Waka Returns to Waitangi

November 18, 2025

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The famous Hawaiian sailing canoe Hōkūleʻa will return to Waitangi, 40 years after its first visit helped restart Māori ocean voyaging. This return is part of a four-year, 80,000-kilometre journey around the Pacific.

Back in 1985, Hōkūleʻa arrived in Aotearoa with just one Māori crew member: 22-year-old Stan Conrad. Though he was a commercial fisherman at the time, he was chosen by elders to join the voyage. He didn’t know then that this journey would help revive the ancient art of waka building and navigation.

After that voyage, Stan Conrad dedicated his life to learning and teaching how to build and sail double-hulled waka, known as waka hourua. He said the experience changed his life and helped him realise the incredible skills of his ancestors.

Hōkūleʻa’s arrival in 1985 inspired other Māori leaders too. One of them, Sir James Henare, challenged Māori to build their own waka and sail back to Hawaii. That challenge was taken up by Sir Hekenukumai Busby, who travelled to Micronesia to learn traditional navigation, then built waka like Te Aurere, which later sailed across the Pacific.

This Friday, Hōkūleʻa and its sister canoe Hikianalia will be welcomed to Waitangi by the great waka Ngātokimatawhaorua, captained by Stan’s brother, Joe Conrad. The event will include a special dawn ceremony on Saturday, where a new carving will be revealed, honouring the Hawaiian voyagers and three important leaders from the 1985 journey.

The waka will stay in Aotearoa for six months for educational activities and repairs before continuing their journey in April. Their visit celebrates not only past achievements but also the connection between Polynesian peoples and the wisdom of their ancestors.

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