Ātea A Rangi Educational Trust
The area surrounding Napier Port has strong cultural significance. It links the local Maori people to Tangaroa, god of the sea, through the sea maiden Pania and her child Moremore.
Pania is a sacred taonga (treasure) to local Maori, and now takes her form as a reef in the Hawke Bay harbour, Te Whanganui-a-Orotū. Napier Port is deeply connected to this cultural and living history, and we are proud to be a partner of the Ātea A Rangi Educational Trust.
The Ātea a Rangi Educational Trust (Ātea Trust) was established to design and complete the Ātea a Rangi – Star Compass at the Waitangi Regional Park, to run educational programmes, events and tours at the Ātea a Rangi, as well as other traditional Māori and environmental kaupapa.
Napier Port helps to fund the Trust’s Learning to Sail school programme. The Trust have a small fleet of waka taurua, 5-metre double hulled sailing canoes, which are ideal for kids (and adults) to learn how to sail in a safe environment. The waka taurua are part of the 5-week ‘Learning to sail waka’ programme for primary and immediate schools in Hawke’s Bay.
The Trust also cares for Te Matau a Māui, a waka hourua (traditional double-hulled voyaging waka), which is permanently berthed in the Ahuriri Harbour, just around from the port. The Trust works with families, cultural groups and young people, taking them on sea voyages with Te Matau a Māui and teaching a kaupapa of water safety, local history, teamwork and responsibility.
Napier Port provides practical assistance in lifting the Te Matau a Māui waka out of the water every two years, so that it can be surveyed and properly maintained. We’ve also helped fund a hoe urungi, or steering paddle, for the waka.
In 2017 we supported the Trust to host the Te Herenga Waka Festival, bringing six voyaging waka from across the Pacific to Napier for a fortnight of friendly competition, education and relationship building.
