Waka welcomed home to Ahuriri after 54 nights navigating the Pacific by starlight

Crew were led off by skipper Rapihana Te Kaha Kawaikirangi, who completed his traditional navigational qualifications on the voyage.

He would later speak for about 20 minutes on the shore, which had become the paepae for the occasion, and later told Hawke’s Bay Today of a standout highlight among hundreds of memorable moments.

Newly qualified traditional navigation mariner Rapihana Te Kaha Hawaikirana is welcomed home by daughter Whetu. At right is Ātea a Rangi Educational Trust chairman and master navigator Piripi Smith. Photo / Doug Laing

“Finding Samoa,” he said. “I needed to fish up Samoa as part of my graduation sail. It was night, and I saw the light come up and decided, that must be Samoa.”

Ātea a Rangi Educational Trust chairman and master navigator Piripi Smith said it was about the 10th ocean-going voyage over the waka’s 16 years, taking the vessel as far as San Francisco and South America, and they were “all special”.

Led by Rapihana Te Kaha Hawaikirangi, crew members make their way up to the welcome. Photo / Doug Laing

But, admitting there was “hardly a dry eye” as haka and waiata followed the disembarkation walk up the gangway, he said: “This one was about meeting voyageurs from the Pacific – Samoa and Fiji – and those connections. We had them aboard when we arrived.”

Among those in the crew was Andy Heyward, the Haumoana cartoonist and writer who created the popular King Andy’s Fun Page of the early days of Hawke’s Bay Today, a merger of the Napier and Hastings newspapers in 1999.

Andy Heyward, former creator of King Andy’s Fun Page in Hawke’s Bay Today more than 20 years ago, arrives home as a crew member on waka Te Matau-a-Māui. Photo / Doug Laing

In the ensuing years, he became keen on smaller maritime varietal waka ama, and about 7-8 years ago got the chance to join training with crew of te waka Te Matau-a-Māui.

“I went on a day-long trip,” he said. That was real cool. I was hooked.”

A karanga is performed by some of the hundreds in waiting, calling the crew ashore. Photo / Doug Laing

He did a waka diploma through Te Wānanga o Aotearoa, a voyage to the Chathams, around the start of the Covid area, and despite being “non-Māori” became one of the more senior of the latest crew – a kahui aringa steering the waka.

“I just had to get involved,” he said, and it may that, on top of the unique social media lives and all, there may another bit of King Andy on the horizon.

“I kept a log, I did a lot of sketches,” he said. “But I haven’t yet got my head around the epicness of it all.”

Doug Laing is a Hawke’s Bay Today reporter, based in Napier, with 53 years as a journalist, including more than four decades covering events and issues in Hawke’s Bay.