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Weekend Outrigger Racing at Santa CruzAugust 15, 2010Saturday, August 14, the Tony Gora Memorial Long Distance race was held at the Santa Cruz Harbor beach and as conditions were favorable, many of the crews launched directly off the beach through mild conditions. The summer cloud cover broke late in the morning but provided a nice blanket for racing compared with the smoke from CA fires just a year ago. We were excited to have all the juniors who attended get out on the beautiful Monterey Bay! The novices joined them and we had more keiki than novice crews! The short course (8 mile) crews utilized every canoe available and had a great run followed by the long course (12 mile) race. Results of the day are posted on the Result page. Sunday morning 6 outriggers were paddled over to the Santa Cruz Wharf to host the Parks & Recreation's Aloha Outrigger Races & Polynesian Festival. Pu Pu O Hawaii with the help of Akau Hana, Ke Kai O Uhane, Hui Wa'a and paddlers from several other clubs helped steer and stroke the canoes for the novice sprints along the wharf. This year's Aloha Outrigger Races included keiki (that's "kids" in Hawaiian) for the first time in it's 18 year history. With a heat in between the adult semi-finals and final, the keiki had a friendly but intense competition with 25 kids aged 7 to 14 paddling in six outriggers. The top three finishers were filled with keiki from Akau Hana's first annual Paddle Camp, a week-long program that teaches paddling skills, fitness, ocean awareness, and Polynesian culture. Two additional crews were made up of Halau Na Wai Ola's hula students who would be dancing at the festival stage later in the afternoon. Many of the keiki competitors had never paddled an outrigger canoe before and, like the adult racers, got a 300 meter lesson in the importance of good timing and quick power! |
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