Kris Kjeldsen - Waterman

How do I pay tribute to someone I barely knew? It's the question I've been asking myself ever since I learned of Kris Kjeldsen's death. After all. he died on the 30th of June and I only learned of it six weeks later.

Kris and I had so much in common. So many similar experiences. So many mutual friends and acquaintances. We were even close in age. So it's surprising that we'd never met before. 

Nevertheless, I didn't even know that Kris existed until an old friend of mine visited from Maui, Hawaii and told me he'd really like to visit Kris and his outrigger canoe factory. My friend was a devoted paddler who'd won several Master's Division competitions. He told me that Kris's Moana Nui canoes were legendary and that meeting Kris would be a highlight of his visit.

To my complete surprise I discovered that, not only did Kris live just down the coast from us, but that his factory was just down the road from our house.

Later, after my friend had left, I decided to write an article about Kris and Moana Nui for the December 2005 issue of Whangarei's monthly lifestyle magazine, SCENE. In November I spent a couple of days visiting the factory, the beach where Kris kept some of his personal outriggers and Kris's new family at their home in Ngunguru. Kris also gave me a tour of his surfboard collection - many of them built by him - and his impressive collection surfing books and memorabilia. 

Even though we'd just met we hit it off immediately. Like two old water-brothers who'd known each other for years.. There was so much left to learn about each other and on parting we made vague promises to get together again. But fate intervened.

Kris's marriage broke up and my wife suffered a fall that shattered her ankle. I became her caregiver and my primary concern was helping her to recover. Time passed.

We did run into each other from time to time and always promised to get together. But something always got in the way.

Kris became involved in building a new house near his factory. In the meantime, my wife had another fall - this time breaking her wrist, lower arm and hip. Then I tore the miniscus in my much abused left knee and had to have surgery. We were all growing older and time was taking a toll. We never did get together.

Strangely, the week before I learned of Kris's death, I dreamed of him. In the dream we spoke about old times and it was like we were finally catching up. Over the years I've learned to respect dreams like that even though I might not realize their significance at the time. 

Kris asked me why we had never met up to seal our friendship and, even though I explained the circumstances, I was deeply saddened that we hadn't pushed through the circumstances to make that connection. I still am.

Kris was also concerned about what would happen to his surfboard collection and other surfing memorabilia if he wasn't around to look after it. I told him that I hoped someone close to him would appreciate the collection's importance and protect its future. I'm sure they will.

As dreams sometimes do, it ended unresolved. I woke feeling uneasy and found that thoughts of Kris would surface on and off for the next week. Then, just a few days ago, I learned the sad and shocking news that Kris had died more than four weeks earlier.

Since I didn't get the chance to acknowledge his death and pay my respects to his family and friends I've decided to offer my tribute to Kris by republishing the article I wrote for SCENE. 

"Goodnight sweet prince. And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest."

Requiescat in pace
Semper culti in memoria

DIFFERENT STROKES

When SCENE Central started getting reports of UFO sightings along the Tutukaka Coast we sent Matapouri writer, Bob Feigel, to investigate. His mission: to discover the source of these Unusual Floating Objects.

Snuggled in a corner of a steep valley beside the narrow road that snakes over the hill from Tutukaka and down into Matapouri, there's a secret. 

You wouldn't think somewhere as well-travelled as the Tutukaka Coast could hold a secret like this. But how many of you would know that New Zealand's leading designer, manufacturer and exporter of equipment for a popular international sport is located in this quiet valley? I certainly didn't until an old friend visiting us from Hawaii asked how to get there and I had to admit I'd never heard of it. 

Even the sport is a bit of a surprise, though it's the national sport of Tahiti, the official state sport of Hawaii and its popularity long established - or enjoying a huge revival - throughout the Pacific Rim. From Canada to South America, the Easter Islands and all the islands across the South Pacific to New Zealand, Australia and all the way up to Asia. It's even finding footholds further afield in the Mediterranean, the Caribbean and along the warmer coastlines of the Atlantic.

Stumped? Well ... while it's known by various names in different cultures and languages, in Maori it is the ancient sport of paddling Waka (canoe) Ama (float) - or outrigger canoe. And in case you haven't noticed, the number of people paddling outriggers for fun, fishing or racing them competitively has been increasing in New Zealand ever since 1985, especially in Northland.

Much of the credit for the NZ revival of Waka Ama paddling and its continuing growth is due to the efforts of Ngunguru resident Kris Kjeldsen, who, with his wife Alamein, run Moana Nui Polynesian Canoes and Paddles. 

American by birth and Kiwi by choice, Kris arrived in New Zealand in 1969 after building a trimaran and sailing it to Hawaii, where he lived for the next couple of years. 

Before coming to NZ the former California lifeguard and merchant seaman had been a member of the Kai Nalu Canoe Club in Southern California, and had paddled in both Hawaii and Tahiti. So once he arrived in Aotearoa he was surprised and disappointed to find that even though the Waka played a central role in Maori culture, the ancient Polynesian tradition of waka paddling had virtually died out.

"I was living in the small village of Pawarenga on the Hokianga and wondered why there was no traditional Maori canoe racing," says Kris. "Then, I read about Hawaiki Nui, the replica Polynesian voyaging canoe being built by Matahi Whakataka (master builder) Brightwell, who sailed it from Tahiti to New Zealand. I was there at Okahu Bay in Auckland when it landed in December 1985."

Kris met with Matahi and talked to him about a plan to start building waka ama and revive paddling in the North. "Matahi was planning to do the same thing down in Gisborne and encouraged me to give it a go."

With rural Hokianga's high unemployment, Kris and friend, Bo Herbert decided to set up a community trust with the idea of creating employment opportunities for the area's young people. Using this as their foundation, they established a programme to start building canoes and paddles in Pawarenga. With the help of the community and government funding, the project took off and by early 1987 the work scheme and training programme were in place. In addition to building skills, Kris taught participants the art of paddling, including basic swimming skills, surf lifesaving and respect for the ocean. 

"About this time, I met a Samoan named Pili Muaulu who lived on the coast near Whangarei," Kris continues. "He told me of his father's dream to find a suitable log to carve a traditional Samoan two-person fishing canoe called a Pao Pao."

Kris happened to have a friend who was willing to donate the perfect log and Pili, his family and Kris's trainees built the canoe.

While Kris and his group developed their skills and knowledge, Matahi was doing the same thing down in Gisborne. "Our group evolved into Nga Hoe Horo O Pawarenga (the fast paddlers of Pawarenga), Matahi's group in Gisborne became Mare Kura Canoe Club, and Pili's extended family formed Mitamitaga Ole Pasefica Va'a Alo (pride of the pacific canoe club) in Ngunguru," says Kris. "These three clubs and one in Okahu in Auckland were the original four clubs in New Zealand."

The clubs formed a national association and the next major step in the sport's New Zealand revival was winning the bid to hold the 1990 IPCF* World Outrigger Sprint Championships at Orakei Basin in Auckland.

"When a national association hosts a world event, it also agrees to supply a fleet of brand new, matching one-man and six-man canoes for the competitors," explains Kris. "And the company started up in Pawarenga by me and my friend, Bo Herbert, in 1988, got the job of building them."

From then on the sport developed quickly. In 1990 the company became known as Moana Nui and by 1993 Kris had moved the operation to Tutukaka and his son, Maui, had joined the business, specialising in the design and building of laminated wood paddles.

"We started out making our canoes in Bruce Going's shed in Tutukaka and bought our own factory in Matapouri around five years ago after I saw this property for sale," says Kris. "We could increase production if we moved to some industrial estate, but the coast is a beautiful environment to work in because it's close to the water and I'm able to get wet most days."

Today, there are over 40 outrigger canoeing clubs in the North Island, around a half-a-dozen in the South Island and orders keep coming from individuals and organisations. Moana Nui is busy year-round and employees between five and seven people in addition to Kris and Alamein. Their outriggers have been exported worldwide, including the UK, Germany, Italy, Saipan, Guam, Hong Kong, Samoa, Fiji, the Cook Islands and even the "home" of outrigger canoe building, Tahiti. They are also built under license in Fiji, Australia, New Caledonia, the USA and Brazil. And, as if imitation is the sincerest form of flattery rather than ordinary theft, they are copied without license - and without royalties being paid - by other less scrupulous manufacturers overseas.

Kris Kjeldsen: "For the Tangata Whenua - the people of the land of Aotearoa, the Maori - the paddle symbolises a sense of purpose and direction whilst also affirming their close cultural links with the canoe. All individual Maori ancestry is intrinsically linked with a particular canoe upon which their forebears arrived on the shores of Aotearoa. This provides each person with an essential link back to Hawaiki - and beyond to creation itself. 

"The more I travel and experience the Pacific region, the more I realise how interconnected all the people of the Pacific are. The dialects may be different but it's the same language. The colonial influences may be different, but you find the same legends and traditions ... and the canoe is something they all have in common." 

Terms:

Moana Nui (big ocean); Waka (canoe) Ama (float); Waka Tete (fishing canoe); Waka Taurua (double canoe); Waka Taua (war canoe); Hoe (paddle)

With canoes costing from $3,000 (for a single canoe) to $9,700 for a basic six man canoe (or $11,500 fully kited), and with paddles from $150 for the basic no-frills model up to around $230 for the kind the competitors use, the sport is not inexpensive . Yet Moana Nui is working to its full capacity with orders increasing each year. (Please note: those were November 2005 prices. Contact Moana Nui for their current price list.)

Kris and Alamein are involved in the sport on many levels and 'Ali' is currently one of NZ's top waka ama steerswoman. She also takes care of the administration, quotes and orders, "... and keep the boys in line," while Kris has taken a more supervisory and customer relations role at the factory, and helps look after their three and five year old daughters, Alia and Keala, while Alamein is practising for competitions.

"At 62, I'm getting to an age when most men would be thinking of retiring ... and I probably wouldn't say no if someone walked in and offered me a fair price for the business" says Kris. "But, when you start a new family at this time of life, retirement isn't really in the cards for a few years yet." 

Obituary and other tributes:

KJELDSEN, Kris. Sadly on 30 June 2011 surrounded by his family. Loved father and father-in- law of Kapua and Jason; Maui and Jody; Keala, and Alia. Adored Pappy of Kiwa, Thor; Tai Mana and Maiha. A service for Kris will be held in the Ngunguru Sports and Recreational Centre, Kopipi Cres, Ngunguru, on Monday 4 July 2011 at 12 noon, however, doors will be open from 9am for people to speak and say their goodbyes. Following the main service, a private cremation will be held. All communication to The Kjeldsen Family, PO Box 403069, Ngunguru 0154.

http://www.moananui.co.nz/www.moananui.co.nz/Thank_you_Everyone.html

http://appliedobservation.com/2011/07/18/goodbye-kris-kjeldsen/

http://kiakahacanoespaddlesoz.blogspot.com/2011/06/fair-well-our-guiding-inspiration.html

http://appliedobservation.com/2011/07/18/goodbye-kris-kjeldsen/#comment-69

http://countyrecurrent.blogspot.com/2011/07/bruce-kris-kjeldsen-rip.html

http://www.moananui.co.nz/www.moananui.co.nz/Moana_Nui_Home.html

http://wakaama.co.nz/stories/read/1002642

http://hikoidiary.blogspot.com/2011/07/kris-kjeldsen.html

Kris Kjeldsen - Waterman and Different Strokes  © Robert R. Feigel, 2011 - All Rights Reserved