A week before Va’a’s grand showcase, the 11 rowers of the Rautere team are not sparing any effort to be ready for the Hawaiki Nui Va’a.
Having taken part in the last edition of the Molokai to Hawaii — which was won by Team OPT — the club could only manage a top-20 finish. It was a setback caused by logistical issues.
“Some of our rowers were a little disappointed, I think, with the position we achieved at Molokai. Because of our escort boat, which forgot our provisions. So we rowed almost 1 hour 30 minutes without water. We were running more on Coca-Cola. The cramps began to set in. When we finally got water after an hour and a half, that’s when they started to push again,” explains the team’s coach, Ruben Mati.
For this 33rd edition of the Hawaiki Nui Va’a, Rautere hopes to do better and compete with the greats, like their seniors in the 1990s. “In terms of the standings, we want to do better than last year. We finished 19th. I think, personally, finishing in the top 15 is already quite good. Given the current level, reaching the top 10 is fairly difficult, but not impossible,” he adds.
The Faa’a-born club, which is rising from its ashes after more than a decade away from the starting line in the senior category, aims to make up for lost time and reclaim its place among the Va’a elite.
