and look
out
| for each other.
|
| The 22-metre, twin-masted canoes were built over the past year.
|
| Agence France-Presse
|
|
|
|

   

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