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Waka ama – outrigger canoeing

by Hoturoa Barclay-Kerr

Kua roa ngā mano tau e whakamahi nei ngā iwi o Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa i te waka ama. Nō ngā tau 1980 ka kaingākau te marea ki te waka ama.


Traditional waka ama

Ko te waka ama kāore i rite ki ētahi anō waka, inā rā he ama tōna hei pupuri tika i a ia ki te wai.

Hei aha te ama?

Kotahi anake te takere o ngā waka Māori, pērā i te waka taua, i te waka tīwai me te waka tētē. Nā te whānui o ngā rākau, ka whānui anō ngā waka, ā, he roa ake i te hōhonu o te waka (mai i te takere ki ngā rauawa). Nā whai anō ka maunu pai ērā waka. Kāpā ko ngā waka ama, he whāiti iho, nā reira ka whai ama kia kore ai e taupoki. Ko tōna ingoa roa he amatiatia. He mea ruruku ngā ama ki te kīato, ā, ka ruruku te kīato ki te waka. I te nuinga o te wā, kei te taha mauī te ama e noho ana.

Ngā waka ama tōmua

Kua roa ngā rautau e whakamahia ana te waka ama ki Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa. Engari tae rawa mai te Pākehā, kua hāhā haere te waka ama ki Aotearoa. Ka kitea te waka hourua (mō te hī ika) engari kāore i nui te kite i ngā waka ama.

Ka rokohanga a Te Māhia e Hēmi Kuki i tōna haerenga tuatahi mai i te tau 1769, ka kōkiritia tōna kaipuke e ngā waka. E ai ki a Sydney Parkinson, ‘ He maha tonu ngā waka e mau ama ana; ko tētahi e mau whakairo ana, he mea whakamīharo1 I te haerenga tuarua mai o Kuki i te tau 1773 ka kitea ētahi atu waka ki Tōtaranui. E ai ki a George Forster ‘he ama, he poro rākau rānei e herea ana ki ētahi pae kia kore ai te waka e tahuri noa’.2 Ko rāua tahi ka kī kāore i kitea nuitia te waka ama i aua wā. I muri mai kāore i kōrerotia e te hunga mihingare, e wai ake rānei.

Ngā waka ama o tua whakarere

Kotahi noa iho te taunaki kikokiko o te waka ama kua huraina ki Aotearoa. Arā, i keria mai i ngā repo o te mānia o Taieri ki Ōtākou i te tau 1895. Kāore ōna ritenga i te ao Māori, tērā te rerekē rawa o te hanga i te takere. Me te mea nei he mea tārai ki te toki kōhatu. Kotahi anake te tauira ama kua hahua ake; arā, i te pito o te rautau 1800. I tūhuratia te ama i te Ana o Monck e tūtata ana ki Sumner.

I ngaro pea te waka ama nā te nunui ake o ngā rākau i Aotearoa i ērā i Hawaiki-areare. Nā whai anō i taea e rātou te hanga ngā takere whānui, kia mānu ai te waka.

Footnotes
    • Sydney Parkinson, A journal of a voyage to the South Seas. London: Caliban Books, 1984, p. 91 (originally published 1773). Back
    • Georg Forster, A voyage around the world. Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 1986, p. 136 (originally published 1777). Back

Contemporary waka ama

Te waka ama i Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa

He hī ika, he ō kawenga, he tautiri moana hoki ētahi whakamahinga o te waka ama ki ngā moutere. He tākaro makau te waka ama ki Hawaii me Poronīhia Wīwī. E 70 kiromita te matara o ētahi reihi; arā he tauoma mai i tētahi moutere ki tētahi. Arā anō ngā tauomaoma 500 mita, 1,500 mita rānei. I Aotearoa nei, he whakataetae te umanga nui. Tata tonu i te katoa o ngā waka ama he mea hanga ki ngā papanga matatini pērā i te kakakoata. Ka mutu he āhuatanga e kitea nuitia ana i te ao.

Hawaikinui

I te tekau tau 1980 ka hika anō te hiahia ki tēnei mea te waka ama, whai muri i te tāraitanga o Matahi Brightwell rāua ko Francis Cowan (he kaiwhakatere nō ngā moutere) i te hourua tere moana, a Hawaikinui. I te tau 1985 ka tere mai te waka i Tahiti kāore hoki ōna taputapu hōpara o ēnei rā. I te wā e tāraia ana te waka nei ka tīmata te kaingākau o Brightwell ki te hākinakina ā-motu o Tahiti, arā te waka ama. I te mutunga nāna i whakarite te takoha o ngā waka ama e rua (tokoono) ki te motu. Nā whai anō ka taki whāia e te tini me te mano o Aotearoa.

Ngā karapu tuatahi

Nā te haerenga o Hawaikinui ka hihiri ake a Kris Kjeldsen kia ako i te tārai waka me te tauomaoma waka ki ngā rangatahi o tōna kāinga o Pawarenga ki Hokianga. Nāwai, ā, i te tau 1987 ka whakatūria te karapu waka ama o Ngā Hoe o Pawarenga. Arā anō ngā karapu waka ama ka whakaūria i te tekau tau 1980: ko Māreikura o Tūranga, te kāinga o Brightwell tae atu ki te Karapu o Ōkahu ki Tāmaki-makaurau me Mitimitaga o le Pasifika ki Whāngārei.

Whakahaerenga ā-motu tuatahi

I te tau 1987 ka whakatūria te Tatou Hoe o Aotearoa. I te tau i muri mai, e rua ngā kapa o Aotearoa ka haere ki Hawaii mō ngā Tauomaoma Waka Ama o te Ao. Ka tipu anō ngā karapu me te whakahaerenga ā-motu. Nō te tau 1989 ka tū te Whakataetae Waka Ama tuatahi ki Karapiro.

Te tāruru tuatahi

I te tau 1990 ka whakamana te Kotahitanga o Ngā Waka o Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa ko Aotearoa hei wāhi tūnga mō te Whakataetae Waka o te Ao. Nō konei me hanga e ngā kaiwhakahaere he tāruru waka ama, kia rite hoki ki ngā hoahoa a te Kotahitanga o Ngā Waka. Ko ēnei ngā waka tuatahi a ētahi karapu. Kei te whakataetae tonu ētahi i roto i ēnei tūmomo waka, ahakoa te putanga mai o ētahi hoahoa waka tere ake i taua wā.

Ngā whakahaerenga ā-motu, ā-ao hoki

I te tekau tau 1990 ka huri o Tatou Hoe o Aotearoa ki Ngā Kaihoe o Aotearoa. Kātahi ka panoni hoki te ingoa o te Kotahitanga o Ngā Waka, arā te International Polynesian Canoe Federation ki te International Va’a Federation. I panoni te ingoa nā te mea kua whānui rawa te hoe waka, kāpā ko ngā waka o Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa anake. Ko ētahi o ngā reihi he takitahi, he tokorua, he tokotoru, he tokoono.

Mai anō i te tau 1989 e tū ana ngā whakataetae ā-motu. Mai i te tau 1990 kua whai kanohi a Aotearoa ki Ngā Whakataetae Hoe Waka o te Ao, ā, i angitU rātou ki ngā reanga maha. Arā anō ngā whenua o te ao kua tae ētahi kapa.

Ngā kaiwhakataetae waka ama

I te tau 2012 neke atu i te kotahi mano ngā mema o Waka Ama Aotearoa, ā, e 43 ōna karapu me ngā rohe e ono. Ko ngā pakeke mai i te kura tuatahi, ā, hipa atu ki te 70 tau. He maha kē atu ngā wāhine i ngā tāne, otiia i te reanga kaumātua he tino maha kē atu.

Te anamata

Kei te tere ake ngā waka ama o ēnei rā. Kei te whanake haere hoki ngā rautaki a ngā kaihoe. He huhua tonu ngā tikanga, ngā whakataukī me ngā tohutohu kei roto i te tārai waka me te hoe waka. Nā whai anō ka akiaki ngā karapu kia ako i te reo me ngā tikanga. 

Ahakoa ko te tauomaoma te tino o ngā mahi waka ama ki Aotearoa, he pai noa iho ki ētahi ki te kuhu ki rō waka ama mō te hī, mō te harikoa hoki.


Hononga, rauemi nō waho

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How to cite this page: Hoturoa Barclay-Kerr, 'Waka ama – outrigger canoeing', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/mi/waka-ama-outrigger-canoeing/print (accessed 19 March 2024)

He kōrero nā Hoturoa Barclay-Kerr, i tāngia i te 5 o Hepetema 2013