Quiz and Canoes in Tahiti
Jackamy
Paul & Derry Harper
Sun 16 May 2010 19:02
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Saturday 15th May
Friday night as always is quiz night and
this Friday "Radio Camomile" did not disappoint. The quiz is normally
transmitted over the radio whilst we are at sea but being on a pontoon together
was a perfect opportunity so Sue (Camomile) organised a party. Each
boat made a dish and gang planks were laid out on top of
sail bags to make tables. Once we'd all eaten, Sue, ever the organiser whipped
out the whistle to announce the start of the quiz. Names had been drawn out of a
hat earlier in the day and we were to be teamed with Gaultine - the
Aussies! Our chosen team name was Bruce, Sheila and the Poms and after a
few glasses of wine Paul decided we needed a theme. The only thing we had 5 of
were sarongs so naturally we became the all girl band The Sheilas! We actually
ended up scoring 4/10 which wasn't too bad, in fact it was probably the average
but a good time was had by all.
 The quiz master consulting the
book of questions
 The left is us in the hot seat
and to the right are the two Sheilas - Paul and Stuart
 Having fun
Some people, not mentioning any
names (Paul) have been suffering with a hangover all day so our scheduled
departure for Moorea has been delayed by a day. But it's not all bad, we'd heard
about 7 double hulled ocean going sailing canoes that were being built in New
Zealand as a project of Pacific Voyagers, a pan-Pacific network of voyaging
societies and today they arrived in Papeete. It was spectacular seeing the
vessels sailing into the harbour with the island of Moorea in the background so
Amy rushed around the quay to take a picture to find a huge welcome party with
bands and dancers. The 7 canoes from Tahiti, American Samoa, the Cook Islands,
Fiji, New Zealand, Samoa and Tonga have a common design based on traditional
concepts and magnificently the crews are sailing as their ancestors did using
only the moon, stars and tide for navigation. They started in New Zealand and
from here will visit the Cook Islands, Fiji and Somoa.
 The canoes with Moorea in the
background
 Arriving at the
dock
  
 The drummers/band
 The Captain of the Fijian
canoe
 The dancers
To our amazement this
afternoon when all the celebrations had died down the canoes made their way
to the pontoon area where we are moored. As the majority of BWR boats have moved
over to Moorea today there are only 6 of us left and our pontoon is very empty
so the 72ft canoes have all moored along side us. They're spectacular and
the crews all seem like a good bunch of people, the people from the South
Pacific are just so so friendly.
 To the left is Jackamy
alongside "Faafaite" the Tahitian canoe and to the right is one of the other
canoes on the pontoon
Each canoe has twin fibreglass
hulls 72 metres in length, joined by a platform supporting a small
deckhouse. It has a width of 6.5 metres and a draft of 2.1 metres. The
canoes boast two masts rising 13 metres above the deck and a carved 10 metre
steering paddle that extends back between the hulls, each of which contain 8
bunks and storage space. Very interesting!
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