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Waka's epic journey - TUESDAY JUNE 29,2010

SHARED PASSION: Waka master Hekenukumai (Hec) Busby and Kaihautu (captain) Chappy Harrison (Kaitaia) share a moment of reflection.

The crew put Mr  Busby's 27th waka, crafted under a commission from the Netherlands, through its paces.  PETER DE GRAAF.

More than 360 years after Dutchman Abel Tasman became the first European to set eyes on New Zealand, in 1642 (and named it for his home province of Zeeland), the link between the two countries has been cemented with a waka.
Built by waka master Hekenukumai (Hec) Busby, the fully-carved waka taua (war canoe) Te Hono ki Aotearoa (The Link to New Zealand) was launched at Aurere, Doubtless Bay, on Saturday.
The waka will remain the property of Toi Maori, the national Maori arts organisation, but will be on permanent loan to the Netherlands' national ethnology museum in the city of Leiden, where it will form the centrepiece of a exhibition on the links between the Dutch and Maori. It will also be used at major events around Europe.
The 14-metre, 16-man waka taua was built at Mr Busby's property at Aurere, where, after the naming ceremony and a specially composed haka, it was eased into the Aurere River and put through its paces for the first time.
Mr Busby, 77, said Te Hono was his 27th waka. He had built ten in Hawaii, but this would be his first to be permanently stationed outside the Pacific. It was one of two carved from a single kauri from Russell.
Kawakawa's Robert Gabel, chairman of the Nga Waka Federation, said the new waka "goes like the clappers." Its speed was a credit to Mr Busby's hull design, which had been honed over many years.
Te Hono had been adapted for Dutch conditions, with a lowered taurapa (sternpost) to fit under low bridges and a hull designed to "turn on a dime" so it could manoeuvre on narrow canals.
The October 18 handover ceremony will take place on a canal in front of the museum, and a whare waka (waka shelter) will be carved on-site.
"Originally they wanted to buy a waka, and that would have been the end of it," Mr Gabel said.
"We felt it was better to lend it, and build up a relationship with the Dutch people, so we'll have a whanaungatanga with Holland that's on-going, that's forever."
The plan was to send a kaihoe (paddlers) to Holland every year, and the Dutch would reciprocate at Waitangi every February 6. A fibreglass waka tete, used by men and women for training, will also be delivered to the museum.
Kaitaia's Chappy Harrison, who captained the waka on its first outing, will be responsible for training a "really sharp crew" to travel to Holland, who will train members of Leiden University's Njord Rowing Club in drills, protocols and maintenance.
Among the dignitaries present at the launch was the Chargé d'Affaires at the Dutch Embassy, Hans Ramaker, who said the waka was part of drive by the Volkenkunde Museum to bring more attention to Maori culture.
"The waka will certainly attract people," he said.
"Many people in Holland know about Maori already, or know a few people who are Maori, but don't have much background to the culture."
Mr Ramaker said the waka was much bigger than he expected, but what impressed him most was the meaning it held for local people.