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.