shipstamps.co.uk

Vaka. A graceful double canoe of Atiu which is still in use in the Cook Islands for night fishing. As the sun begins to set, the sail is dropped and the paddlers become fishers who take their turn raising palm‑frond torches high or holding the net, with traditional good natured laughter and camaraderie throughout the night, as flying fish flash towards the torch‑and are snared by the nets.
Sea Breezes November 1973 by Ernest Argyle.
Detail from Cook Islands Post Office.
Cook Islands SG443

Vaka katea- double canoe of the Cook Islands used for catching fly¬ing fish and for interisland transportation. Dugout hulls of unequal length joined with the bows even or the smaller hull slightly behind. Hulls generally more than one piece; strengthened by ribs, some residual in the dugout itself. Rounded bottoms with strong tumble home; ends curved up, the bows slight¬ly above the gunwale and the sterns quite tall, a piece having been added to the hull. Coverboards at each end; gunwale pieces added; sometimes washstrakes. Hulls joined by 3 booms that project outboard on either side ca. 76cm; outboard booms might be secured by stringers; platform of poles between the hulls or across both hulls. Generally rowed;double tholepins set into the stringers. Early boats sailed mast stepped in forward part of the platform;probably V-shaped mat sail. Length of longer,starboard hull averaged 8.2m, the port hull being as much as 25% shorter.
Cook Islands 2013; 90c;SG? Source : A Dictionary of the world’s Watercraft from Aak to Zumbra.