The Vaka Eiva Canoe Festival provides a unique memorable experience of a week of paddling events combined with the cultural exchange between the Cook Islands hosts and their visitors.

Held on Rarotonga, the picturesque main island of the Cooks group, the Vaka Eiva was first held in November 2004 with clubs from Hawaii, Fiji, NZ, Australia and Niue joining the Cook Islands clubs for a week of competition.  The 2005 event built on the success of the inaugural event with over 200 paddlers coming together for what has become the largest annual sporting event in the Cook Islands.

Paddlers experience a variety of events with the sprints races inside the stunning location of Muri lagoon overlooked by three beautiful motus, the V6 ironman races outside the reef, and the Pacific Cup V6 relay race around the island, not forgetting the novelty events such as the world famous ‘pop the ama’ competition.  2006 will see the inclusion of an OC1 18km race in the programme, replacing the OC1 around island relay race, as well as an OC1 15k race for masters. 

2005 showed that paddlers need to be prepared for all conditions during the week of races with calm flat hot conditions one day, and gusty wind and surf the next.  Nothing however changes the uniqueness of paddling around Rarotonga’s beautiful exterior in the final day of racing. 

The cultural aspect provides a unique touch to the festival, with paddlers sharing and valuing the traditional significance and importance of the canoe to Pacific culture.  Welcomes by traditional village leaders and cultural dancing and singing performances all combine to provide that special Cook Islands flavour.

Huge interest has been shown in the 2006 event, with a number of teams confirmed already, and a waitlist of teams interested in competing. 

The Cook Islands Canoe Association looks forward to welcoming both new faces and old to our shores this November for the 3rd annual Vaka Eiva festival.