Category Archives: OC1
Race Around The Hat
Nine years ago, Jeremy Cole began a mission to introduce the V1, a rudderless Tahitian-style one-person outrigger canoe, to Hawaii’s paddlers. In most parts of the Pacific, the canoes don’t have rudders. The paddler steers with his paddle. If Hawaii was to compete there, they would have to learn a new technique. One of Jeremy’s biggest supporters was Kamanu Composites. They would be instrumental in helping his association, the Hawaii Va’a Association (HVA), in providing a few rudderless canoes for those who didn’t own one. Back in 2008 there were not too many V1’s around. For a few years, the race organizers were able to award the winners a trip to Tahiti to compete in races there. Over the years the race has grown. This year there were about 88 competitors and a score more who turned up to try the demos. Many first timers were game enough to race. They were given a few pointers on how to control a V1 by Luke Evslin before climbing into their V1 to be sent off around ‘the hat’ (Chinaman’s Hat or Mokoli’i).
The strong turnout of young and novice paddlers was a hopeful sign for the future of the V1 here. Champion surfski and OC1 paddler Pat Dolan was one of the competitors. In the finals, he was hot on the heels (elbows) of the more experienced Manny Kulukulualani who won the race just seconds in front of Pat. Makana Denton was third. Full results at www.ocpaddler.com/results/2017/hva_race_around_hat_2017.
The HVA is a non-profit organization created to foster international sporting and cultural exchange through the use of the traditional Va’a. Next year will be the 10th Annual on July 1st at Kualoa Regional Park.
[See image gallery at www.pacificpaddler.com ]
Pacific Paddler is A MAGAZINE FOR PADDLERS BY PADDLERS: to bring the excitement of outrigger paddling to a larger audience. Pacific Paddler covers all facets of paddling and outrigger racing including OC6, OC1, OC2, V1, O6, V6, OC4, SUP, Surfski, Canoe Surfing and more from all around the world! Our Focus is on paddling and the active lifestyle that goes with it. Paddling is a sport for everyone, any gender any age from 6 to 86. We want to encourage novice paddlers to join clubs and older paddlers to try it out.Pacific Northwest, Spring Into Summer
The Pacific Northwest has been coming alive this paddling season with the widespread introduction of the unlimited canoes that are now becoming more common at each race.
The 19 PNW-ORCA clubs and our Canadian friends to the north have seen a resurgence of excitement about learning a newer, more precise paddling discipline, and I can safely say that the stoke level is pretty high!
May and June saw our paddlers intermixed in a variety of long distance and sprint races. The long distance paddlers found themselves racing in Frenchman’s Bar for the Rusty Iron Race, Jericho, British Columbia for the Jericho Iron, and Burnaby, British Columbia for the Lotus Iron Race.
The sprinters stayed a bit more local to the greater Seattle area and were working hard to make sure they put in qualifying times for the 2018 World Sprints that will be held in Tahiti.
Looking forward, we have a busy July and August ahead of us. The Gorge has already been rocking with massive windy days making for some epic downwind conditions. The Gorge Iron race will be held on July 15th followed by a week of downwind surfing and the Gorge Downwind Champs held in Hood River, OR. The end of July will find paddlers up in the Seattle area racing at da Grind, in Bellingham at the Bellingham Bay Classic and finally getting ourselves ready to travel to Hawai’i for the Queen’s race, Pailolo and Moloka’i.
See ya on the water, Tyler Irwin
[See image gallery at www.pacificpaddler.com ]
Pacific Paddler is A MAGAZINE FOR PADDLERS BY PADDLERS: to bring the excitement of outrigger paddling to a larger audience. Pacific Paddler covers all facets of paddling and outrigger racing including OC6, OC1, OC2, V1, O6, V6, OC4, SUP, Surfski, Canoe Surfing and more from all around the world! Our Focus is on paddling and the active lifestyle that goes with it. Paddling is a sport for everyone, any gender any age from 6 to 86. We want to encourage novice paddlers to join clubs and older paddlers to try it out.