Dana Outrigger

Dana_Point - 08/11/2005 - z 1 - e 1 - Sports1 - AAAA- Page 15 - ple

Sports

SPORTS

|

Women work the waves at the race omen from all walks of life, homemakers, businesswomen, daughters, mothers and grandmothers, gathered Saturday morning to race outrigger canoes at the Whitey Harrison Classic in Dana Point. Named after Lorrin “Whitey” Harrison, the founder of the Dana Outrigger Club, the race is approximately 18 miles long. It starts with months and months of preparation, time and travel commitments to perfect one’s paddling skills and achieve the sense of family or N ATA L I E ‘ohana.’ All of HINES this work culGUEST minates into COLUMNIST readiness for this race and the nine-man. The name nine-man is deceptive since women and men both participate. On Saturday, I headed down to the Dana Point Harbor to watch the women race. Overcast with low hanging fog that is native to the Dana Point area, the morning mischievously hides what is to come: sunshine and victory for all over a hard race. I rode on one of the chase boats, the Honey Girl, owned by Joe Enterline, an Orange County firefighter. He’s supporting the Lanakila team, their third crew. During the steersperson’s meeting before the race, we’re told that depending on the ocean swell, the team will either head up the coast to Laguna Beach and then west about a half hour, then back south to ride the swell back. If there is no swell, then the course will be straight back. Once we’ve loaded the boat and are heading out of the harbor, I see the whole horizon is filled with outrigger and chase boats. Since there is no swell when the women head out, the

W

DOMINIQUE RILEY/DANA POINT NEWS

READY FOR THE CHALLENGE: Racers prepare to start the Whitey Harrison Classic race in Dana Point Harbor Saturday.

‘Rigger words to know

| Dana Point News

|

Chase boat: Follows boat for safety and carries additional crew members and one or two support people. Swell: The height of the waves. Paddling against a swell can be challenging, but on the return trip the swell provides the extra push, causing the boat to surf. Outrigger boat: A long skinny boat, whose history originates in Polynesian cultures. The most widely used outrigger boats seat six people. Steersperson: Sits in the back of the boat in seat six. The steersperson uses a special paddle to steer to boat, much like using a rudder. Designated caller: A designated paddler counts the strokes and calls out the need for a change (time to switch sides). This usually sounds like “Hike, Hut, Ho.” The changes usually come after 1 2 or 1 3 strokes. Usually the role of seat two, but some teams designate seat one or seat three. Gunnels: Edges of the side of the boat. Ohana: Hawaiian word for family

Thursday, Aug. 11, 2005

to tell how well your team is doing unless you’re in the lead. At 10 a.m., we spot the Laguna Beach Surf and Sand and know we’ll be coming up on the turn soon. At 10:07 a.m., the sun started to come out, and the team in the lead has already made the turn. At 10:12 a.m., they pass us going the other way – our boat hasn’t made the turn yet. The girls on the Honey Girl keep in good spirits and their stamina is up. They do a few more changes on the way back to Doheney Beach, where the race ends and use the last crew for the last few miles. At the finish line, the bullhorn blows signaling the finish of the race for Lanakila’s third crew, about two hours and forty-five minutes after the race started. Other crews are still coming across the finish line and the men will start their race soon. The end of the women’s race signifies women of all different ages, backgrounds and levels of ability from all over have come together, synching their paddles to cross the finish line as one.

|

the boat continue to paddle and the incoming paddlers grab a hold of the gunnel and hoist themselves into the boat, all while the boat is still moving. The key is to do the change as quickly as possible without slowing the boat down and doing it safely. Just imagine a 400-pound boat coming at you (plus the weight of the other paddlers) and you’re supposed to get in and be paddling within 10 seconds. It’s not exactly an easy thing. If someone had asked me a couple years ago I would have never imagined myself doing the sport. Now I’m wishing I hadn’t taken off the whole season. I’ve been helping Coach Bobby Woods from Dana Outrigger teach new people how to paddle, but I’m really missing the workouts and the racing. At about 9:15 a.m. Lanakila’s third crew does their first change switching out seats one and five. They continue doing changes every 10 to 15 minutes during the rest of the race. The boats from other teams are so spread out that it’s hard

The Orange County Register

women do a straight course, nine miles north to Laguna Beach’s main beach, a two-buoy turn and then head the nine miles back to Dana Point. The bullhorn blows right before 9 a.m. and the boats are off. I remember what I felt like last year during this race. I was nervous, excited, worried about doing water changes, and nervous about 18 miles of paddling. Water changes allow nine people to participate in the event – since an outrigger boat can only hold six people at a time. When the designated person on the chase boat who is coaching the crew decides, and the steersperson is comfortable, they call out the need to change a person or a few people out. The paddlers who will take their place jump off the chase boat into the ocean, maybe 10-15 yards in front of the boat. The boat keeps moving and right before the boat is lined up next to the incoming people, the steersperson yells “paddles down, out” to the paddlers exiting the boat. The people who are still in

15