pavedwave longboarding

pavedwave · Joined: 22 Oct 2007 Posts: 1120 Location: seattle wa usa

My first trip to Hawaii was incredible in that we spent almost the whole time in the water or on the beach. There are few greater joys than simply playing in the surf, snorkelling, and swimming in that clear perfect saltwater.

Watching the SUP surfers catching the slow rolling waves and swells that shortboarders would never even think of surfing, triggered a thought -- after all the ruffled feathers between 'core' surfers and SUP paddlers, it seems to me the two can co-exist together quite peacefully, mainly because they can really catch two completely different types of waves. I was amazed just how many SUPs were out in Waikiki. Even more stoked to see the numbers of longboarders.

But what blew me away was another breed of ancient surfing -- the outrigger canoes. There were so many 6-man, 2-man, and 1-man canoes catching any and every swell imaginable, and shooting across distances with grace and speed. The condo where we stayed was right next to an outrigger canoe club, so that kept the flow of outriggers going morning to night. I was hooked just watching, and followed up after coming back to Seattle.

The Seattle Outriggers have three OC-6 canoes, and they were very welcoming on our first session out. There were only three of us "newbs" on this first ride, and Sabine was our coach. So our canoe had three experienced paddlers up front, we three in the back, and Sabine sitting a little higher on the rear of the canoe, echoing the switch count (15 strokes on one side, then switch.) She put us through a set of drills and gave tips all along the way that were priceless.

Safe to say it's addicting, and although I'm not sure the OC-6 team canoeing and 'racing' is really my bag long-term, I'm starting to check out the OC-1's or Surfskis for possible Puget Sound excursions. Still, there's tons to learn and the big rig team seems to be a great way to pick it up.

http://www.seattleoutrigger.com/

Link

LDPanda · Joined: 21 Nov 2008 Posts: 418 Location: Seattle, WA

If the point of this post was to make me jealous of your beautiful hawaii vacation while im sitting here at work, then job well done! Seriously tho, sounds like a blast, glad you had a killer vacation. Hope to see you out on the trails again soon, we should hit up CRT for some new surroundings.