In August, 1998, the Te Puke named Vaka Taumako made its first voyage. For the first time in over forty years, a Polynesian voyaging canoe, a vaka, was built using completely traditional methods and materials. For the first time since 1963 a Te Puke voyaged on a traditional route. The people who built and sailed the Vaka Taumako sum up the experience saying “Lata, the first person to build and sail a Te Puke, came back at last.” This is their affirmation that they are still t

How Lata built the first voyaging canoe as told by Paramount Chief Kruso Kaveia for Sailing New Zealand Magazine, July 1999 A man and his wife lived together for a while, and then she became pregnant. They lived on the small island named Tohua. During the wife’s pregnancy she craved to eat freshwater eels, or milo. So, every day her husband had to go to the river to catch some eels, and bring them home to her. The man went to one river, then another, then another, getting eel