NEWPORT BEACH – The Newport Outrigger Canoe Club has more to focus on this year than the racing season.
The club, which has been practicing in Newport Harbor for more than 50 years and has about 60 members, will likely have to leave the small beach it uses for storage and launching next to the Balboa Marina. The area is part of a proposed project that would remove existing RV and boat storage and build a mixed use development for residential, marine service and commercial businesses. The beach the outrigger club uses to launch into the bay is slated to become parking spaces, said club President Thomas Kalama.
The Back Bay Landing Project, already approved by the City Council in February 2014, could appear before the Coastal Commission this year. The Newport Outrigger Canoe Club is looking at new spaces to launch and store canoes in order to make room for development, Kalama said.
The displacement, coupled with three other outrigger clubs now practicing in Newport Beach, has dealt a more tenuous future for the club than members were expecting, said Justin Feesago, the club’s coach.
“I hope we can find a place,” Kalama said. “I don’t like to lose what I taught for 60 years.”
Outrigger clubs in the U.S.
An outrigger canoe team usually has six members – five paddlers and one steersman – in a 40-foot-long canoe stabilized by an attached floatation device called an outrigger, or ama.
Outrigger canoeing traces back thousands of years in Southeast Asian culture, and the canoes were originally for travel and fishing. In the past few hundred years, it has morphed into a popular racing sport, especially in Hawaii, where outrigger canoe paddling is the state sport.
Spurred by wide interest in Hawaiian culture as the most recent state became part of the U.S., outrigger racing came to Southern California in the 1950s, Kalama said. Since then, the sport has spread.
The Southern California Outrigger Racing Association, which governs outrigger clubs and races in the area, lists more than 20 active clubs stretching from Oxnard to San Diego.
Noah Kalama, Thomas’ father, helped establish and coach the first outrigger club in the state – the Balboa Outrigger Canoe Club in 1959. Kalama branched off and established the Newport Outrigger Canoe Club in 1963 and began racing against the Balboa club. Newport Outrigger Canoe Club has been a family-run operation ever since, Thomas Kalama said.
“What my dad wanted to do was bring the cultural aspect of Hawaiian outrigger up here, and have the men, women and children understand what outrigger was all about,” Kalama said.
Family feeling
That family focus helps foster an interest in the Hawaiian culture and beliefs that surround the sport, Kalama said. Club members try to foster a feeling of ohana – or family – among members. Respect for elders is also paramount, and every elder member is called either Uncle or Auntie as a sign of respect. And each member should have a deep respect for the ocean.
“They’re very warm, loving people,” said Santa Ana resident Jocelyn Romero, who started practicing with the group last year. “They feel like family.”
The 40 members of Newport Outrigger Canoe Club’s Keikis, or children’s clubs, get a heavy emphasis on respecting the culture, the canoe and the ocean, Kalama said.
“What I try to teach them is what it is to respect the water, the ocean, respect the land and respect the canoe most of all,” Kalama said. “You can’t just jump in the canoe and paddle yourself around. There’s a lot of respect that goes with it.”
On an early Saturday morning last month, members of the club laughed and hugged each other before getting ready for the first practice of the season. One member brought cookies and coffee. Another introduced new members to others.
“Meeting people is one of the best parts,” said 67-year-old Ivanhoe Tavares, called “Uncle Ivan” by club members. “We become like a family.”
A new season
Newport Outrigger Canoe Club plans to train hard this year and place well in local races, Feesago said. But more important, he wants members to have fun and “get out of that canoe with a smile.” The club is easing into practice at this point in the season, taking time to pause at the entrance of Newport Harbor before heading out to the open ocean and Balboa Pier. After months out of the water, some members need a little time to get back into shape, he said.
Daniel Markus is starting his second season with the club after a friend introduced him to the sport. He said when he practices, he often forgets he’s exercising.
“It’s a huge workout, especially in your core. But when you’re on the water, you don’t really feel it,” Markus said. “It’s a lot of fun. A lot of people get hooked.”
As for the club’s upcoming move, Feesago is hopeful. He estimates they’ve had to move about five times in the club’s 50-plus year history.
“We’ve had to move before,” Feesago said. “We’ll find a new home.”
Contact the writer: 714-796-7990 or mnicolai@ocregister.com; on Twitter @MeganNicolai
