Overview
Voyages between the Society Islands and Aotearoa New Zealand may have been made in vessels similar to this tipaerua (double-hulled sailing canoe) from Tahiti.
Tipaerua were used by kings and chiefs in the 1700s. They could be up to 21 metres (70 feet) long, and had names like Tiaitoerau (wait for the west wind) and Anuanua (rainbow). Specialist canoe builders used stone adzes to shape individual planks, which were stitched together with coconut-husk cords. Sails were usually woven from the long thin leaves of the pandanus - a plant similar to harakeke (New Zealand flax).
The low prows and upturned sterns of tipaerua feature on many large, contemporary Māori waka (canoes).