Stormy ordeal 'training' for waka crew

SETTING SAIL: Four of the Hawke's Bay waka crew - Hana-Lee Kereru-Wainohu (left), Rapihana Te Kaha Hawaikarangi, Ruiha Toi-Bryant and Dion Wong. PHOTO/WARREN BUCKLAND

Turning a bad experience into a positive one has helped Haunui waka crew member Dion Wong who is setting sail for Sydney on Wednesday.
Mr Wong was on Te Matau a Maui when it abandoned its journey from Ahuriri to Castlepoint a fortnight ago.
Big seas and gale-force winds led to the waka returning to Napier as it was deemed too harsh for several high school students who had been aboard.
"Yeah, a couple of them were on that one and they really stood up - you could see through the way they handled it that they are ready to go," Te Matau a Maui Voyaging Trust chairman Piripi Smith said.
One of those "ready to go" is Deon Wong who was part of that Castlepoint crew which hit high seas and winds just off Cape Kidnappers within hours of departing.
"Yeah it was good training," he said. "You just had to get on with it and do the job."
The waka was struck by severe gale force winds and choppy seas, which left many of the younger newcomers to voyaging sick and anxious.
Mr Smith said the experienced crew members carried on their work, and even joked about the weather to buoy the spirits of the student voyagers.
"The younger ones could see that and it calmed them down - they were good."
The five crew applied about six weeks ago to be part of a five-waka fleet which will set sail from points around the Pacific for Sydney to take part in the ICUN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) World Parks Congress.
They travelled to Auckland to go through a safety weekend and then waited to hear if they had been chosen.
"It was pretty exciting to get the call," Mr Wong said, adding that it will be the longest voyage he has been involved with since joining the Te Matau a Maui waka crew at the start of the year.
"I want to get more hours in because there are some other big voyages planned."
The local crew will set sail aboard Haunui on October 22, with the two-month return voyage taking them to Sydney via Norfolk Island and Lord Howe Island.
Joining Mr Wong will be Hana-Lee Kereru-Wainohu, Rapihana Te Kaha Hawaikarangi, Ruiha Bryant-Toi and Corey Solomon.
Ms Kereru-Wainohu trained aboard the waka Haunui and as well as being a new addition to the crew, is the youngest woman skipper of a sailing waka.