Tepukei


A tepukei is a very old Melanesian and Polynesian boat type, produced primarily by the Polynesian-speaking inhabitants of Taumako. It was first reported in print by Spanish explorer Álvaro de Mendaña in 1595, on his visit to the Santa Cruz Islands.
A tepukei looks like an outrigger canoe with a crab claw sail, and is in fact a very sophisticated ocean-going sailing ship, belonging to the proa type. Its main differences from other proas are:
In common with a typical proa, it uses a form of crab claw sail. However, its particular variant, when evaluated in modern wind tunnel tests, shows superior performance over all points of sail.
W. C. O'Ferrall, an Anglican missionary to Melanesia between 1897 and 1904, described the tepukei as a "sailing canoe". He described it as consisting of a dugout log equipped with a deck upon which a small hut was built, powered by a "lofty and strikingly shaped sail", and steered with a long paddle. He reported that men from Santa Cruz used the boat to travel as far away as the Solomon Islands.
The Maunga Nefe, which may be the only surviving original tepukei, is in the Ethnological Museum of Berlin. It was brought by Dr. Gerd Koch from the Santa Cruz Islands in 1967.
In recent years, tepukeis have been experiencing a renaissance. The has revived the traditional construction of these boats, and some are even being built in San Francisco.