Sea trials of the Tefauroa, Official Launch Nov 7, upcoming fundraisers

The smiles on the faces tell the story.  The Wa'a Tefauroa arriving for the first time at the beach for the first of its sea trials was greeted by a crowd of about 30 members and onlookers.

 It took only minutes to attach the outrigger and prepare for the first paddlers.  Tihoti bringing the paddlers back to shore several times to make adjustments to the position of the outrigger.

The outrigger is attached to the canoe with rubber straps, inner tubes, and it will takes a few trials for the position of the outrigger to be determined so that it is best for balance and for steering.

Lots of people had a paddle and it was an exciting moment, with a great atmosphere of anticipation.  Remember yorlye, it's early days, it takes plenty of practice to perfect the technique.  Particularly pay attention to Tihoti's technique, his straight back, (not side to side movement).  Too much side to side movement will make the outrigger tip.  Imagine how much we will learn over the next few months.

The canoe will remain at the beach with the outrigger stored under the hull.  The outrigger is made of polystyrene with a fibreglass coating, so it is very fragile.  It is important not to stand on it or put any weight on it and it must be stored under the hull when not in use.

Suzanne supplied some great pics of the Wa'a on the water.  Great conditions in great light made for some surreal images.

The official launching of the Wa'a Tefauroa will be held next Sunday, November 7th at 2pm at Emily Bay.  The previous blog has the outline of the blessing ceremony to be conducted Tihoti (George).  This will be followed by island dancing by the Baunti Beauties and a sausage sizzle fundraiser ($2 sausage sandwich).  Drinks, chips and chocolate will also be on sale, to help boost the clubs finances. Club  

hats will also be on sale, $20 to members and $22.50 non-members.  In addition to the sausage sizzle, members are asked to bring a plate to share with other club members and invited guests to the ceremony. 

We still have our insurance to pay $855 and it would be good to have some money in the bank to finance future fundraisers and ongoing merchandising as well.

It is important to the success of any fundraiser that it is well supported by members and the community, so please invite your friends and family to get together and support our club, in all its fundraising activities.  Remember, if you have a great fundraising idea that the club could run, please turn up to a meeting and we can discuss it.

A quiz night fundraiser is now being planned to run on Saturday November 20th,  at the Parish Centre.  We will be running a bar for the night.  Max 10 people per table, $10 per head, lots of great prizes to be won!  So get a group of friends organised for a great night of fun(d)raising!

Another U18 disco is planned for Friday November 26th, so help us by keeping informed and raising interest in the community.

Thankyou to Jason Chubb(extraordinary boat building) and offsider Lou Evans (support to Jason and shed provision), our very dedicated committee and our funtastic club members for their enthusiasm and positive contribution to getting the Wa'a Tefauroa in the water in less than 3 months.  That is truly unbelievable! Congratulations all yorlye!!  Email pics of yourselves paddling or post them on the blog yourselves.  Enjoy!
 

Launching the Tefauroa, Wa'a dreaming, upcoming fundraisers, next meeting

Rocky, Mareeva and George give us all a glimpse of what is to come once the Tefauroa is launched.  Suzanne took these pics yesterday of their paddling in Emily and slaughter bay.  Conditions were perfect for paddling.

Speaking of launching the Tefauroa, the launch date has been set for Sunday November 7th at 2pm at Emily Bay.  We'll also be fundraising with the sale of refreshments (drinks and eats) and whatever else we can organise between now and then.

So, we hope all yorlye can make it for the launch of the clubs newly built 4man outrigger canoe.  Hopefully 2pm gives the night workers enough time to attend before work.  It will also be a good point of contact to arrange paddling times with other members.

A reminder that we have also ordered some hats which can be embroidered with any of the club designs, (see previous blog).  You can chose from black, blue, red or white hat with any colour embroidered design that you wish. Please e-mail Lou and place your order.

George has planned a beautiful program for the launching of the Wa'a and I've attached it:

LAUNCH OF WA’A TEFAUROA (OROA FAAINURAA VA’A)

7 November 2010

Tihoti will begin the traditional Tahitian launch of the wa’a with the sounding of the conch shell.

On the first sounding, he will invoke the divinities related to the elements – the sun, the wind, the ocean, the land: welcoming them to the ceremony.

At the same time, he will welcome Taaroa, the supreme god in the Tahitian belief system.

On the second sounding of the conch, he will invoke the god Tane, (god of  canoe builders and marae), asking Tane to bless Tefauroa.

He will baptize the wa’a with sea water held in a bamboo cup with Oihanu.

Finally, Mauatua will faahei (place flower necklaces) on Tefauroa.

All this to ensure the safety of those who paddle the wa’a Tefauroa.

After the launch, we will post the orero (speech), as this will depend on the day’s weather.

Tihoti as translated by Pauline Barff also provided some terminologies that we should become familiar with:

A BIT OF VOCABULARY

WA’A PARTS

tino va’a                                  body of the wa’a

ama                                         outrigger

pae ama                                  left-side of wa’a

(tau ama - ancient word probably used at time of Bounty)       

Pae atea)                                 right side of wa’a

(tau atea - ancient word probably used at time of Bounty)

‘iato                                         crossbars or struts of wood attaching outrigger to canoe body

‘iato mua                                 front crossbar

‘iato muri                                back crossbar

parahira’a                               seat

(’apa’apa or noho were the ancient words used at the time of Bounty)

STROKE TECHNIQUES

huti pa’ari                               long reaching hard stroke used for paddling against the current

huti pe’e                                  short light stroke for surfing waves

huti roa or fa’aroa                  long reaching stroke, not as hard as the huti pa’ari, used in calm conditions                                           or surfing waves

ha’apine or pine                      short, very fast stroke

fa’arotahi                                syncronise

THE PADDLE

hoe ’afaro                               paddle with straight shaft used for steering

hoe fefe                                   paddle with double bend (one where the shaft meets the blade and the other                                          mid-shaft)

hoe hipa                                  paddle with a bend where the shaft meets the blade giving blade an angle of                                           around 15 degrees

rapa                                         blade of the paddle

’aufau                                      shaft of the paddle

maura’a or tapeara’a             handle

TEAM

fa’ahoro or ’afa’i                    1^st person who gives the speed of the stroke to the rest of the team

peperu or tau’ai                      last person who steers

tura’i                                       the middle paddlers who are the engine

tare                                          Captain who calls the order for the rythym

by Tihoti (aka Georges) translated to English by Pauline

Our next meeting will be Friday November 5th,  at the sports and workers club, if they are still operating, but stay tuned in case there is a change of venue.  The purpose of this meeting will be to finish organising the launching of the Tefauroa.  Another Under 18 disco fundraiser has also been scheduled for Friday November 26th, so please keep an eye out for this and if you can volunteer some time that would be great.

Next Meeting, U18 disco fundraiser, Boat Launching

 Hey yorlye, just a couple of pics to update you all on the progress of the canoe.  The inside has been varnished and waiting for this to cure before top coating the outside of the hull.  Jason has laminated timbers from Silky oak, camphor laurel and pine to make the paddles for the canoe.  He's holding the steering paddle, which is slightly different shape and timbers from the other paddles.
Brian Adams has received the name back  from Tahiti.  For those of you who aren't aware, we were going to name the boat Sylvia, but wanted Sylvia's tahitian name.  She doesn't have a tahitian name so we suggested they put forward a name and Brian sent me through this e-mail:  The name that came back from Tahiti is TEFAUROA  have been told it was the Tahitian name for Point Venus this is where the Bounty  sailed from.

As mentioned to you before Sylvia does not have a Tahitian name hence their suggested name "Tefauroa"

"

Whilst in Tahiti with Helen on a holiday we spent some time with Sylvia's family. " Moana" Sylvia's son was into the Va'a at the time collected me and I went to watch him train with his crew . Then we  picked up his  brother Lesley who is Sylvia's eldest son, who is very famous in Tahiti for his records achieved in Va'a single canoing. I believe that still up to this day his record still has not been broken.    Lesley trained 6 hrs a day  7 days a week prior to his record race  achievment.  Included in this training was running up & down mountains. From a lunch session with Moana, Lesley & myself  we were discussing  the Va'a & it's traditions & for whatever reason Lesley decided to give me the plans for a 6 man va'a.   This is how the plans came to Norfolk Island which were hand drawn by Lesley, the instructions were in French & Nicki Beadman kindly translated it back into English for me.  Leslie also offered to come to Norfolk to help pass on his knowledge & to help train if ever needed.

We are currently getting the name for the boat transferred onto decal to be attached to the boat before it is launched.  On that note, we are looking at launching the boat in about 2 weeks.  We will be making it a bit of a fundraiser for the club also.  So we will have a meeting this Saturday 4pm at Emily Bay to discuss the launch and upcoming fundraisers, and also to do some more paddling training in the dunga canoe at the beach, just so you can build an appreciation for what's to come in the real outrigger!

Our U18 disco was a great success.  Thankyou to all who turned up to help, and to all the parents out there who supported this event.  We raised around $1200 for the club, but not sure of the exact amount as we still have the account for the drinks to settle.  The combined income from entry fee, snacks and drinks and glow products made it a great fundraiser for the club and the kids loved it!

Special thanks to Tania Sharp for all of her organising of lighting (thanks Andre Nobbs), music (thanks Miguel and Eddie), dj's (thanks Bob and Gaby).
Thanks to Slick for sausages and Hot Crust for the bread.  Thanks also to Louise and Lexi Tavener for their help with the shop and facepainting, (and for the loan of the bin!!) and to Sorrel Ciantar who also donated her time to the shop.  Special mention to Deb Johnson and Mick for all their help through the night.  Mick got a great tip for the fantastic nail painting he did.  Thanks also to the crew of guys that transported lounges and equipment.  We would also like to thank Norfolk Island Administration for waiving the hire fee for the supper room, to assist us with our fundraising.  Thanks also to Norfolk Island Police for security in the carpark ensuring it all ran smoothly. I'm sure there are lots of others to thank, check this weekends paper for Tania and Johns roundup.

seeya Saturday 4pm, ready to paddle!

Show day Fundraiser, The Outrigger on show

Firstly, congratulations to Jason Chubb (and Lou Evans) for winning first prize in the woodworking section of the show, with the outrigger canoe of course.  It attracted heaps of attention, especially at the start and 62 people had a go at guessing the weight of the canoe.  Congratulations to Mel Plant who was the closest guess and Mel wins a $100 voucher from Norfolk Blue restaurant.  Thanks to Robyn and Jap at Norfolk Blue for their donation of this prize.  2 new members joined the club at the show, and our fundraising efforts raised $1134.30 for the club.  Excellent hey!

Thanks to all the generous people who donated prizes.  We didn't get to chocolate wheel everything, so I'll contact the donors of prizes we have left and see if it's ok to carry them over for our next fundraiser.  The biggest thankyou needs to go to Vicky and Michael Jack for their fantastic efforts today talking up the chocolate wheel the whole time.  Not only that, but they were also our biggest customers on the chocolate wheel closely followed by Kyla, who spent all her money on the chocolate wheel also.  Thanks also to George for picking up and dropping back the chocolate wheel, and also to the NICS easter carnival for the loan of the chocolate wheel and paddles.

Thanks to John, Jason, Lou and whoever else helped get the outrigger to the show, and to Wendy for having the foresight to enter it in the woodworking section.  A big thankyou also to Alison and Adam who also manned the outrigger fundraiser all afternoon, only taking a break to see daughter, Danielle, ride in the horseriding events.
The pic above shows Alison being bombarded by water bombs, and Adam, playing it safe selling the water bombs.  It was the best activity for the high school kids.  Thanks also to Tony Janssens for his stint in the canoe, sorry I didn't get time to get pics till the end of the show.....actually the very end, so if anyone else has any ?? feel free to put them up on the blogspot.  Just click on the sign in and then click on New Post to add photos and your commentary.

Thanks to Wendy who manned the "guess the weight" and the raffle on her own the whole afternoon.  It would have been good to have a bit more help on our activities, so please keep it in mind for next year.  Half an hour from everyone would have had a better fundraising outcome for the club, but we did extremely well anyway.

Thanks to Matt Bigg who also spent the whole afternoon selling paddles in the chocolate wheel and also donating prizes and generally being a great support to everyone.
Thanks to everyone who donated prizes, Brian Adams 4kg fish raising the most in a single event on the chocolate wheel.  We'll be making a thankyou to everyone in the paper next week too.  Thankyou to members that helped fill the water bombs which was a pretty time consuming task.  Lastly, thanks to all the people who supported the club by buying paddles and water bombs, raffle tickets and guesses to make it a great fun and highly successful fundraiser for the club.

Our next fundraiser is this coming Friday night.  Something for the kids, and U18's disco.  $5 entry and lots of snacks, drinks, tattoo's, face painting, nails, glow sticks and finger lights to purchase to make the night fun.  We're hoping to have a sausage sizzle early on so spread the word yorlye.

We also had a paddling lesson with Tihoti at Emily Bay on Saturday.  I didn't get pics, but Cristina may have, but will update the blog again morlae.  Sorry if I have forgotten to thank anyone, but will pick up on it again soon.  Regards, Lou

Ready to Paint, Show Day Fundraiser update

Hey Yorlye, well this is the canoe ready for painting.  The next time you see it, it will be........not telling, you'll have to turn up to the show on Monday for a looksie!

The Showday fundraiser is going to be bigger than Ben Hur lots of prizes contributed so far. These include: 4kg fish, Gardening voucher, Bone Carving, Norfolk Online Annual Subscriptions, Gas Centre Vouchers, Brolly and Beach Towel from Westpac, 4hr Pamper Package, Produce (veg and fruit)boxes, 2hr Massage vouchers, Piano Lessons, Sunglasses, 

 Red Lacquered Bowl, First ride in the canoe (will be a big drawcard as lots of interested parties!)  Wendy had another great idea, "Guess the Weight of the Canoe", and we will also be having a fun activity waterbombing paddlers where people buy waterbombs to throw.  Also a couple of hat designs are ready for production and we will be selling these on Monday also and taking orders for more.  Hats will retail for around $22.50, but not a definite price yet.  Please register your interest for preferred hat colour and embroidery print colour.

We are still investigating insurance, and have a few good quotes.  We will be making a decision so that we can be insured for next Fridays (Oct 15th) U18's disco, venue to be decided in the next couple of days.  Remember if you have a fundraising idea that you would like to make your project, with lots of help from the rest of the club, bring it on!

Thanks to everyone who have pledged prizes and offerred their time to staff the fundraisers.  Much appreciated.  Remember the goal.....the first boat!  Then.....another boat!

 

 These are the 4 designs to choose from.  The pointed design could probably be printed on the side of the cap, whereas the bigger design would be on the front.  The 3pointed designs are by George Barff and the rounded one is by John Christian.

Showday fundraiser, boat build progress, merchandise artwork

 

Wow, a lot happening this week.  Firstly, next Monday showday is a great opportunity for us for fundraising and also the first opportunity to show off the boat to the general public.  So, lets update you all on progress of the boat as of today!  The canoe is a traditional polynesian shape as you can see from the nose shape in the first image.  The second image shows the seat positions in the boat with a full length view.  The third image shows Jason demonstrating where the outrigger is to attach and the arm that links the outrigger float to the canoe.

 

I asked Jason how heavy it was and how difficult was it to turn it over last week and as you can see, he's lifted one end out of its cradle single handed, so there's not too much weight in it.

In all, it looks fantastic and its not that far off being finished, so its back to the funraising funds to finish paying for this one and getting a downpayment on another.



I have to post this image, as I was so relieved when I first saw our boat that it wasn't going to look like this home build!!  Hope this doesn't offend the builders and paddlers of the boat in the picture!

Anyway, back to business.  Offers for prizes for the chocolate wheel fundraise at next mondays show are coming in which is great.  Thanks to those members who made a quick response.  The Easter Carnival organisers are kindly allowing us to use their chocolate wheel on the day.  We also thought it might be a good opportunity to get a few hats ready to sell, seeing as showday is usually hot and lots of people forget to bring a hat.

So, thinking of merchandising, some of the clubs fantastic artists have been hard at work and this next image is one of George's designs as it will appear on the caps.  We've got 4 designs so far and we will post some more as I get them print ready in the next couple of days.  Hope you have enjoyed the blog!