A master navigator and waka builder has saluted the crews who sailed two waka to Easter Island and back.
Hekenukumai Busby. Photo: RNZ
At a ceremony at Waitangi this week, Hekenukumai Busby, who built both waka, awarded taonga to each of the 46 crew members who made the six-month return voyage in Te Aurere and Nga Hiraka mai Tawhiti last year.
Mr Busby said the crews fulfilled his dream of sailing to each point of the Polynesian triangle - Rapanui, Hawaii and Aotearoa - using ancestral navigation methods.
He says at times they feared for their lives in storms, and they deserve recognition for their courage and endurance.
Mr Busby is now training more young people in traditional Maori sailing arts, at a school on his land near Taipa.
