A day at the races in Apia



Conditions, I was told, were almost perfect for a Fautasi race.

This morning in Apia had the air of Super Bowl Sunday about it.

By 5:30 a.m. about three miles of Bayfront was lined with people. Happy chatter and an air of nervous expectancy was everywhere. The TVs were on with crowds of people gathered around them. Excited jabbering could be heard from the radios in every car that passed. Pick-up trucks with dozens of paddle-waving  youth chanting for victory roared by, honking their horns. Vendors in the stalls set up for the 50th Anniversary of Samoa's Independence were already doing brisk business, the aromas of their food wafting out over the calm Pacific.

It was grand final day for the Fautasi boat races. Ten boats, representing the best rowing villages of Samoa, had made it this far. Today was the time for one of them to bring it home. The $50,000 purse sounds like a fortune in Samoa, but then there are 50 people in each crew. This is not about the money. This is for pride.

By the time I took my place on the waterside, I could already hear the rhythmic thumping of the drums coming from around the point. The contest had begun. The men on either side of me had transistors pinned to their ears and were shouting out what was going on in the race. Each bit of news was greeted by groans or cheers. You needed the radios; the boats were a long way out and, to this Fautasi newbie, they all looked the same.


The home stretch reached.

And then, just like that, it was done. It turns out that the only boat to be crewed by a woman, one Zita Martel of the Vaimasenu'u, had won. By the time I returned to the hotel she was already being interviewed on TV. While she did not say she was going to Disneyland, there was a lot of passionate chanting going on in the background.

Turns out the other great thing about winning something this important on your home turf is the parade: you get to have it immediately. It has already started and is winding its way noisily through town.