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February, 2007
Outrigger Paddling in the northeast
By Eric McNett
While looking through an old National Geographic magazine back in the late 70`s,I happened upon an article with pictures about an outrigger canoe race that was held in Hawaii each year . The race referred to in the article was the annual Molokai to Oahu world championship 9 man outrigger race, roughly 42 miles of rough open ocean paddling.
Being around 21 years old and a fairly decent paddler from upstate New York, I thought at the time that it would be really cool to go to Hawaii with a good team of flatwater paddling friends and give the Hawaiians a paddling lesson. This dream of mine never became reality for me, but, the very scenario I envisioned became reality for the Illinois Brigade. The Illinois Brigade was a team of well known flatwater marathon paddlers from around the country, guys like: Mike Fries, Al Rudquist, Greg and Bruce Barton, Serge Corbin, Tim Triebold, Terry Kent and others. This group actually went out to Hawaii and not only beat the Hawaiians at their own game on their home course, but they also defeated the Tahitians too, while finishing first overall in the world’s most prestigious canoe race. This result was a real coup and it gained marathon paddlers lots of respect among the outrigger community.
For many years the sport of outrigger racing prospered in Hawaii and the islands of the Pacific but it didn’t really spread rapidly around the world until the one and two person outrigger canoes became widely available as they are today.
For many paddlers the characteristics and features of the modern one and two man outriggers make them ideal vessels for safe and secure open ocean paddling in any waters outside of the Arctic or Antarctic. Carbon and Kevlar composite construction with a vacuum bagged layups keep the boats strong and lightweight.
The New England coast and Maine in particular is ideally suited for outrigger paddling for exactly the same reasons that have made kayak paddling so popular here. The scenic convoluted coastline, hundreds of islands to see and some of which you can go ashore on to explore incredibly interesting places loaded with history.
The reason these boats are so well suited to ocean conditions are very simple and obvious once you have paddled one. For example, 3 things you never need to do in an outrigger:
1. Eskimo roll--------------not required.
2. Self rescue---------------rescue is too strong a term for what you do in case you tip over.
3. Bail a flooded cockpit------decks are closed, and you sit on top so, nothing floods.
These 3 key saftey features are what make sit on top outriggers my first choice for an ocean boat.
If you tip your boat over you simply right it and climb back on top, it’s so easy .
Outrigger competitions are on the increase on the east coast from Maine to Florida and it’s the fastest growing segment of paddle sport worldwide.
The boats are very fun to paddle on any waters except boney rivers where there’s a strong likelihood of hitting rocks. The under the hull rudder doesn’t like to hit rocks. Oh, and this brings up another point. The outrigger canoes are steered by foot pedals via stainless steel cables running back to a bell crank that actuates a rudder under the hull that affords rapid steering response. You don’t have to do any steering strokes with these boats. The rudder is particularly useful while surfing down wind driven waves, (wind chop). The technique is to put in a few hard strokes as your stern begins to rise on an oncoming wave, as the boat begins to slide downhill the speed dramatically increases, at this point you can stop paddling, lean back, steer with your feet while you continue to slide downhill like a luge on ice. It’s tons of fun!
Eastern Outrigger
77 Barrows Drive
Topsham, Maine 04086
www.easternoutrigger.com
Email nick [at] noumbrella [dot] com with your questions, comments and concerns.
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