Fautasi Race History
The Fautasi Race HistorySamoa's only long shipmaster receives the highest distinction from the highest ranking in France.
Samoa's only longboat or Fautasia woman skier, Vaimasenu'u Zita Martel, was honoured with the Order of Honour of the Republic of France for her service to France. Vaimasenu'u, whose spouse is a Frenchman, is known as the first and only woman to have skipped aboard since 2000. It has won many competitions in Samoa and American Samoa and made its mark in recent years by celebrating its centenary.
Francis Etienne, the Ambassador of France to Samoa, is in Samoa today to present the prize at the renowned Robert Louis Stevenson in Vailima.
Nafanua myth - JORDAN KWAN Photographer
When Nafanua found the toa and as she gathered her energies, she stretched out the palms of her hands and smote them. Against this background Nafanua used the gun in the form of a canoe and crossed the water that separates Pulotu from the realm.
Matuna and Matuna awoke and found her inquisitive. "For I come from Pulotu with arms that will save you," Nafanua answered. The Nafanua has consented. Every single working days a bunch of Lea'ea-Sasa'e soldiers arrived and were overcome by Nafanua and the two Matuna.
Soon it became clear that Nafanua was not an everyday lady and did not have an everyday gun. On the hunt for the soldier, Matuna and Matuna dared on Nafanua's warpath and came near Nafanua's gun. Nafanua hit Matuna and Matuna to their death with one blow.
This is how the saying ", "," or translated: "The Nafanua team is used alone. The Nafanua struggled and driven the Western foes to the outskirts of Fualuga. The Nafanua carried her boobs - the men screamed with terror! The men gave in to embarrassment because a single lady had depleted them.
The prisoners were soon dismissed from slavery, and the shouts of the anniversary soon took hold as the Falealupo tribe rejoiced in the triumph of their Princess Nafanua, who brought their rescue. Vaimasenu'u Zita Martel, shown here, as the famous Nafanua Wars. WHOM IS ZITA? And Zita is many things.
She is a Samoan business woman, passionate sporting character, parish director, Francois' spouse, mom of four youngsters and recently the creator of an exhilarating new telephone application, to name but a few. It is also the French honorary consul for Samoa and has a good command of French. She has for a while put aside her great ministry for the Samoa nation and youngsters, and she has also rendered outstanding assistance to France by receiving the prestigeous Officer of the National Order of Merit Prize of the President of the Republic of France in 2013, which was conferred on individual persons for special merits for the state.
The University of Hawaii presented Zita with the renowned Star of Oceania Award for Courage Leadership in the Year of Womens 2013 and was one of only 8 womens and the first Samoan to receive the Star of Oceania. "We' re doing everything - booking hotels, transfer and touring around the island," says Zita.
The Polynesian Xplorer is an important actor when it comes to bring major festivals to Samoa, as well as various major sport festivals. Talking of sport activities, Zita Martel is very sporty. Her oldest sire Xavier played for the Manu Samoa 7 side, and another, Thierry, played for the Canadian under 20ss.
Xavier, Thierry and their other boy, Guillaume, also played Samoa in judge. However, perhaps Zita's most thrilling trip to the sports stadium, and the one for which she is most famous and popular, is her iconic performance on the sea that leads the Segavao fautasi. Of course Zita was outraged.
Firstly, the race was a male race and she could not comprehend why they had decided in favour of her, a mistress. On the other hand, she had no previous knowledge of driving aautasi. It was her only experiance from her passion for canoes, but it is one thing to go from paddling a boom to guiding a kayak with over 40 canoes.
"I said no in my shock," says Zita. The Teuila Festival is only three sabbaticals away, so when I go down with the Segavao, you all go down with me. Recruiting 39 members of the community, ten of them wives - the only ship that had a mixture of men and wives.
HOW WAS THE REACTION TO STEERING THE SEGAVAO? Zita remained the hard job, because Fautasi-Rennen was widely known as a male game. She made them aware of the concept of a participating women. In the following years Zita and her team won several competitions and were even summoned to American Samoa in 2006 to face the infamous fibreglass Fautazis, who are easier and quicker on the sea.
Although Zita had to start in a new setting, and despite the fact that unlike Samoa, where the racing always took place in the Laguna, Zita was compelled to fight in the open sea, where the waves were supposed to be up to 15ft. The unimaginable was done by Zita and her team.
"It' a mix of many things," says Zita. "Teamwork is very important, and this commitment to the crews is crucial to success. When you don't have that attachment, it doesn't make any difference how big your Faustasi is, you will forfeit. Indeed, if I haven't made this commitment before the races, I emphasize because I need this commitment to make sure that once we are on the bike, we are one.
For Zita and her team of Don Bosco guys this proved to be a great challenge. "When you hear Zita talking about the Segavao, you can say that a great deal of dexterity goes into the controls. Zita not only knows how to gather her forces at sea, but she is also very adept at sailing the Fautasasi.
"You' ve got to know how to sail the open sea," says Zita. Zita is so knowledgeable about the oceans that she herself created the two Segavao II and Segavao III Fautasi to ensure her resistance on the sea. However, many other skipper from both Samoas leaned on Zita and modeled their own Fautasi's similar to the Segavao.
After so many victories, Zita has unknowingly become a very inspiring character, evoking a constructive debate about women's capacity to overcome boundaries that our societies sometimes impose on their own souls. Zita, like Nafanua, gives a convincing lecture. There is no mystery that we are living in a strongly patchy community, and there are certain aspirations about the role of our men and our wives.
Nevertheless, Zita, like the Nafanua myth, has shown so persuasively that we should concentrate less on sex, but more on a person's merit and skills to do an allocated work well. Zita's community decided to let her run the Segavao because she had faith in her skills.
Obviously this faith has been worth it, because Zita is the most thrilling thing that ever occurred in the story of the race. One of the most important results of Zita's races in the race is the changes in people's attitudes. Anyone who had initial reluctance to Zita, who thought that a women could not win because of her sex, now has a new regard for her and her abilities at sea.
They have developed a capacity for stress that is part of their common experience in Samoa. Now we see a tendency for more and more of our wives to travel on less trafficked streets and become guides in their homes and churches. But there is still a long way to go.
We still lack, for example, representatives of female representatives in the administration and over-representation of female representatives in the Samoa Victim Support Group. Zita is many things - she can now say that she is a contemporary female soldier. COMING UP NEXT FOR ZITA? Nobody can ever blame Zita for not being competitive - she has another work in her mind that she has been considering for a long while, but I have committed myself to mum.
" However, what I can say is that Zita's next endeavor is definitely another thrilling one - perhaps her most thrilling yet - and mirrors her profound passion and esteem for the world around her. Can be aautasi or not. Meanwhile, you can try Zita's new cell phone application called'Samoa Smart Guide' on the Google Play and Iphone Store (both Android and IOS phones).
If you believe it or not, Zita herself created and made it.