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All in the Same Waka
When it comes to waka ama in the Bay of Plenty, everyone is the same. While people come to the sport for very different reasons, they stay for the same one – the connection it provides.
When it comes to waka ama in the Bay of Plenty, everyone is the same. While people come to the sport for very different reasons, they stay for the same one – the connection it provides.
As the sun rises behind them, a silhouette of waka emerges. Almost as if beating to their own rhythm, the paddlers glide their waka across the moana like woven harakeke (flax), with each stroke echoing the legacy of tūpuna who once navigated by the stars.
With hoe (paddles) in hand and hearts full of purpose, paddlers young and old have come together for a special Matariki paddle on the Tauranga Moana Harbour. With Mauao providing a perfect backdrop, the paddlers pull their waka on the sandy beach of Sulphur Point for a karakia and kōrero with former outdoor instructor Amorangi Apaapa.
Amorangi, who paddles with the Matakana whānau, is helping to share the Māori pūrākau (stories) and histories of the significant sites around them throughout the haerenga (journey). “The importance of paddling on your own tūpuna moana (ancestors of the sea) te awanui (Tauranga Harbour) out here, it is a way to connect not only our Māori rangatahi but others to our taiao (environment), to the water and to recognise and understand the movements of the tides and the winds,” he says.
“It just deepens our connection to our environments and our atua (spirits) involved in those environmental personifications as well.”
When it comes to waka ama in the Bay of Plenty, everyone is the same. While people come to the sport for very different reasons, they stay for the same one – the connection it provides.
Waka ama, or outrigger canoe paddling, provides connection both to the water and the people through multi-generational participation. The sense of manaakitanga, community and family run deep through the history and the heart of waka ama.
When Rebecca Ryder moved to Tauranga in 2001, she joined the sport through her husband’s club connections. “Within six weeks I was suddenly on the committee,” she laughs. What started with a committee meeting became a love of waka ama and all that it stood for when she started paddling. “It’s been what feels like a long-time life passion of mine to do waka ama and get out on our moana, our awa, and lakes all around the country.”
Rebecca, who gets out on the water about three times a week, has learnt a lot through the sport about Māori tikanga and language. “When I’m out on the water it’s such a peaceful place to be. It helps you refocus your mind, get away from work stresses. But at the same time, you put in some hearty exercise while enjoying each other’s company.
“That’s what I like about the sport. The connections we develop bring out the best in people. That and its accessibility. We provide everything for the paddlers, and especially in these times the emphasis is on keeping sport accessible by being affordable.”
The Tauranga Moana Outrigger Canoe Club (TMOCC) offers everything from social paddling to competitive racing and has a predominantly adult membership. “It’s great role modelling for the kids,” says Rebecca, who is the club’s president. “They get to see their parents and grandparents healthy and out there and looking after themselves.”
All waka ama events are held together, meaning everyone from five to 80 years old and over can compete together, which is a rare move for a sport with big participation numbers.
But for the origins of this long-standing club, you need to roll back just over 30 years, when it started on the Wairoa River as part of the then Ngāti Kahu Waka Ama Club. That’s when Matahi Whakataka Brightwell, who started the first waka ama club in Gisborne, brought a crew up to paddle Tauranga Moana. Three outrigger canoes were then built from a mold borrowed from Auckland.
In 1987, with support from the former Tauranga District Council which leased some land by the wharf, the Tauranga Moana Outrigger Canoe Club was launched. Soon after, the Hoe Aroha Whānau o Mauao Club was established at Pilot Bay.
Ngawiki Dickson has taken kids as young as five years old (including her own children) in the outriggers, and to national competitions. Ngawiki came into the sport almost by accident after coming along to look after her young nephew in 1997.
“Well, we have your pēpē, your nannies, your mokopuna all in the same waka. You see grandparents and grandchildren all in the same waka together.
“It’s about whanaungatanga (a sense of family connection created through shared experiences) and manaakitanga (hospitality, generosity, respect).”
Ngawiki also works with schools where students can gain credits with waka ama.
“It’s not just a sport; it’s pretty much a lifestyle. Someone said the word ‘transformational’ to me, and that has stuck with me.”
Mike Hickson first came to the sport in 1990. Struggling to find a healthy work-life balance and aware of his lack of reo and knowledge of Māori traditions, Mike found the sport – and the people at the heart of it – welcoming right away. “Coming from a high stress job, after a day of that, you get out on the water and paddle and get into nature. It changes your whole mindset.”
Now, 35 years on, he has made friends and connections, and travelled around the country and the Pacific with waka ama. “We’re all on the same level, and all on the same playing field, or canoe. There’s no difference when you’re out there,” Mike says.
“There are academics, non-academics, there are rich and poor, different jobs. There’s a guy who turned out to be a multi-millionaire, but you wouldn’t know. He’s just another guy who wants to get out on the water.”
Mike says getting out on the harbour and around Mauao was, and still is, an absolute thrill.
“I just remember seeing a two-year-old kid sat in a waka, who had a paddle his dad had made for him, and he was just so happy. That has stayed with me.”
He too mentions the accessibility and the welcome to all ages and stages, including athletes recovering from high contact sports injuries.
Putāruru College deputy principal Jane Townsend is a competitive paddler with Hoe Aroha Whānau o Mauao and TMOCC.
“I’m just blown away with the impact it has on students in terms of the rhythm of being able to paddle together, the paddle goes in together and out together to move the waka forward.”
Jane says the sport is a great way to connect with people and place. “It’s really important for us to learn about the place we paddle to and on. I love this sport, there’s something really special about it.”
Luke O’Brien joined TMOCC about four years ago and now paddles competitively with Rotorua-based Ruamatā Waka Ama.
“I just fell in love with the sport,” the 38-year-old says. “It connects the pillars of Te Whare Tapa Whā (Sir Mason Durie’s Māori health model). It’s good for your hinengaro (mindset), your wairua (spirit) and taha tinana (physical wellbeing).”
As a former endurance kayak paddler Gaylene Macfarlane used to spend a lot of time on the water solo. So, the 66-year-old joined waka ama to be part of a team of like-minded people.
“In a crew, it’s all about being one with the water and one with the crew. When it’s just me, it’s about looking after me and respecting the water and others around me. Just taking in the beautiful environment around us.”
Waka eke noa e hoe ko tahi. It’s about working together and moving as one. It’s a philosophy of keeping on paddling, with support from your fellow paddlers – and keeping the waka pointed forward. Always moving forward.
tmocc.co.nz
hoearoha.weebly.com
wakaama.co.nz
Words by Katherine Whittaker
Photography by Jane Keam
