We paddled at Oahu’s Ke’ehi Lagoon last weekend. Ke’ehi is not the most scenic spot on the island, but it is the easiest for running a day-long outrigger regatta with forty distinct races. We begin racing early in the morning with the kids’ (keiki) crews, start getting to adult crews about mid-day, and close things out late in the afternoon. If you visit Honolulu, Ke’ehi Lagoon is easily accessible, out by the airport.

Our little club, Windward Kai, did well, earning two strong 2nd place finishes (men’s 60 and mixed 45) and several other good placings during the day. We were missing several paddlers (illness, travel, emergencies always deplete the small clubs), so we were often paddling with crews that don’t necessarily practice together. An example was our men’s 55 crew, in which all six paddlers have to be 55 years old or older. In our case, we fielded two 59-year-olds and four paddlers in their 60s, putting us at an instant disadvantage to younger crews.

A stroker in action at Ke'ehi Lagoon

I was the stroker for the 55 men. The stroker paddles in the first seat and is the guy who sets the pace and the rhythm the other paddlers are supposed to follow. The stroker’s task is to pick a pace that gets the maximum from the crew and then to be their metronome throughout the race. The stroker also helps the steersman turn the boat at the quarter mile mark by holding his paddle on the right side for a few seconds to give the canoe’s bow a pivot point for a quick turn. The stroker is not the most powerful guy in the boat. Those are generally the paddlers in two, three and four.

As I said, we were a pick-up crew and we weren’t expecting much. Still, we took 4th place, didn’t embarrass ourselves and gained an all-important point towards an invitation to the state championships in August on Maui.

No trade or business today. Just thunder, lightening and paddling!

Moving boat at Haleiwa.

My team, Windward Kai, raced up at Haleiwa last weekend. Haleiwa is the entrance to Oahu’s fabled North Shore and we raced just down the coast from world-renowned surfing meccas like the Pipeline, Sunset Beach and Waimea Bay.  The famous North Shore surf isn’t up in June, so we faced generally flat water off the beach at Haleiwa. Haleiwa is where you go for the best shave ice on the island. Lost was filmed near here.

The day was surprisingly nice considering the weather we have had recently. Hawaii normally gets thunder storms, if at all, in the winter. But we have been deluged with them the past few days – with lightening shows worthy of lightening-capital Singapore. Despite that, we had good weather until early afternoon when thunder squalls came through Haleiwa and lightening began to approach. Races were suspended until we got an all-clear. You do not want to be on the water in a small boat with lightening strikes all around.

I raced with our men’s 60 crew. We had been losing speed on the changes (an outrigger crew normally changes which side you paddle on after about 14 strokes) so we opted for a longer change of 25 strokes. Unfortunately, we got a slow start in our half-mile sprint and had to play catch-up from there. We got the canoe moving well, but had to avoid a leading boat that was coming out of its turn wide. That meant our turn was slower than it should have been. We launched well from the turn and caught a couple of small waves headed for the beach – and the finish line. We finished 4th, about six seconds out of 3rd. Not as good as we should have been, but still one point gained towards qualifying for the state championships. We race at Ke’ehi Lagoon next Sunday.

The photo, again, is by my teammate Ben Selepeo. I’m the guy wearing the white cap.

No, the title isn’t a comment about politicians. At least not today. It’s about outrigger canoe racing.

It takes a team to move a canoe.

The paddling season has started in Hawaii. Not that it ever really stops. The “season”, however, is when we race for the state championships. These are short-distance sprint races, which vary from quarter-mile races to mile-and-a-half. It all depends on how old you are and what class you are paddling in. We begin with the youngsters, with races from 12 and younger up to 18-year-olds; an older kid can’t paddle in a younger race, but younger ones can move up to an older class. It is the opposite with older paddlers. A 40-year-old paddler can’t paddle in a race for 55′s, but a 60 can paddle in a race for 45′s. In between 18 and 40, there are classes for novices and also freshman, sophomore and senior races (don’t know where juniors went). The senior races, generally top paddlers in their 20s or 30s, get top billing. One other note: paddlers over 50 are given the honorary title of “master” paddlers. In this case, “master” just means old, not necessarily accomplished. I paddled my first race at 57 – but am still considered a “master” paddler. I’m still learning in my 7th competitive season.

My mainland friends often confuse paddling with rowing. Not the same thing. They are thinking about the sculls they see being rowed on the Charles River in Boston or the River Avon in England. Those are light-weight things in which the rower sits backwards and can’t see where she is going. A racing outrigger has seats for six paddlers and an outrigger or “ama” on the left side. They weigh 400 pounds and are designed for ocean conditions. Sure, we have flat water races, too, but the same boats and their paddlers can put to sea in surprising conditions. We had some of those conditions this Sunday in the first regatta of the season. Winds up to about 25 knots with small, but confused seas.

We raced Sunday at Kailua beach park, a gorgeous strand just down the way from where President Obama spends the Christmas holidays. Kailua Bay is protected by a fringing reef, so the waves (paddlers call them “bumps”) rarely get big, but they can grow large enough to be something to pay attention to. Going into the waves can be a challenge, and riding the waves in the other direction can be a thrill. A good outrigger crew can move the boat at about 9-10 knots, but a big wave can accelerate you to 15 or more. May not sound like much, but give it a try. Love those bumps.

Windward Kai's 55 men: Hano, Steve, Tony, Pali, Byron and Brad

I race for Windward Kai, one of the smallest clubs, and paddled in the men’s 55s this weekend. That is a half-mile sprint with a turn at the quarter-mile mark. We started out against the howling wind and had to fight to make it to the mark. Our start was nice and fast, but the “masters” seemed to tire a bit about halfway to the mark. The rest of that leg and the turn, which was into the wind, seemed to take forever. The final quarter-mile was fast. We had the wind behind us, caught a small bump right after the turn and flew to the finish line. I wish I could claim a victory, but we took third in our race, which is not a bad start to the season. If only we hadn’t slowed down coming into the turn.

Wait ’til next week. We are racing at Haleiwa up on Oahu’s North Shore. This is often a windy race and can have big waves as the beach has no reef offshore.

The photos are by my teammate, Ben Selepeo.