About Us

Hawaikinui Tuarua is a Waka Ama club, that paddles out of both Otaki and Porirua Harbour. 

Our Club

Hawaikinui Tuarua Waka Ama ki Ōtaki, as it was known up until recent years, was formed in September 1992 by Perry Hakaraia with the aim of fostering the sporting and recreational use of the outrigger canoe in the Ōtaki area and further afield. In establishing the club, Perry saw this an opportunity to introduce the sport to Māori, and re-establish a long-lost bond with their pacific cousins.

“My vision for waka ama at that time was to encourage more Māori Polynesian to participate in paddling our traditional waka ama, to experience how the Moana has an effect on your mind and spirituality. It recalibrates your connection to Rangi and Papa, also balancing Waihine / TOA , riri and rangimarie within your wairua. Our Māori Polynesian had become landline locked in papatuanuku, where there is a negative mauri.”

The club takes its name from the double-hull waka, Hawaiki Nui, built by Greg Matahi Whakataka- Brightwell, which sailed from Tahiti to New Zealand in 1986. The club has had a close association with Greg Whakataka-Brightwel’s Mareikura Waka Ama Club. In the 1990’s Mareikura held a waka ama workshop in Ōtaki and Hongoeka. Two hundred locals turned up over the weekend workshops which culminated in the men paddling a waka from Hongoeka to Ōtaki.  

The club first received Incorporated Society status in 1993. Apart from a period of three years in the late nineties, it has maintained that status continuously through to this day. Being an Incorporated Society has allowed the club to source funding which it has used to grow its asset base and expand. While the club itself spans two different locations (Otaki and Porirua), and the make-up of the committee reflects that, the role of Club President is always filled by an Otaki representative in recognition of Otaki being our “home”. Past Presidents have included Perry Hakaraia, Denise Hapeta, James Hapeta, Justin Hapeta and Kelly Tahiwi (incumbent)

Although the club traces its beginnings back to Otaki from where it continues to draw membership, it also has paddlers from Levin and Porirua. Over recent years the club’s membership has increased in Porirua where the club has a base in Ivey Bay, Paremata. The numbers there have been boosted by staff and personnel from the Porirua Police College as well as having a large pool of long serving members and also a large pool of junior paddlers. The location in Ivey Bay, with its proximity to the Porirua Harbour area, allows club members to benefit from both flat-water paddling at Ōtaki and ocean paddling experience in Porirua.

Behind every successful club is a hardworking committee. Hawaikinui Tuarua has been fortunate in that it has always had a core group of dedicated committee members who have been devoted to ensuring the success of the club. Currently that committee oversees on a yeary basis, a membership of ~120 club members which is made up of paddlers from 5 years old to 85 years old!!.

Our Club Logo

The face in our logo represents both tane and wahine (which is the make-up of our club). The facial markings, including moko, signify the cultural origins (NZ/Pacific). Within the strands of hair which run from the forehead to the rear of the head are the club colours. The purple is a reference to the pukeko while the fluoro yellow was chosen to represent Tamanui te rā, and our tāiao -  the elements which guide us and grant us safe passage when traversing the domain of Tangaroa.

In the centre we have the kaihoe, representative of the steersman of the waka but also symbolising us as kaihoe.

The two black ski like lines curling upwards at the front represent the voyaging waka hull. Fish (Tuna) shapes are a common kaitiaki in the Otaki region and these are depicted as swimming between the hulls of Hawaiki Nui during its journey here.

The stylised arrow shapes below the hulls are a simplified version of the stingray and is representative of the kaitiaki common to the Porirua harbour area.

Our Club Karakia

The club karakia was composed by, and gifted to Hawaikinui Tuarua, by Tipi Wehipeihana of Ngāti Tūkorehe. Hawaikinui Tuarua Club karakia:

Wai horo nuku

Wai horo rangi

Wai horohoro

Ki tai wiwi

Ki tai wawa

Ki tai tipua

Ki tai tawhitu

Ki te tai o Tangaroa (sea) or Maro (lake) e

Whano whano

Haramai te toki

Haumi e, hui e, taiki e 

Juniors

In 1993 an all-girls midget crew from Otaki, competing under the banner of Mareikura Waka Ama Club, made it through to the final in the 1993 Waka Ama Sprint Nationals at Lake Pupuke, Auckland. The club didn’t have a waka at that stage and the girls trained instead on nail boxes beside a local swimming pool. In continuing this tradition, the club has been extremely fortunate in being able to continually field at least two Junior womens teams each year at the annual Sprint Championships. Many of these Junior womens teams have included first time paddlers. Our current women’s squads started with the club as Midgets and are now paddling in the Open Women’s category.

This support of junior paddlers is something that, for the club, has been a key focus and one that the club has continued to maintain. In 2007, a squad of Juniors with a team name of “Don’t Touch My Food” appeared on the scene.  Starting as midgets, many have grown up through the grades to paddle for the club as J19’s.  Some have also gone on to represent in senior and elite grades including paddling in New Zealand National teams. In 2012 we welcomed to the club a group of junior paddlers from the Cook Island community. Under the tutelage of Kuru Love, the group of boys trained hard and attended their first National Sprints Championship in 2014. 2017 saw team “Tu Malosi” being formed.  The team was founded on a strong family culture, another guiding principle of Hawaikinui Tuarua, and along with valued input from their coach William Johnstone (coach Willie), this has been acknowledged as an important key to the team’s successes. And that cycle continues to this day with the “Tama Toa” Midgets who in the 2018 Regional Championships made the finals in their race and went on to be placed second in the W12 event at the 2018 National Sprint Championships.

With our Juniors, much of their success can also be attributed to strong whanau support. Like any kaupapa Māori, Waka Ama is whānau driven.  Waka Ama is flourishing in Otaki and Porirua and our Hawaikinui Tuarua Juniors will continue to thrive under the guidance and support provided by whanau.

Seniors

Hawaikiui Tuarua has fielded a number of successful teams over the last 25 years. Pacific Ring was a Hawaikinui Tuarua mens team that rose to prominence in the mid-nineties and who had considerable success at both a National level and International level.

Also prominent in the senior ranks have been the Ōtaki Master Women, a team that has been around since the mid-2000’s and with some of its members have been paddling on and off for Hawaikinui Tuarua since the club’s inception. For this dedicated group of women, waka ama provides them the opportunity to remove their “mum” or “workers” hats and do something just for themselves. Our senior teams often have a focus beyond the three month sprint season and this has seen teams competing in events as far north as Whangarei (Whangarei Marathon) and as far south as Dunedin (Icebreaker Challenge). Some teams have travelled and taken part in races as further afield as Australia and Rarotonga (Vaka Eiva).

Wider Relationships

While the support of junior paddlers has been a focal point for the club so has building and maintaining strong relationships with other clubs and groups. In June of 2006, Hawaikinui Tuarua signed off on a memorandum of understanding between the Porirua Police and the club that would see a long term partnership develop between these organisations. The club continues to be active in supporting police initiatives like introducing children at risk to the sport of waka ama. Port Stephens Outrigger Canoe Club is an Australian based club with who Hawaikinui Tuarua have formed a close relationship. That relationship has seen Hawaikinui Tuarua teams being hosted by that club in Port Stephens, Sydney, and competing in their club events. In 2013, paddlers from the Port Stephens club visited Wellington and were hosted by Hawaikinui Tuarua over a weekend. The highlight of that weekend was the Tokaapapa Reef Challenge in which both clubs faced off in a race out around the Tokaapapa Reef in Plimmerton then back to Paremata. Honours on the day went to Hawaikinui Tuarua but the event was less about the racing and more about the comradery.

International Representation 

In 1996 Ngā Kaihoe o Aotearoa, the National body governing waka ama in New Zealand,  asked clubs to consider sending some of their junior teams to the World Va’a Championships in Noumea, New Caledonia. It seemed a daunting task getting 12 under 16 year old paddlers from Hawaikinui Tuarua, plus coaches and managers to Noumea with minimal parent support. The boys were the smallest team on the water, and not considered a threat by other countries. They blew away the New Zealand senior contingent winning all of their races convincingly and earning New Zealand’s first J16 boys Gold medal at a World Championships event. New Zealand hasn’t won a Gold medal in the J16 boys category since 1996. ​​​​​​​

In the years since, club members have regularly participated in New Zealand teams at IVF World Sprint campaigns and, like the teams from 1996, many have stepped up onto the podium and received medals and the accolades that come with having placed amongst the best in the world. But the club has also had paddlers involved in racing for other countries. The 2006 IVF World Sprint Championships was hosted by New Zealand with the event taking place at Lake Karapiro. The small pacific island of Niue entered into the event and two Hawaikinui Tuarua club members were part of the Niuean contingent. In that same event was another Hawaikinui Tuarua club member who paddled for Tonga.

25th Anniversary Exhibition

2018 marked the 25th year that the club had been in existence. An exhibition was held to chart the clubs progress from its very humble beginnings in 1992 through to today. The exhibition reflected the stories that have contributed to the rich history of the club. For those that visited, we hoped they left with a real sense of who we, Hawaikinui Tuarua Waka Ama, are and perhaps were excited enough by what you saw to have considered joining the club and being part of the evolving story of Hawaikinui Tuarua Waka Ama through the next 25 years.   

The exhibition was held at the Maoriland Hub, Main Street, Otaki and ran for two days from the 29^th of September. The exhibition was open to the public. The weekend of celebration will included a social event at the Telegraph Hotel for both present and past members.

1st marathon 1993 Hongoeka Otaki

​​​​​​​​​​​​​Our Logo

Otaki Midgets at their first Nationals (1993 Lake Pupuke, Auckland)​​​​​​​

Pacific Ring (Left to right) Perry Hakaria, William Johnstone, Caleb Wharepapa, Havea Helu, Rob Penny, Mike Nepia

2013 Tokaapapa Reef Challenge and the paddlers from Hawaikinui Tuarua and Port Stephens OCC that contested that race

J16 boys on their way to winning gold at the 1996 World Championships in Noumea, New Caledonia.