Rare Double For SEGAVAO II

Written by Sue Fale
Friday, 05 September 2008
Segavao II skipper, Vaimasenu’u Ms. Zita Martel, knew when the starters gun went off, they will win and clean sweep the two fautasi races of the Teuila Festival 2008. The Don Bosco boat had already won the first race on Monday using traditional wooden oars. Yesterday the race allowed the use of scooped oars, and the SEGAVAO II skipper knew the advantage of the new technology over the wooden oars that the rest of the boats were using. ‘The boat goes a lot faster with scoop oars, and I think the Ulalei Bluebird from Vaiala and us were the only boats using them,” Vaimasenu’u noted, ”and I knew when we broke to the front that we were going to win.” The 5 mile waterfront race, along the coastline from Faleula to Apia was an easy cruise for the dual champion. The two boats from Manono, the TAVA’ESINA and the TELEFONI tried to keep pace at the onset of the race but was unable to do so and they fell back to battle it out for second place. The SEGAVAO II was so far ahead of the pack by the Mulinu’u Peninsula, Vaimasenu’u was contend to wave her red teuila (frangipani) flower like a magic wand, to glide the boat to a runaway win. Unlike the Monday thriller when the SEGAVAO II pipped the TAVA’ESINA at the line, this time it was an easy cruise. She even managed to call and wave her teuila to the supporters lining the shores. “The credit really goes to the boys, they trained very hard and were fired up to win first on Monday and in today’s race,” Vaimasenu’u opened up to Newsline, about the preparations her young student crew went through. The double victory is a rare feat and one that no other woman captain has managed to achieve – not that there are that many women involved in what is basically a man’s sport. Vaimasenu’u is already a women who is a proven exception in fautasi racing and not just in Apia but also in neighbouring American Samoa, where she is already a winner and where they would love to see her return to defend their win. “The win for us this week is extra special because it is an important morale booster for the Don Bosco School, after the demoralizing events earlier in the year,” she pointed out. The Don Bosco school image suffered deeply when students and teachers were blamed and even charged in court for a town riot that left a school girl a victim of serious burn wounds. “My only involvement with the school was and is with the fautasi, but even if I was not a teacher I too felt the really low drop in the school morale with what happened. “The fautasi race was the only redemption for them and they were really fired up in our preparations for the Teuila to do well.” There may however be more than just hard training and firence determination that left to the success of the SEGAVAO II this week. Vaimasenu’u also attributes the SEGAVAO II success to some unexpected and unrevealed divine inspirations that helped to explain what is now an established tradition for a teuila flower to be strapped firmly to the side of the boat on racing day. “In the SEAGAVO II’s maiden race in 2001, I was called over by the Carmelites at Vailima and was told they have named the boat ‘Little Flower of Jesus’, and since then we have always carried a flower on the boat.” Vaimasenu’u secured a win for the boat on her maiden race in one of two qualifying rounds for a championship race in 2001. Roughly translated the SEGAVAO stands for bird in the bush. As for the Teuila Festival races this year, the Bush Bird, flew off yesterday with prize money of $44,000 and plenty of redemptions after atoning for their earlier wrongs. Comments (2) Subscribe to this comment's feed Congratulations! written by a guest, September 05, 2008 Great greetings from London! Good on you Martel and your great team. God bless. Sr. Maselina and Sr. Celestina ... written by San, September 05, 2008 Great Win! Great Team! Great Captain! Great school with a great spirit! Malo Don Bosco!!!! Write comment Name Email Title Comment
Last Updated ( Tuesday, 09 September 2008 )

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