Wednesday, May 9, 2007

Outrigger races on the Wailua river




We had a great day Saturday on the Wailua river. There were short races of outrigger canoes by all of the locals, men and women, boys and girls, of all ages, and condition. As usual, the Kaiola canoe club of Lihue made a great showing. Pictured, is Kalalani, one of the paddlers in the club, looking every bit like the image of a Hawaiian god. Also pictured, is Andy Reich, standing to my right in the photo, as he holds two of his paddles. Andy my friend and contractor who was kind enough to introduce me to this wonderful sport, and who also made the extraordinary gesture of providing me with one of his priceless hand made koa wood paddles. This paddle will hold a place of great significance in my household. Not only is it beautiful, but it is extremely rare, as it takes Andy up to a year to make one of these museum quality pieces, which, by the way, he actually used to paddle 38 miles in a race to Molokai. So its not only beautiful, but its tough and useful. Also pictured is a shot of several paddlers in the heat of the race. If you can make it down to the Lihue harbor on Wednesdays or Saturdays, you will usually find members of the Kaiola canoe club practicing, and if you're lucky, they will invite you to join them in a paddle on the ocean or up the river. What a wonderful sport, a great community, and people that are friendly and enthusiastic about their sport.

1 comment:

Brad Buxton said...

I just found a great video on the web of a bunch of outrigger races. go to http://www.ocpaddler.com/node/2204#comment-4380 in order to see it.