Specifically, the paddling of ancient island hoppers - the strange and beautiful outrigger canoe. This space is being established for my fellow ocean lovers to share a laugh about the not so glamorous aspects of our awesome niche sport.
A big tip for noobs:
DO NOT CALL IT "ROWING"!!!
We paddle, we do not row. Crew is a glorious sister sport, viewed by the main stream often in the Olympics, known for ivy league prestige, and certainly has many similarities. But dear reader, if you know someone who is a outrigger paddler, please know that we call it "paddling."
Outrigger is not in the Olympics, I don't know what a coxswain is.
Sorry I use a LOT of Hawaiian terms and I'm going to assume you know what they all mean.
Outrigger canoe racing is popular all over the world; in the U.S. there are clubs up and down the California coast, spreading up to Washington and across the continent to New York. Most of these clubs were founded in Hawai'i, where outrigger is actually their official state sport. Toots Manville established the now US Championship race from Newport Beach to Catalina Island in 1959.
There are many outrigger boat types, all named after the number of paddlers they hold - OC1, OC2, OC3, OC4 and OC6. You can double hull a six man canoe to create an OC12, and outriggers with a rudder are V1, V2, etc.
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