Ngati Porou Surf Life Saving receive grant for outrigger canoes

OCEAN AWARENESS: Ngati Porou SLSC has been running ocean safety and surf life saving skill sessions at the top of East Cape at Onepoto Bay. Above, last Friday they worked with students from Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o Kawakawa mai Tawhiti as part of the club's Mana Moana programme. Pictures supplied

Ngati Porou Surf Life Saving has received a New Zealand Community Trust (NZCT) grant of $15,650 for outrigger canoes which will help broaden the service it provides at the top of the East Coast.

Kaiawhina (club co-ordinator) Peter Boyd gave a mihi (thanks) to NZCT for the support which will enable the club to buy a two-person waka.

“It will go a long way towards promoting and training members of our whānau, hapu and iwi, as well as the wider community, around the issue of ocean safety and surf lifesaving skills.”

Ngāti Porou Surf Life Saving's roots date back to the revival of waka ama in New Zealand in the 1980s and a subsequent 160-kilometre waka ama paddle from Onepoto to Gisborne in 1999 with a group of Hicks Bay/Te Araroa locals.

“Those historic trips were instrumental for many reasons,” Mr Boyd said.

“For many of the participants, not only were they journeys of rediscovery that retraced the ancestral water highways of their tūpuna (ancestors), but the seed was also planted to start a surf life saving club based at Onepoto Beach (Hicks Bay).”

Although Māori constituted 16.5 percent of the New Zealand population, they were over-represented in drowning fatality statistics, he said.

“What's happening here?” the veteran surf lifeguard said. “We were once a great ocean-going people. We're an ocean culture. We sing and haka about it. We all relate back to our ancestral waka. But how do we reconnect with the ocean?

“That's the point of Ngāti Porou Surf Life Saving,” Mr Boyd said.

Over the past six years Mr Boyd and others have been training groups towards gaining their patrol support awards and the Lifeguard Award.

Groups had been based in Gisborne, Ruatoria, Tikitiki, Te Araroa and Wharekahika/Hicks Bay, with the support of the Water Safety New Zealand Kia maanu, Kia ora initiative, Mr Boyd said.

“This has resulted in qualified lifeguards patrolling in Wharekahika this coming 2021/22 season.”

Ngāti Porou Surf Life Saving member Manihera Williams said like all surf lifesaving clubs it was not only about learning how to minimise harm around the water, but also developing whānau so they were fitter and healthier, as well as being more responsible and environmentally, culturally and community-minded.

“We want to share the excitement and energy that Tangaroa (Maori god of the ocean) has to offer so that we can all enjoy our biggest playground with confidence and respect.”

Mr Boyd said waka ama canoes were an integral part of training and developing lifeguards in the community.

“Without having waka, our whānau, hapu and iwi are unable to participate in the waka lifestyle here in Tairāwhiti/Gisborne. As lifeguards, we consider waka ama as a vehicle to carry culturally important ocean safety messages to our community.

“In October 2020 our club and Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Kawakawa mai Tawhiti organised Tairāwhiti (double hull sailing waka) to sail from Gisborne to Hicks Bay.

“This five-day event saw over 300 school children from schools all over the East Coast and more than 50 adults participate.

“One of the clear outcomes was that our community would like to see waka ama on their beaches. Ngati Porou Surf Life Saving does not just see this as a club kaupapa but more a wider community initiative.”

Ngati Porou SLSC became affiliated to SLSNZ six years ago.

“The core business of patrolling, training, qualifying, and operating under SLSNZ regulations will be the same,” Mr Boyd said.

“But we are repackaging it to attract a wider membership by including training in the use of waka ama and stand-up paddleboards.”