Strong easterlies have forced two traditional waka to backtrack in search of favourable winds on their epic journey across the Pacific to Rapanui (Easter Island).
The two double-hulled waka, Te Aurere and Ngahiraka Mai Tawhiti, sailed out of Auckland nine days ago without modern navigational aids in a bid to re-create a Maori ancestral journey.
In a navigator's update on the project's Facebook page, a crew member said the waka had been making very little progress eastward in the face of strong winds and unsettled seas.
"Conditions aren't too favourable. We've made the decision to head south and hopefully pick up some favourable winds there."
Te Aurere also was having issues with power and they had hoped to be twice as far along.
"But that's okay - it's just the way it is. Hopefully we get a change in the weather and some south-westerlies."
The 20 crew are using only the stars, moon, sun, ocean currents, birds and marine life to guide them. However, each waka does have a tracking device on board, as well as a satellite phone, in case of emergency.
The waka are due in Rapanui in October but will stop in Raivavae and Mangareva in French Polynesia on the way
NZN