Hi i'm an italian paddler that is moving in Chicago for 2 months, does anybody know if there are oc overthere?? Thanks and ciao.
Submitted by gio on Thu, 11/02/2006 - 8:04am
Hi i'm an italian paddler that is moving in Chicago for 2 months, does anybody know if there are oc overthere?? Thanks and ciao.
Submitted by gio on Thu, 11/02/2006 - 8:04am
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I live 45 minutes north of Chicago but sometimes come down to Lincoln Park Boat Club to launch my canoe. Their club has a website you can visit. It is mostly kayakers, rowing/skulling type of paddling/rowing. There is a Hurricane OC1 hanging in their boat house but no one has seen the owner for 2 years. I have been looking for OC paddlers but haven't seen any. I saw the results of the 2006 Liliuokalani and there was a golden master team called Great Lakes Grand Masters. I contacted Kai Opua canoe club to try and get contact info but they didn't have anything.
I have a stingray OC1. Lake Michigan does not warm up until Jun/July thru Sep so small window of warm, bearable water temp to paddle. Yes, it's mostly flat but once I caught 2-3 foot wind swell to surf the canoe. I hope other people see this thread and know of other OC paddlers out here in the mid west.
#1 Sat, 11/04/2006 - 1:48pm
Eastern Outrigger has canoes by Outrigger Connection , not too far from you,
#2 Sat, 11/04/2006 - 4:11pm
We have a fair number of paddlers on Lake Ontario if you are ever wanting to do a road trip. There are also a few races that you can participate in. If you are in need of a paddling road trip let us know. Also, if you have any events in your area drop us a line. I hear there is an avid surfing community in Wisconsin.
Look forward to paddling with you.
Aloha,
JW
#3 Mon, 11/06/2006 - 8:14am
Yes, the Dairyland Surf Classic is held every Labor Day weekend in Sheboygan, WI. If it's flat they have a paddleboard contest. It would be great the link up with that event and have an outrigger race but not sure there are enough OC paddlers here in the midwest. I was about to drive up to your race in Ontario but a family priority popped up so I missed out.
#4 Tue, 11/07/2006 - 5:57pm
I'd love to do something at the surf classic, but it conflicts with the Kent Island race on Labor day. The Lake Ontario race this year should be alot bigger than the one last year. Having said that the race last year was a pretty good time too. There is quite a few OC-6's here so if you all can get a group of 6, men, women or mixed consider comming down. Bring your OC-1's for the race on Sunday after the Saturday OC-6 event. The race is usually on the week of the independance day holiday which could soften the drive somewhat.
If you guys are planning an event do post it so the paddlers in Lake Ontario can consider comming down. There was some talk of a race in Ohio, Lake Erie, last year and the ECORA AGM is scheduled for January so we'll have to wait and see. hopefully our groups will get to meet at an event next season.
Aloha
Jeff
#5 Wed, 11/08/2006 - 1:30am
There are a fair number of paddlers in Wisconsin, Illinois and Michigan who have (and do) race outriggers - both 1 and 6 man. The Illinois Brigade with members like Ev Crozier, Don Alberda, Serge Corbin won Molokai in 1985. (That is the core of the Golden Master team that has been racing Kona the past few years). Beth Schulter from Wisconsin raced Molokai with Wailua Canoe and Kayak (now Team Bradley) for years. And several of us have raced Walter Guild's Kaiwi challenge multiple times as well as Catalina and the Catalina relay....and I know there are at least 8 one mans, two tandems, a four man, and an ultralight Malia here in Wisconsin.
Most canoe races here in the Midwest are for Marathon canoes. But we have a fair number of people who train in OC1s, surf skis and train on the Lake Michigan in the spring and summer. Some resources: http://www.WICanoeracing.com ; http://www.miracing.com ; http://www.illinoispaddling.org/clubs.html ; http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wckr/ . Or let me know and I can put you in touch with the local paddlers. While the weather is getting colder, a number of us are still out training until the water freezes up.
I hope this helps... Neil
#6 Wed, 11/08/2006 - 5:45am
Neil, please put me in touch with the other OC paddlers because I really would like to meet up with them to train. I visited those other sites and saw nothing about outrigger. So hopefully we meet up and get out on the water.
Frankie
#7 Wed, 11/08/2006 - 4:58pm
thank for answering, well i'll be in Chicago in february and march so the city looks colder than i was expecting, Neil do you think that in that period someone will train, i mean any kind of paddling training (paddling machine for exaple), i'm getting ready for the solo and i would like to paddle somenthing in that 2 months, thanks again
#8 Wed, 11/08/2006 - 7:19pm
Frankie,
Generally, the handful of folks in Wisconsin & Illinois who occasionally race outrigger do not train in outriggers on a regular basis. Instead, most of our water time is logged in flatwater marathon canoes. It's a different sport, but not THAT different -- the basic mechanics are mostly the same. We have a good time, you are more than willing to join us. Just make contact throught one of the websites Neil mentioned.
Also, suddenly in the last year or two, there is a community of surfski paddlers growing up in Wisconsin, Illinois & Minnesota. The easiest way to make contact with the Surfskiers is through they yahoo group MiPP. (MiPP stands for Midwest Perfomance Paddlers.) One of these guys has also started a paddling shop dedicated to surfskis and surf kayaks: http://www.superiorsurfsystems.com/html/
The best open-water race in the area is the Great River Energy 18 mile race at Two Harbors, Minnesota, on Lake Superior. This race is part of the Two Harbors Kayak Festival (http://www.kayakfestival.org/). They have a class for OC-1, and would certainly allow OC-2s if a team showed up with one. It's a good event, well worth the drive from Chicago.
Speaking of Chicago, there are kayakers there that keep talking about holding a race along the downtown lakefront. If they manage to get it off the ground, I'll remind them that they could get a handfull of extra entries if they include OC-1s and OC-2s.
Getting back to outrigger, to my knowledge there are currently two clubs active in outrigger on Lake Superior, the Duluth Boat Club and a club in Thunder Bay, Ontario. They get together for a 6-man race in Grand Marais Minnesota every labor day (http://www.superioroutrigger.com/) I've never been there so I can't tell you anything about it other than what is on the web page.
Kevin
(Madison, Wisconsin)
#9 Sun, 11/12/2006 - 6:54am