The reigning Fautasi Champion and captain of the Tolotolo o le Tama Uli long boat says the art of Fautasi racing is dying.
Pauli Pauli Ivan Williams has attributed this decline to new technological changes that Samoa is adopting for the races.
His dismay has been directed at the use of readymade paddles as opposed to the original and cultural Samoan made wooden oars, calling it an abomination of both culture and tradition.
“If we want to attract tourists through our Teuila Festival, then they want to see how Samoans in the past conquered the Pacific waters by long boats and they have to see that we used our own Samoan wooden-styled oars. That interests them,” he said.
“If they come and see we’re using the modern spoon paddles, then what’s so cultural about that? The tourists would just shrug off the race and say, ‘Eh, that’s the stuff we’re using where we’re from,” added Pauli.
His comments were made during a special meeting between the organizing committee and the competing fautasi boats where only two reps from competing boats were present, Tolotolo o le Tama Uli’s captain Pauli Ivan William, and captain for the Little Rina, Matuaotofiga Fonoti.
It comes after the committee rep for the Samoa Police, who is working alongside Samoa Tourism Authority, announced the race is open to any type of paddle.
“There is a big difference between the spoon blades and our traditional flat Samoan paddles. The spoon blades always win, but that’s not how our ancestors travelled. So it’s not right to have other boats use higher technology in paddles than others at all,” said Pauli.
He went on to say that even if they were to install new spoon blade paddles for their boats, it would cost at least another $10,000 tala to buy the expensive paddles and to change the sockets where the paddles fit.
Meanwhile five teams will be competing in the Fautasi challenge tomorrow.
Photo: YouTube - Team competing in a fautasi race
