Canoe sailing and shunting in Fiji (Eco Challenge Canoe)

This is one of the 100 canoes that were built for the Fiji Eco Challenge in 2020. Unfortunately its not really a happy story. The Eco Challenge is an adventure race sponsored by Amazon (the big online warehouse) and filmed + broadcasted as a show on Amazon Prime. Basically its an exotic safari for rich people. For the Fiji episode Amazon thought it would be nice to include a race with traditional outrigger canoes. To gain access to the local canoeing tradition they approached Uto ni Yalo, a Fijian NGO which is very active in preserving and reviving the sailing tradition. They promised funding to build 100 canoes with the opportunity to distribute them to the island villages after the race. Basically a very nice idea but the project had to be rushed in no time to meet Amazons deadline. This resulted in very poor built quality. On top the design wasn't really traditional. The canoe you see on the video sailed quite slow despite enough wind to capsize it and could hardly make way to windward. Two years later in early 2023, when this video was filmed, only one canoe, the one you see right here, was left. All the other 99 were more hole than hull, the plywood construction had completely disintegrated due to poor construction. Now, a year later, this canoe is probably gone too. When this video was filmed it was already very rotten. Amazon doesn't seem to care.
Many local canoe builder reported that this disastrous project damaged their credibility and people lost trust and self esteem in their own culture.
In the end its a story of a company with almost unlimited resources that tricks some island people with an "aid" project to get access to their culture to exploit it for profit. The locals are left behind with nothing but trauma, a damaged reputation and a beach littered by wrecks.
I hope this story may help to avoid that the same mistakes will be repeated by another project in the future.
Camera: Henrik Richter-Alten
Music: Isa Lei Lia

[@proasisproject]

Read the description for the full story behind this video!

[@dexterfouche5220]

Looks like so much fun

[@proasisproject]

Have a look in the description, this video has a sad story unfortunately :(

[@ChrisTietjen_00]

That looks like a 16' Wa'apa by Gary Dierking. It's too bad that Amazon couldn't do right by local tradition and culture. The proa is a basic sea form. It will always be a part of the history wherever there are winds and water.

[@proasisproject]

It is, Gary provided the design pro bono to support the project.

[@teampacificfestival1548]

Isa Lei hello nice to sli over the vawes

[@StudioBhobho]

Thanks for highlighting the wrongs that these companies continue to around the world

[@Thomas_de_Meijer]

Always so sad when funds and effort get misdirected like this. The same investment in a more genuine way could have done a lot of good.

[@proasisproject]

Absolutely, this is a typical example of green washing at the expense of the local people.