[  Back to Project Updates  ] ||| [  Back to Table of Contents  ]

The Vaka Taumako Project of
the Pacific Traditions Society

NEWSLETTER: OCTOBER 2000       Volume 3 Issue 3
		Inside this issue: Kaveia and Ms. Vaka Taumako Coming! Tealolili Kaua'i fundraiser 1904 photo of a tepuke Repairs on the PTS flagship "Gryphon" Digital video transfer and editing equipment purchased Preservation of archival videotapes begins Lapita Conference & other news briefs News from Solomon Islands - PEACE! SPECIAL LIMITED OFFER

 

Kaveia and Ms. Vaka Taumako Coming   Paramount Chief Kaveia, founder of the Vaka Taumako Project (VTP), and his 16 year old daughter, named Vaka Taumako, are holding reservations for flights to Kaua'i on 30 November, 2000. VTP Director, Mimi George, will fly to Solomons to help them through officialdom and accompany them on the month of open ocean canoe passage and four flights it will take for them to arrive at the Garden Isle. Principal Secretary of VTP, Meph Wyeth, will accompany them on their return journey starting 25 December. Since it took them six months traveling time to visit in Kaua'i for 7 weeks last year, every effort is now being made to shorten their journey time. GRYPHON'S new mast is ready for stepping. See below for story on repairs to the PTS Flagship. Generous donations to the Vaka Taumako Project have made it possible to bring them to Hawai'i so that they can make some progress on building, and making plans for, the small, light, traditional Polynesian voyaging canoe of the type called “tealolili” or “rising vessel,” named Tealolili Kaua'i. The work will begin with moving the tealolili to a beach site on the mouth of the Anahola River, and acquiring an 18 ft. by 3 ft. timber suitable for the two crossbeams. At 88 years old Kaveia is not himself a laborer. But he will, he says, give some instruction to Kauaian volunteers on how to rough cut some of the canoe parts with adzes. He will also show us how to select drinking coconuts, prepare the fibers, and make strong sennit cordage which will be used to lash the tealolili next year. While Kaveia is here, plans will be made for this canoe to be used as a youth training and voyaging research vessel. Kaveia and his Kauaian Vaka Taumako Project collaborators will also make plans for a group of five Taumakoan carvers and three weavers to come and complete the canoe during the (northern) summer of 2001. At the conclusion of that work, the Tealolili Kaua'i will be launched and trial sailed on an inter-island voyage. Ms. Vaka Taumako is coming to make friends with other youth, and to assist in building the tealolili. While she is here she will meet with some Hawaiian language and culture students who want to learn how to make a traditional lauhala sail. In September, cultural kumu (teacher) Puna Dawson contacted the Vaka Taumako Project on behalf of these students and the Na Kalai Wa'a organization, and requested that the Taumakoans help them to weave a traditional sail for the large voyaging canoe, named Namahoe, which they are making from entirely modern materials. “We want a fast sail” Puna explained, “And the traditional crescent shape is aerodynamically still the best. But each time we have tried to make such a sail for Hokule'a and Hawai'iloa, it has torn in the slightest of wind. We need to learn again from the people who still know how.” THE "VAKA TAUMAKO", built recently, shares its name with the chief's daughter. The Vaka Taumako Project is happy to receive such an order, and will attempt to find funding to bring the weavers needed to make a seaworthy lauhala sail as a gift for Namahoe. During this visit we hope that Ms. Vaka Taumako can instruct the volunteers in how to identify, select, and care for the plants to be used, and show them how to harvest and prepare the lauhala for weaving. When Ms. Vaka returns home, the volunteers can conduct an island-wide survey of where the particular plants needed are located on Kaua'i, request permissions for harvesting of them, and facilitate care for the plants until it is time to harvest them. Just before the Taumako group arrives next year, the student sail-makers can harvest the lauhala and Ms. Vaka and the other weaving experts from Taumako can show them what to do next. A grant proposal is being written and donations sought to fund the effort.

Last year, Kaveia and his crew of carpenters and weavers were very happy to see how interested the Kaua'i people were in meeting them and seeing them use traditional materials and tools. However, because of the volume of visitors, social and fundraising events that occurred last year, the work on the canoe went rather slowly. “There were too many meetings! There was so much visiting, we could not finish! We are embarrassed!” they complained. So, Chief Kaveia has requested that until the tealolili is completed there only be a few full-time Kauaian volunteers working quietly with him at the site, and there only be one non-work event scheduled that involves Taumakoans. This event will be a “reception/fundraiser” at the beach at the mouth of Anahola River (makai of Aliomanu) on Saturday, 3 Dec. (see article below). The main hull and some of the parts of the Tealolili Kaua'i will be on display. Funds raised will be used to bring the Taumakoans to Kaua'i next year to finish building Tealolil i Kaua'i and to make the lauhala sail for Namahoe. Donation of a tent or tents, or the cash to buy one, is requested. We need to shelter a 30 by 40 foot worksite area from November, 2000 - September, 2001, maybe longer. Cash donations are required for purchase of a CD burner, videotape stock, and batteries so we can record the building process and produce a video show for viewing on Ho'ike and other statewide TV access channels.

PHOTO OF A "tepuke" taken by Lucas in 1904 that Renate learned of from Burkhart Fenner of Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum in Germany. Fenner kindly provided us this print for non-commercial use.

	Tealolili Kaua'i Fundraiser Sunday, Dec. 3   Come meet the Chief! Everyone is welcome to come to Anahola Beach for ono voyaging canoe style lunches ($10 donation per plate) and to meet Paramount Chief Koloso Kaveia and his daughter, Ms. Vaka Taumako. The main hull and some of the parts of the voyaging canoe Tealolili Kaua'i will be on display. Kaveia will tell how the tealolili is sailed and navigated. Some of this island's best musicians will play, and some of Kaua'i's finest halau will dance. If possible some video tape footage of Taumako will be shown. A silent and oral auction will be held. All the back stock of custom-design (by Taumakoans) t-shirts and crafts from Taumako will be for sale at discount prices. Proceeds from this fundraiser will be used to bring the Taumakoans back in 2001 to complete the Tealolili Kaua'i and other project expenses. The festivities will begin at noon and end at 5 p.m. For more information, updates and changes, and/or to volunteer help or supplies, please call Healani at 632-2073. Mahalo!
	Pacific Traditions Society flagship "Gryphon" will sail again
	GRYPHON (center) on the hardstand at Whangarei, New Zealand.	The Atkins 32, full keel gaff cutter Gryphon is being transformed back into a seaworthy vessel by the skilled shipwrights and helping hands of Whangarei, North Island, Aotearoa (New Zealand). “She was darn near a wreck when she arrived in New Zealand in the end of October, 1998, after 2.5 years hard use supporting the Vaka Taumako Project in the Solomon Islands,” reported Mimi George. Thanks to a generous donation, and under the guidance of Mark Webby and taking advantage of the $2 NZ for $1 US exchange rate, her rotting mast, sidedecks and bulwarks have been repaired, the rigging has been upgraded, rusty deck fittings replaced, the engine is being overhauled, three new sails have been made, and she has been rewired and is being painted all over. Gryphon will depart N.Z. in April or May, 2001. Her next passage will probably be N.Z. to Hawai'i, where she can support the Tealolili Kaua'i sailing program and if needed again in Solomons, she can sail there from Hawai'i within a month or so.
	WORKING HARD! Mark Webbe and Meph Wyeth steam bend a plank that Mark will use to patch Gryphon's deck.

Digital video transfer and editing unit purchased   The VTP bought an Avio, which can be used to make digital transfers of our backlog of deteriorating linear tapes, including the 80 hours of original tape recorded during the building and sailing of Vaka Taumako in 1997 and '98. The Avio can also function with a CD burner. In the near future we hope to raise the funds to buy computer memory and software which will allow digitization onto CDs rather than dv minitapes. Step by step! Mimi doing a "20 minute job" (which took two hours) on Gryphon's bowsprit. No wonder she's laughing!         Preservation of original archival videotapes begins   One of our friends, Renate Westner, is visiting here on Kaua'i until January 15. While she's here, she has volunteered to help us with the urgently needed transfers and logging of the old archival tapes. An anthropologist and 'round-the-world sailor, she visited the Solomon Islands in her own boat two years ago. She is volunteering her time because she believes in the importance of what the Vaka Taumako Project is trying to accomplish. “This is a last chance to learn about authentic Polynesian voyaging traditions,” she recently stated. Drop by the VTP Archive and Research Center at 3408 'Eono Street, Lihu'e, and meet Renate (call 632-2073).       RENATE & MIMI, both world sailors and anthropologists, get some paddling in at Nawiliwili, Kaua'i.

Lapita Conference, Canberra, 19-23 June 2000   As we reported in the June newsletter, Mimi submitted a paper to this scholarly conclave on Pacific prehistory and archaeology. Originally scheduled for Suva, the conference had to be moved to Canberra when Fiji's political situation became difficult. Although this last-minute change of venue was disappointing to those antipodeans anticipating a mid-winter escape to sunny Suva and challenging to the organizers, the gathering was a great success. Congratulations and thanks go to hosts Geoff Clark, Athol Anderson, and their collaborators. The sudden change in program meant that Mimi could not go, so Meph read her paper. To illustrate some points, she showed exerpts from “The Heirs of Lata” and “The First Voyage.” So enthusiastic was the audience that most of it stayed on to see the entire “First Voyage” after the session ended. (This was on a day when presentations ran from 0900 to 1830 with only a short lunch break!) Many of those who attended expressed support for VTP. As one graduate student said, “Thank you for showing us what is going on in the real world.” Conference organizers hope to publish the papers by June of 2001. Anyone interested in the new ideas and information on the prehistory of Oceania may want to obtain a copy. To do this, contact Geoff Clark, email:  geoffrey.clark@coombs.anu.edu.au       PUBLICATION NEWS   Mimi's article on the Vaka Taumko appeared in the Sept-Oct/00 issue of Wooden Boat magazine. The magazine also contains several other articles on traditional Pacific canoes, and one on the Hawaiian replicas. We recommend this publication to anyone who wants some good general information. The article which appeared last May in the July 1999 issue of PACIFIC ARTS MAGAZINE is now posted on the VTP website.       Hokule'a visits Kaua'i   Venerable Hokule'a, first of the Oceanic replica canoes that have both embodied and symbolized the Polynesian cultural revival of the last thirty years, arrived in Kalapaki Bay, Kaua'i on 23 of September for an educational tour of the island. Paddling out to greet it were Mimi, Meph, and long-time supporter Andy Bushnell in the four-man outrigger owned by Andy and Meph. Also on hand for the occasion were Billy Barker and Scotty Guinn of Dogstar Productions, who interviewed Puna Dawson, Dennis Chun, and others. We wish Hokule'a well on its visit and subsequent travels.   Students visit Tealolili Kaua'i A student group from Queen Lili'uokalani Children's Center, O'ahu, visits the Vaka Taumako Project's Tealolili Kaua'i.

News from Solomon Islands           The War is Over!   All sides have apologized to everyone and are disarming themselves. An international monitoring force from Australia and New Zealand will soon be in Honiara. Recovery and repair are already underway, and members of the MEF and IFM will be offered assistance and training in development projects funded by various nations. For updates check out these websites:  Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation   or  Radio Australia Pacific Beat Excerpts from a letter we received on Oct. 8, 2000 from a long time resident of Honiara: Once again Honiara has wobbled through a typical week. Home burnings, serious house break-ins, low level looting, stealing and theft, plenty of gun cleaning (firing off high-powered weapons in the middle of the day or night claiming that these are being 'cleaned') and the usual round of 'compensation' claims for fender-benders, minor accidents and such have been our lot. Let it be noted immediately, however, the bulk of these crimes have been committed by opportunists, common thieves and our own brand of con men who are working over time practicing their special type of mischief before the curtain brings down on their specialties. Many times the criminals rig themselves out in camouflaged half-uniforms, sport eye shades and wear the obligatory head band so it gives an appearance of a single militant group. But as said above, a vast number of these criminal bands are but garden-variety opportunists taking advantage of the criminal atmosphere that thrives here. It is clear that the gun does not create security. This is a by-product of trust, human beings trusting each other. National trust, however, has been shattered, basically destroyed and will take literally years of careful nurturing before it begins to blossom once again. On the horizon, the nation and Honiara in particular carry the fond hope that much of our nightmare will come to an end when both groups of militants sign off on a Peace Accord in Townsville next week. But the success of that long sought for outcome remains tenuous. Neither the IFM nor the FEM with the connivance of Government wish to listen to Civil Society's understanding of how to bring a lasting, just peace. The Sogavare-led government works from a weakened position. The Eagles, according to Honiara street talk, is government and the Cabinet takes its marching orders from an Eagles hierarchy. According to a recent interview of the PM, the government “is not against the participation of the civil society in the peace process”; “However, (it) cannot be included . . . without the agreement of all parties and “both militant groups have expressed their opposition.” Yet, at the end of the day, Civil Society is asked not only to accept what the Townsville Peace Accord spells out but more importantly to work to make it a a success. Of course Civil Society has much at stake and it will work diligently to bring the nation back from its present chaos but the Boys with Guns have sown a terrible legacy of distrust.

 

"Moko Uli" tanks at half-price/$5   SPECIAL LIMITED OFFER: Only $5 US for light green tank tops with the "Moko Uli" design - the lizard with the long tail. Specify size (small, medium, large, and limited number of X-large). The deadline for this offer is Dec. 31, 2000. (Please add $1 per shirt for postage and handling, and we'll pay the excise tax.) Mahalo for your support!     A QLCC STUDENT GROUP visits Tealolili Kaua'i at the Anahola Taro Patch.