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THE PACIFIC TRADITIONS SOCIETY NEWSLETTER
January 1999

ALOHA, AND HAPPY NEW YEAR     to all Vaka Taumako Project supporters! Mimi and Meph have just returned from a brief but productive visit to Temotu Province and New Zealand. They had hoped to join Chief Kaveia and his crew on the Vaka Taumako when it returned from Nifiloli in the Reef Islands to Taumako in the Duffs. Traditionally tepuke that sailed from Duffs to Reefs with August- September's south-east trade winds as the Vaka Taumako did would go home when westerlies set in during November-December. Mimi and Meph hoped to accompany the canoe on such a return and learn elements of seafaring from the Chief firsthand. Heretofore, they have always stood by, observed, and recorded; this time they wanted to sail. Unfortunately, Nature had other ideas. Winds stubbornly blew either not at all or from just the wrong direction for a voyage to Duffs. Time did not hang heavy on anyone's hands, however. Among other things that occurred: 1) A SIGNIFICANT MEETING OF THE VAEAKAU DISTRICT CHIEFS AND ELDERS (Vaeakau is the political and cultural entity that includes the Polynesian peoples of the outer Reef Islands): At this meeting, the Chiefs voted to accept Kaveia's offer to build a tealolili type of voyaging canoe (a smaller, faster craft than a tepuke) on which the young people of their district can learn traditional seafaring and trading. They hope that reviving the interisland economic networks originally established by canoe voyagers will encourage production of customary trade goods (including canoes), thereby providing profitable employment for both sailors and craftspeople. 2) KAVEIA'S LECTURE TOUR OF VAEAKAU: At the invitation of chiefs on Pileni, Nukapu, Matema, and Nifiloli, Kaveia gave talks on various aspects of local Polynesian traditions that people in the Reef Islands have forgotten. Topics that he spoke about included land use and tenure, marriage, economy, etiquette, and, of course, seafaring. He admitted to enjoying the lecture circuit so much that he was in no hurry to get home! Nor were the Vaeakau people anxious to have him leave. (Perhaps this had something to do with why the wind never came right!) 3) A HIGHLIGHT OF MIMI AND MEPH'S VISIT was an overnight stay on the tiny atoll of Nukapu in the Western Reefs. There they met Emily, whose skill at wind management had helped Gryphon make it to Lata in May after contrary trades had changed what might have been a four-day sail into sixteen days of going in circles. It was an unanticipated opportunity to thank this remarkable woman personally.     They also asked her help in changing the wind so that the tepuke could sail home. This Emily agreed to do, but, unfortunately for Mimi and Meph, her wind-working requires five days to take effect, and they visited her only three days before they had to leave Temotu. Communications with Temotu being what they aren't (see below), we do not yet even know if the tepuke finally sailed. WE ARE PLEASED WITH THE PROJECT'S SECOND VIDEO, VAKA TAUMAKO, The First Voyage, which was finished shortly before we left. Esther Figueroa of Juniroa Productions in Honolulu went to Taumako in August to help the Taumako students video the sail to Nifiloli. She has done a fine job of editing what she and others shot into a 20-minute piece which we hope will encourage donations for a longer documentary. It contains some excellent footage of the tepuke under sail. We have copies in both NTSC (American VHS) and PAL (European, Australian, New Zealand etc.) formats for sale at US$20 each. WE ALSO HAVE COPIES OF THE HEIRS OF LATA, our first promotional video, for sale. Although not as polished a work as the second tape, this one has some fine footage, shot mostly by the Taumako students, of tepuke construction. (When we showed these tapes at Nifiloli, people liked them, but said they should be longer. We agree. Production of a full-length documentary is high on our list of priorities.) SPEAKING OF PRIORITIES: Here are the Project's near and long term goals: 1) CONSTRUCTION OF A CANOE HOUSE AT TAUMAKO. The Chief hopes to begin building a shelter for Vaka Taumako at Kahula, birthplace of both Lata and his canoe. Besides sheltering the tepuke and other voyaging canoes, this structure should serve as a center for seafaring instruction, research library, museum, meeting house, and hostel. Lata Custom School of Traditional Voyaging Knowledge, when it is established, could also use this area as its headquarters.     We estimate that the house will cost about US$10,000.00 to build. Although timber for posts and beams is available on the island, material for a durable roof will have to be brought in. Those who give up fishing and other work to help with construction will have to be compensated. Finally, protection of videotapes, books, and other research materials from pests will require a storage facility unavailable in Duffs. It may be necessary to import a secure container from Hawai'i or New Zealand. 2) CATARACT SURGERY FOR KAVEIA. A surgeon on Kaua'i has offered to donate the costs of this operation, and Wilcox Hospital is contributing ancillary medical expenses, but we still need funds to pay for his airfare to Kaua'i. This will be about US$1500.00. Moreover, recovery time for the surgery will be about six weeks. If possible, therefore, we would like to arrange the surgery to coincide with another of our goals... 3) A SECOND CULTURAL EXCHANGE. The four Duff Islanders who visited Hawai'i in June of 1998 had a remarkable experience; so did those who hosted them. We hope to bring a larger group--ten or twelve--for a longer visit this year. (Perhaps the group will be able to build a canoe on Kaua'i or Maui; we have received offers of materials and sites for this.)     It will be an expensive undertaking, however. Those that visited in June stayed at Meph's house and needed only one rental van for transport. Ka 'Imi Na'auao o Hawai'i Nei generously donated inter-island airfare for them to visit Maui. A group of ten will need commensurately more ground transport, accomodation, food, inter-island airfares etc. We estimate that we shall need about US$3500-4000/each for these people's expenses.     In New Zealand, we visited with Hec Busby, one of the most important Maori canoe kupuna. He is preparing to build the Kupe Center, a cultural enclave dedicated to canoe voyaging, on his land at Doubtless Bay, and was anxious to show Kaveia around. If possible, we hope to extend the cultural exchange to Aotearoa. 4) PRODUCTION OF FULL-LENGTH DOCUMENTARY AND ARCHIVAL VIDEOS, and publication of written reports. As we have noted here and elsewhere, several magazines have published articles on the Project, and we anticipate others will do so. However, we need more substantial written documents. We hope to produce at least two books, one by Mimi and Meph, and one by the Duff Islanders (possibly with added contributions from other Vaeakau people). 5) THE PROJECT'S SUPPORT VESSEL, Gryphon, needs repairs. This sturdy friend has done good service, and deserves some attention. While performing routine maintenance on the mast on 23 December, Mimi found serious dryrot damage. This means that 20-25 feet of mast timber needs replacing ASAP. Mimi hopes to do this work in April.     Gryphon is moored at Tryphena, Great Barrier Island, New Zealand. She will have to sail to Whangarei, about a day away in favorable wind conditions, for mast repairs. Many people in the Antipodean yachting community have generously offered to help find timber, work on the carpentry etc, but there will still be expenses. 6) MIMI AND MEPH HOPE TO MAKE A RESEARCH VISIT to England, Holland, Denmark, Germany and Norway later this year, possibly in September- October. 7) WHILE IN NEW ZEALAND, we listened with interest to the nightly News One conversations with "Team Iridium" on its Antarctic trek. We have been thinking that an Iridium phone could be an asset to the Project, but only if its support network is truly global. (Other systems that we have investigated which claim "global" or "worldwide" coverage have proved to have a different concept of those terms than we do; we did not find a system whose "worldwide" coverage extends to Temotu Province!) Team Iridium's transmissions from various antarctic points impressed us with their clarity.     We also know that recently one or two satelite phones have been used in Temotu. When Mostyn called us from Lata in November, he used one of these, an emergency unit flown in by Telekom Solomons to restore communications with Santa Cruz after the regular lines had been out of service for several weeks. Also, Lucy Irvine, a writer for the London Sunday Times who is stationed on Pigeon Island in the eastern Reefs, has been using one to file reports.     Most long distance communication in Temotu is by radio; telephone lines, even when they work, only extend as far as Lata, the capital. For us to contact Taumako requires a Fax or call to someone in Lata who can relay a message over the radio (assuming that the radio is working), and then return information to us. Often the radio and Telekom Lata are not open at the same time and the would-be communicant must find a set in some other part of town from which to call Taumako. This makes it impossible for us to have anything like a conversation with Duffs. A reliable sat-phone would certainly benefit the Project, and possibly the Duff community as well. FOR THE MORE DISTANT FUTURE, we also hope to sail a canoe to either the Pacific Arts Festival in New Caledonia in 2000, or to the Melanesian Cultural Festival in Vanuatu in 2001. This will require some advance scouting of sea roads--perhaps we can do this aboard the MV Southern Cross when she makes her annual voyage from Temotu to Vanuatu. The Chief hopes to use his surgically corrected eyes to show the star and sea signs to apprentices during this exploratory voyage before the actual sail. OTHER NEWS ITEMS: A PRINTING GLITCH has delayed production of the Vaka Taumako Post Cards, which the Solomon Islands Philatelic Office of Solomons Post intends to produce. We hope that these handsome cards, which feature three photos that Jim Bailey took of the 12-9-97 launching celebration, will soon be available. (We are as anxious to see them as anyone.) SOLOMON AIRLINES, which has helped us with airfares and publicity in the past, hopes to print an article on the Project in the May '99 issue of its inflight magazine. Many people read an article on the launching festivities which appeared in the magazine in June of 1998, and we hope the next one will be equally popular. One of those who read the 1998 article was Pauline Walker, who, with her husband, anthropologist Anthony Walker, attended the Melanesian Cultural Festival in Honiara last July. They stayed at the Travellers' Motel at the same time as Kaveia and the group returning from Hawai'i. Pauline, who writes regularly for Pacific Islands Monthly magazine did an article on the Project. It appeared in either the September or October issue. Although Mimi reviewed Pauline's draft, none of us saw the finished piece. If anyone out there has a copy and would send us one, we'd be most grateful. THE DECEMBER ISSUE OF CANOE AND KAYAK MAGAZINE (p. 14), contains a short but thoughtful piece on Vaka Taumako. The photos accompanying this article are especially good. WE ARE DELIGHTED TO LEARN THAT KA'U LANDING MAGAZINE will publish an article on VTP in its February issue. IF YOU SUBSCRIBE TO WOODEN BOAT MAGAZINE, keep your eyes peeled for an article on the Project. We do not know when this will be published, but it is in the works now, and we hope it will get to press sometime this year. AT 7:00 PM ON FRIDAY, 5 FEBRUARY, MIMI AND MEPH will give a talk at the National Tropical Botanical Garden Headquarters in Lawa'i. They plan to show the new video, and discuss the August voyage. Others who went with them may also talk about their experiences. If you are on Kaua'i at that time, please come to this free presentation. (NB: The talk that Mimi and Roselle Bailey gave at the Botanical Garden last year was packed, so if you want a good seat (or any seat at all) come early!)     Anyone wishing to make donations to the Project should make checks payable to: The Vaka Taumako Project of the Pacific Traditions Society, and send them to Mimi. Once again, we thank all of you for continuing to support this project's long-term goals. Chief Kaveia once remarked that the building of a tepuke first of all requires the planting of a garden. We have compared the entire project to a garden. At this time that garden is starting to grow. This is both exciting and sobering; exciting to see the growth, sobering to know how much more work we must do to keep the garden growing. With your help we can do it.