When did new designs begin to emerge?
It was not until the mid 1970’s that the Malia design began to be rethought, due largely to the influence brought across the Pacific by those other brilliant maritime architects and canoe paddlers, the Tahitians. The Tahitians had devised canoes that were substantially longer, lighter and narrower, which made them extremely fast and are often referred to as “Rockets”. Participating in their first ever Moloka’i to Oahu race in 1976, a race of some 42miles, the Tahitians won against all the predictions using a canoe which they had brought with them. After careful analyze it was agreed their canoe design was superior and so a new design had to be found.
