How is Faafaite the va’a (canoe) organized?
On board Faafaite the va’a, the crew is composed of a captain, three watch-captains, and twelve crew. The day is divided into three hour watches. Each watch team is composed of a watch-captain and four crew. As such, a team is either on watch, resting, or on call. Cooking duties fall on the team which is on watch at a meal time. Of course, at any given time the watch-captain or captain can summon part of or the whole crew on deck if conditions warrant. Also keep in mind that for every person navigating on Faafaite, there is an equally important shore crew taking care of all sorts of things from communications, safety, supplies, maintenance, fund raising, recruiting, to that unavoidable aspect of “modern” life, paperwork.
