By DARREL MAGER
The reputation of an ocean-voyaging waka is intact after crew of the "missing" vessel contacted search and rescue authorities yesterday to let them know they had not sunk.
Early in the morning, the Maritime Safety Authority asked all ships in Auckland's outer Hauraki Gulf to watch out for the 20m twin-hulled waka Te Aurere after it had not been heard from in a day.
It had left Gisborne and was headed for Great Barrier Island in bad weather.
But by mid-morning the search was called off after the crew called the Coastguard by cellphone to let them know they were safe.
Te Aurere was built by Doubtless Bay resident Hector Busby in 1992.
It survived strong winds and high seas later that year during a voyage to Rarotonga to prove his theory that Maori ancestors travelled the Pacific at will, making return journeys from New Zealand.
Mr Busby was on board Te Aurere yesterday with eight other crew-members, returning from millennium celebrations in Gisborne and Wellington.
He could not be reached for comment, but his daughter, Georgina Harding, said their VHF radio had been damaged during bad weather on Tuesday morning.
The crew headed out to sea in search of calmer conditions, and lost cellphone contact for 24 hours.
"We weren't worried about them. They've been through worse weather," she said.
The crew yesterday decided to head for their Doubtless Bay home instead of Great Barrier, and the waka was off Ruakaka, near Whangarei, last evening.
It is due home later today, or early tomorrow.
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