Polytechnic student Marcus Palenski is pleased he was able to get involved in the revival of vaka-building in Dunedin. PHOTO: PETER MCINTOSHBudding arborists from the Otago Polytechnic and members of Dunedin’s Pasifika community — with the help of a Cook Island canoe builder — are collaborating to create a flotilla of traditional vaka. Three weeks after work began, the first vaka was almost complete, and lecturers Ben Fentiman and Alvar Del Castillo were keenly watching progress at the Pacific Trust Otago workshop in Caversham yesterday afternoon. The canoe has taken shape under the watchful guidance of Mata Taurarii, and will be able to carry three people. He used his own body — his handspan, fingers and the length of his strides — when he needed to measure anything.

Source: Otago Daily Times December 06, 2019 15:33 UTC