Te Waka Pounamu

E ngä mana, e ngä reo, e nga karangaranga maha,

e ngä waka o ngä tai e whä,

Tënä koutou katoa

Te Waka Pounamu is one of a handful of waka ama (outrigger canoe) clubs based in Ōtautahi / Christchurch and affiliated to Te Waka o Aoraki (the South Island Waka Ama Association) of Ngā Kaihoe o Aotearoa.

The club was set up in 2001 and maintains a steady membership of approximately thirty paddlers ranging in age from 18 to 50. This includes Junior, Novice, Open, Mixed and Masters Crews. The crews train and compete most of the year in various outrigger events from sprints through to marathons, apart from a late winter hibernation period. The club is also involved in organising and running club activities, workshops and annual regattas.

The majority of paddlers are experienced at regional, national and international levels. Crews regularly compete in the New Zealand Waka Ama Nationals and have made various finals and gained top 8 placings.

The club owns and runs four W6 canoes and is based out of the Naval Point Club, Lyttelton.

WHAT IS WAKA AMA?

A waka ama is an outrigger canoe or a waka (canoe) with an ama (outrigger). Waka ama has their origins in Polynesia where they have been used for voyaging and fishing for centuries. Contemporary waka ama come in many sizes from W1 (1 person) to W6 (6 person).

The contemporary sport of outrigger canoe paddling has its origins in the Hawaiian Islands, and other parts of Polynesia, including French Polynesia.

Racing involves sprints, normally contested over 500 to 1500 metres in multiple lanes with exciting turns, and marathons contested over long distances from 5 to 50kms. Sprints are very exciting and take a matter of minutes while marathons are endurance affairs taking many hours.

CLUB AIMS and OBJECTIVES

The overall goal of Te Waka Pounamu is to develop the art, craft and sport of Waka Ama and Waka Voyaging, for both young and old, within Te Waipounamu, through:

• Running the club for the enjoyment and pleasure of whānau, iwi, hapū and other participants;
• Promoting and developing strong leadership, smokefree, drugfree and healthy lifestyles;
• Organising and participating in local, regional, national and international competitions; and
• Providing educational and training programmes in relation to Waka Ama and Voyaging, cultural and social development, water safety and tikanga Māori associated with wai (water), awa (river), and moana (sea).

CLUB PROJECTS AND EVENTS

Te Waka Pounamu is a very proactive club organising many activities, regattas as well as training and competing. The club holds two major annual regattas each year – a summer sprint series, held at Rāpaki between November and February and a winter marathon race held in April or May. The club regularly competes in the South Island sprints (December), National sprints (held at Lake Karapiro in January), the Icebreaker Challenge (at Dunedin in June) as well as the Lake Brunner (October) and Abel Tasman (November) Marathons.

We are also a very safety conscious club and have fundraised to provide safety kits, lifejackets as well as Coastguard Day skippers training for our members. We are also attempting to organise an annual waka ama open day (September/October), in conjunction with the local Coastguard to further develop the sport and teach and practice aspects of waka ama water safety.

One of our future aspirations is to purchase a sailing rig for our waka and get more actively involved in sailing and voyaging. It is hoped that this will lead to an annual voyage around the various Marae of Te Pātaka o Rākaihautū / Banks Peninsula.

This would also lend itself towards building stronger relationships with the other members of the Naval Point Club and sharing knowledge about our respective sports and interests.

CLUB CONTACTS

If you want to know more about our club or are interested in joining or giving waka ama a go, for sport or pleasure, we would love to see you. Just make contact with any of the people below and we will see you on the water in no time!! Club meetings are held on the last Sunday of each month, 4pm at the Naval Point Club, Magazine Bay, Lyttelton.

Kei waiho koe hei täwai i kä rä o tö oraka

Lest you be like an incomplete canoe all the days of your life

Do what needs to be done lest you regret it.