A bit more excitement and cheers in the Hilo World Sprints for the V12 Final races today.

[Saturday's Photos] (partially labeled, more later)

V12 Results nicely Summarized from Randy Botti:

[New York Times "No Rings, No Torch at These Anti-Olympics"]

More racing today under the overcast Hilo Bay. Paddlers battled to make it to finals in many of today's repechage races. Finals for the double hull begin tomorrow with most other finals on Sunday. See today's photos.
[Friday's Photos]

Day two of racing finished up with 19 races pushed to the following day.
At 7pm, the cultural exchange was held with many impressive performances from all over Polynesia and the world. Be sure to check out the photos.

[Thursday, Photos]

Eighty-five of the 95 scheduled events were held today. Events included all divisions for V12 and V1, with Open Women and Men racing the 1500m V6 at the end of the day. OCPaddler will publish results as soon as available.

[Wednesday Photos]

[Tuesday Photos]
After Sunday’s canoe blessing, official practices were held on Monday and Tuesday. Each region and country was given a turn to test out and get adjusted to the new canoes.

John Mauli of Samoa says, “We’ve got our starts down, now we just need to work on finishing” when considering the several practices they’ve had. “In Samoa, we only have two active clubs so this is a learning experience. We hope to revive the sport back home,” say Mauli.

Today, while no official events were held, there was still a lot of activity on the calm Hilo Bay. Thousands of paddlers from every corner of the world continued to arrive and fill the streets of Hilo. (It's a good time to be multilingual in Hilo) Tiger's V1 canoes and Outrigger Connections Mirage OC6 canoes were being set up and rigged by officials and organizers. Onlookers checked out the canoes in amazement. The sheer number and quality of the brand new canoes are an impressive sight.

Many paddlers got out in some of the older canoes from Hilo Bay clubs for some early practice. Hawaiian Canoe Club's youth program, coming from Saturday's State Championship victory, took out eight canoes for several miles of practice. Assigned practices begin Monday, with the official opening ceremony on Tuesday.

Out on Coconut Island in Hilo Bay there was an Awa ceremony with both Hawaiian and New Zealand chants. Check out the photos in today's gallery.

OCPaddler will be updated daily with news from the Hilo World Sprints.
[Photos, Sunday Aug 8]