Before the first strokes of the paddle, an initial obstacle appeared: the dockers’ strike. Orders from the organizing committee remain blocked in the containers, notably the T-shirts. A few days before departures to the islands, the committee is trying to recover them. “We humbly ask these dockworkers: please, our event will begin next week. We really need our outfits, our rowers must be equipped,” says the committee president, Elise Maamaatuaiahutapu. “And we also have all our POS displays on that ship as well. So we simply ask these dockworkers to retrieve the container for our event, for our culture, for everyone, for our rowers, for the family that strongly supports this event.”
To better frame the competition, the president also announced the appointment of three race directors. Among them, Claudino Vivish, in charge of the main race. He details the changes for this 33rd edition: “The first change that will be made is based on something we previously noted. It was highlighted precisely by the Taha’a gendarmerie, a small issue with boats that must come in and cross the course to drop off belongings at the Patio marina. (…) This year, we decided to set up a corridor. (…) There will be two buoys with two official boats. On one of the boats there will be two flags. When the red flag is raised, boats cannot cross. As soon as the red flag is lowered, the green is raised, the boats can cross. (…) We will appeal to everyone’s civility, whether at the club level or among spectators.”
The second change concerns the rahui of Bora Bora. “Everyone knows that we’ve established the rahui for 7 km, and then 7.4 km, with a distance from the reef offshore of 250 meters. Inside, we were asked not to let the pirogues enter, nor the boats (…) They agreed that the pirogues could skim along, but not the boats. That means we must readjust everything with the clubs as well, inform them, and ask them to resupply before the first buoy.”
The remaining task is to move the teams and their equipment. With Tahiti Nui I out of service, Tahiti Nui VIII will have to transport passengers, club boats, and gear. “We’ll have the VIII to transport all our va’a that will depart for the Raromatai starting Saturday, this weekend, first to Huahine to collect them, then they will go to Raiatea and return to Huahine,” explains Elise Maamaatuaiahutapu. “We’ve done some gymnastics too, we’ve tried to manage as best as we can. So we will work with the existing shipowners on site, namely SNP, Hawaiki Nui Va’a and Vaearai, to carry out the inter-island transfer of our equipment, without the passengers. We were forced to take the Maupiti Express to allow the committee staff to travel the day before each race. (…) We truly need everyone, everyone. Whether by air or sea, we need everyone’s support.”
The first athletes will depart on Friday. The canoes will follow on Saturday toward the Raromatai. All are scheduled to meet next Tuesday, at 3:00 p.m., in Huahine for the opening ceremony. But before testing themselves on the water, the first challenge will already be to be present.
