The 43rd annual Queen Liliuokalani Long Distance Outrigger Canoe Races kicked off Thursday at Kailua Bay and will continue through Monday. This year’s international event will host more than 2,500 outrigger canoe paddlers from Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, Peru, Tahiti, the United Kingdom, the US mainland and Hawaii.
One of the major purposes of the five day event is to introduce the non-local competition to the Hawaiian culture. This is done through a series of events.
“It is essential (to include Hawaiian culture into the event),” said Queen Liliuokalani Race Director Mike Atwood. “Not only is it showing the tradition of Hawaiian outrigger canoe paddling, but also the culture many, many years ago of the Hawaiians connecting with the sea through the land. The land would provide the tree and the tree would become a canoe and the canoe would become part of the sea and part of the family.”
The cultural exploration for the international group of canoe racers began on Thursday with the Historic Kailua Village Culture Walk and was followed by the Queen Liliuokalani Cultural Fair.
The immersion continues on Friday with a “Talk Story”, an informal sit-down with some of outrigger canoe racing’s best paddlers. This year those paddlers include Hawaii Sports Hall of Famer Joseph “Nappy” Napoleon, Big Island Sports Hall of Famer Manny Veincent, and multiyear Na Wahine o ke Kai finisher Haunaini Olds
Napoleon is a canoe racing pioneer, paddling in his first long distance open ocean canoe race from Molokai to Oahu in 1958. Veincent is the founder of the Kawaihae Canoe Club and has devoted nearly 50 years to coaching a variety of sports including outrigger canoe racing.
The main event of the Queen Liliuokalani races, the 18-mile Wa’a Kaukahi, a single hull canoe competition, will be held Saturday. The wahine will start at 7:30 a.m. in Kailua Bay and the kane will take off at 11:45 a.m. from Honaunau Bay. With both groups racing to the opposite bay with the exception of the iron crews, which will compete in a 36-mile round trip endurance race.
The Wa’a Kaukahi race is a cultural experience in itself.
“The race is the heart of the whole weekend,” Atwood said. “The original intent of the race was to honor Queen Liliuokalani around her birthday, and it was also apart of the training for the Molokai to Oahu race. It started out as just men and as we brought Wahine into the race, it became more popular. From 1972 to today, the growth has been incredible and it has turned into an international event.”
While the main event ends Saturday afternoon, the competition will continue with most of the races backloaded onto the schedule.
Sunday will be the busiest race day with several smaller races taking place, which include the Wa’a Kaulua (double hull canoe), OC1, OC2, stand-up paddle board, and teen (single hull canoe) races.
Monday, the competition and cultural emersion will come together in the form of the Alii Challenge, a Survivor/Amazing Race type competition over land and water. Challenges will include Hawaiian history and games, and also a 17.5 mile, 12-person single hull canoe race.
When pressed for his favorite part of the five-day Queen Liliuokalani event, Atwood quickly and enthusiastically said, “Sharing Kona with people.”