Myths and legends tell us of the heroic migration of the Polynesians throughout the length and breadth of today’s Polynesia. However, the knowledge of the traditional methods of navigation has been almost lost following the European colonization. Researchers, such as Heyerdahl and others, have made spectacular voyages during the 20^th Century to test their theories on the migrations. Several Polynesians followed in their footsteps, with the first to revive this type of trip being the catamaran “Hōkūle’a” from Hawai’i in 1970, which, in turn, inspired several more and sparked the creation of the Polynesian Voyaging Society.

Lynn Rapu (49 years old), is the leader of the historic odyssey of the “Kuini Analola”, the first recreation of an ancestral Rapanui ship, which was built in the shipyards in Quellón (Chiloé, continental Chile) and which set off on a voyage without modern instrumentation toward Rapa Nui last February.  He relates: “In 1985, when I was 16, together with Kio Teao, David Teao and Alberto Ika, we had the idea to build an ancestral ship, which is known as Vaka taurua, after my Teao cousins saw one of them on a trip to Tahiti. In those days, the Island didn’t have the material or the trees to do that and bringing the material from continental Chile was, and continues to be, prohibitively expensive.”

After many years in waiting, the project resurged in 2012 when Lynn Rapu was serving as the cultural ambassador of Rapa Nui in Tahiti, where he was able to meet with the sailing brotherhoods from Tonga and Samoa and make formal contact with Hawaii and its University, obtaining scholarships for future seamen and women. It was Charles Nainoa Thompson, the captain of the “Hōkūle’a” and president of the Polynesian Voyaging Society, who opened the doors for Rapa Nui by including two young Islanders in the crew of the vaka taurua “Fa’afaite” on a traditional voyage to the Solomon Islands.

In 2016, two ships arrived at Easter Island from Auckland (New Zealand), the “Te Aurere” and its sister ship, lead by the Maori engineer, Hekenukumai Puhipi (Hector Busby).  Lynn got his help to include another two local youngsters on the return voyage to New Zealand and for the construction of the first Rapanui catamaran, or vaka taurua. “Our good friend died recently and I want to render great honors to him. He offered to help in the construction of our vaka, but that would have meant cutting down one of those ancient trees of Aotearoa (New Zealand) and we didn’t accept, adds Lynn.

The next stage for Lynn Rapu and his Tahitian wife, Maima de Rapu, was to establish the Ao Tupuna Foundation for the construction of a double-hulled catamaran and set up an Academy of Navigation to rescue, preserve and disperse the knowledge among the young people of Rapa Nui.  In the meantime, they knocked on many doors on the Island, in Santiago and in Tahiti, attempting to fund the project, but, according to Lynn, the response was  always the same : “We’ll see!”  “With the efforts by myself and my wife, and the prayers of my mother, Analola Tuki-Teave, we began the project with our own resources and the support of our tupuna (ancestors). We went to Quellón where we found my friend, Nelson Henriquez, who asked about our dream of recovering the art of ancestral navigation and insisted in taking us to see the traditional Chilote shipyards, which they call ‘masters of the shore’, who build ships entirely of wood. Among all the materials available, we selected Guaitecas cypress, which can withstand long periods in the water. We decided to build the catamaran with the Quiliente Shipyards, in order to fulfill a dream of the Rapanui people : to return to the sea.”