The best sailors in the world

“No alcohol, no smoking, no drugs, no sex: the vaka is a marae!” The instructions for the crew of Paikea are clear. A marae is the name given to a communal sacred space in Polynesian or Maori culture. Though usually a place ashore, this 40-foot replica of a traditional Polynesian double-hulled sailing canoe, known as a vaka, va’a or waka, feels hallowed enough as this author takes the first night-watch, drifting hove-to away from the breaking reef off tiny Mitiaro, one of the Cook Islands’ remoter territories.

The eight-strong crew have just returned full-bellied from a feast thrown by the 130 islanders that consisted of a whole roast pig, fowl, taro and fish; plus prayers, speechifying, Maori songs in pure harmonies and laughter. The farewell from the quay still rings in the watch’s ears as a carpet of stars reels overhead. A humpback whale with her calf blows by the boat. And a rumble comes from the deckhut of one of the Pacific Ocean’s most revered navigators, Peia Patai (pictured).