Sad...read below the article in today's Honolulu Advertiser:

Distance races paddling into financial debt
by Dayton Morinaga

The state's premier canoe races are paddling against a rising tide of debt this year.

The women's Na Wahine O Ke Kai and the men's Moloka'i Hoe races are in a dire financial situation with the races less than two weeks away, according to officials.

"We're not getting the kind of (sponsorship) support we hoped for," women's race director Hannie Anderson said. "The economy has a lot to do with it, unfortunately. We didn't foresee it being this bad, so we didn't increase the entry fees for the teams. If the race were held today, we'd come up way short (financially)."

The Na Wahine O Ke Kai and Moloka'i Hoe are considered the world championship races for long-distance outrigger canoe paddling. The men's race has been running since 1952; the women's race since 1979.

A lack of corporate sponsorship and rising economic costs have contributed to increased debt for the races.

The last time a company served as a title sponsor for both races was Bank of Hawaii in 2001.

"We've filed for grants, we've put out proposals to companies all over the place ... we want to reach out to anybody," Anderson said. "It doesn't have to be a title sponsor. At this point, we'll take anything."

The Na Wahine O Ke Kai is scheduled for Sept. 28; the Moloka'i Hoe will run Oct. 12.

Nazarene Anderson, event director for the two races, said it will cost approximately $330,000 to run both races this year.

Current sponsors will cover around $140,000, and entry fees will cover another $100,000.

That still leaves about $90,000 uncovered, and officials are hoping merchandise sales — T-shirts and caps, mostly — can help.

Nazarene Anderson said state funding for the races was cut from $50,000 three years ago to $20,000 this year.

Hannie Anderson, who has served as race director of the Na Wahine O Ke Kai for all 30 years, said she has already had to use her personal credit card to pay for some of the expenses.

"I'm praying I can pay it off later," she said.

Both races are considered non-profit organizations, run mostly by volunteers.

But Hannie Anderson said there are "multiple things" to pay for that the general public might not be aware of.

For example, it costs around $225 to transport just one canoe from O'ahu to Moloka'i. More than 80 canoes are expected to race in the Na Wahine O Ke Kai, and more than 100 in the Moloka'i Hoe.

Entry fee is already $550 per crew, and Anderson said "it wouldn't be fair" to ask the teams to contribute more.

Even basic costs are rising. Hannie Anderson said it will cost around $7,500 to install portable toilets at Hale O Lono Harbor — the starting point of the race.

She added that increasing fuel and travel costs have also been a factor.

Hannie Anderson said both races will run this year, but a significant financial loss could hurt future races.

"This is our state sport and these are the biggest races in our sport," she said. "What are we doing wrong? If we don't get the support, what's going to happen to these races? I don't know, and I never thought I'd say that."

Nazarene Anderson said there were plans to turn the two Moloka'i-to-O'ahu races into "a two-week festival for paddling."

"But we can't even think about that right now because we just don't have the funds," she said.

As Shelly Gilman, treasurer for the women's race, put it: "In a nutshell, we need to find a guardian angel."

Hi everybody! I need some input from the experienced people here... I am a 46 year old female who took up water sports basically this May. Started with dragon boating (had to learn OC-1 to do the 500M trials for Nationals), and fell in love with OC-1 and recently also started in 6-man. (I think I'm addicted and paddle something almost every day :>) Almost all of my paddling has been in the Schuylkill (Philadlelphia PA) river, a freshwater, flatwater venue. This winter or early spring, I'd like to attend an outrigger camp of some sort. What I most want is very individualized stroke technique training. Learning to surf the ocean would be a blast but not necessarily my primary focus. In May/June 2009, I will be tested in flatwater OC-1 500M trials to try to make the US team for Dragon Boating to go to worlds. I'm looking for a very well organized/run camp provided by coaches who really, really know what they are doing and coach well. I've been to speedskating camps and cycling camps and do have a concern that the camp is appropriate for females (sometimes camps can devolve into testosterone fueled competitions... not that I'm necessarily opposed to that, but I have a LOT to learn ;>). I'm willing to travel... Florida, California, Hawaii are all doable, although I'd rather not have to go all the way to Hawaii if I don't have to... I need to save up some vacation time for next year.

What say you all??? And thanks very, very much for the input...

Cat

Here is my first attempt at a canoeing video, I'm no Rambo Speilburg but I think it passes. It was filmed at a break just next to the estuary mouth in Mandurah Western Australia. The ride is about 500m long when you get onto a good one, and as you can see very crowded! It's mostly surfed just by the OC1s in our club, though we do share the waves every now and then with the local dolphins. I really want to get that on camera! Enjoy and any feedback is appreciated.

http://blip.tv/file/1268981/

Cheers

Colin Bartley

I know this is VERY last minute everyone, and I apologize.

There will be a rudderless clinic tomorrow after noon at Kailua Beach Park. This clinic is geared towards the 14-18 year old age group, but all are welcome to come and learn. Boats will be provided as well as instruction from 10 very talented teenage paddlers from Tahiti. After the technique clinic, a very informal and fun relay race is scheduled. Teams will be made at random from a mixture of experienced and inexperienced paddlers. The emphsis will be on having fun and learning! If nothing else, come for the free give aways at the event. Just show up with your paddle and plan to have fun!

Here are the pertinent details.

Where: Kailua Beach Park, by the Kailua canoe club site. Depending on conditions paddling will take place in the ocean or canal.

When: Wednesday, September 16th from 3:30 to 5:30 PM.

Who: any teenager, but all are welcome.

What: Basic rudderless technique clinic, with FUN relay race at the end of the day.

How Much: FREE!

If you have any questions please feel free to PM me. Otherwise we will see you there!

I'll probably get "86" from Molokai after this and never see "backside" again, but here goes!!!

Since i've seen a couple of threads that mention escort boats, I've been reminded about the "molokai hoe, Stop stealing our Fish!" signs after leaving the airport or all over town, etc, etc. Anyway, I just wanted to say that, I think that those signs are in the wrong places and the message is getting out to the wrong people. The escort boat drivers never see those because they are out catching all that yummy Molokai fish!!

So why leave those signs where only the paddlers see them? Half the paddlers, maybe more haven't even met their escorts before this race so what good does it do? I love my family and friends on Molokai, but we're there to paddle. The escort boats on the other hand? they may be there to "escort" but I can almost guarantee, that most are there to get some yummy molokai fish!

Me ke aloha pumehana.

here we go again. predictions anyone? did lanikai do enough to stop the tahitians reign? is team bradley saving something for the channel, or is the hui lanakila women going to continue their dominance? is austrailia sending teams?

Hi there,
We have a master womens crew going to Rartonga this year for the Vaka Eiva. It will be the 3rd year for some of our crew, but unfortunately our steerer can not make it anymore. So we need HELP!! Is there an experienced, confident steerer out there that could help this Aussie crew out PLEASE!! Our team is called Toa Moana.

cheers cheryl

Rambo pumps the adrenaline on a Mission for warp speed and the Ocean provides the ride.
Link to flash version.
http://rambos-locker.blogspot.com/2008/09/mission-adrenal.html

Worth downloading the HQ version on the blog and playing at full screen, i put extra work into this one to lift the quality.

Hope you enjoy this as much as i enjoyed the ride. PEGGIE REALLY DOES FLY
Cheers Rambo

The event just celebrated its jubilee year (5th edition) and welcomed Karel Tresnak jr (Hawaii), Oscar and Herman Chalupski (South Africa) to its great location, Surfers Paradise beach, Knokke-Heist, Belgium. Both great ‘champions’ gave away very successful free clinics where European paddlers asked loads of specific questions. Be aware they will be stepping up their game…On Saturday, 80 canoes came to race in brutal, cold, rainy and windy conditions (force 6). Very unusual for July indeed. Jumpers in a OC-event are never a good sign..
Again, Belgium welcomed a lot of nationalities. (crazy) Swedes, Italians, Bulgarians, Canadians, Brits, Germans, Dutch, New Zealanders, Australians, French, etc..
The 20km Surfski race was won by Herman Chalupski, second came Oscar. Karel Tresnak Jr finished the race in the outrigger canoe division 11 minutes before Martin Buday from Germany. On Sunday, conditions were perfect for a sprint.
Karel had a hard time (Belgium’s notorious nightlife) & looked pale white at time. Still tasting his ‘delicious’ vodka red bulls, he achieved the impossible..winning with pure class in the final heat. Gunnar Lars (Germany) ended Third Overall, Martin Buday (Germany) second.

Some dedicated paddlers are travelling for thousands of miles every year to come to Knokke. Some of them got rewarded finally. In the Master Class (+40), Claudio Bazinni from Italy showed the example closely followed by Brian Denholm (GB) and Polchow Steffen (Germany)
In this very first ‘Surf Ski World serie’ race in Europe, Le Roux Benoit (France) impressed everyone. He won a ‘Allwave’ surfski and took home 500 Euro’s. He was also guaranteed a ticket for the world cup in Dubai. Eric Verduyckt was Belgians first overall ranked paddler and was guaranteed a spot in Dubai Shamaal also.
Europe’s hard core OC woman Steraj Sandra (Italy) won just ahead of Cordes Carola (Germany). The race was ‘live’ on the internet. The NOCC is slowly but steadily growing. Its future looks guaranteed !
The NOCC was sponsored by Peak Performance, Outriggercanoe.de, and Allwave canoes.
See you next year !

www,nocc.be

Hey guys, congrads to all the crews paddling the race today. I was in Koa Kai, the last one to finish. but atleast we finished right? anyway, it was a long 33 miles and i just wanted to say congrats to everyone.

aloha,
kcchee11