Recreational paddle 2011

Aaah, it felt good to be back in the boat this week!

On behalf of Lahaina Canoe Club, thank you to everyone who came down to Canoe Beach on Monday morning to help out.  It was great to see so many returning kids and to meet the new paddlers and their parents, let’s keep it up through the season and really help our keiki crews.

And we had a good turnout for rec paddle this morning too, where we welcomed several brand new paddlers to the sport. I hope they get hooked, just like most of us girls did about this time last year. After paddling through crystal clear and glassy water, watching whales as we went, it would be hard not to want more!

Sara and Mardy, pictured at this morning's rec paddle, with Carlee on her OC-1 in the background.

In case you were wondering what our rec schedule looks like for the rest of 2011, here it is:

Monday @ 8am, Wednesday @ 8am, Friday @ 8am and 5pm and Saturday at 9am.

These times are when the boats will hit the water, so please arrive 15 minutes early so you can change, grab your paddle, sign-in and pay your dues.

Speaking of dues, they are now, erm…due!! Existing members need to pay either in full ($90) or a down payment ($40) towards the cost for the calendar year. New paddlers – you get to try it out once before paying to see if you like it.

If any brand new paddlers are reading this, feel free to take a look back through my posts. Last year was my first season and I regularly updated the blog about all our new experiences, our races and useful info about the boat, command words, what’s expected of you and what to do in the event of a huli (this last one can come in pretty important…). I hope you enjoy reading it!

We now have a new Facebook site and our Lahaina Canoe Club website is also being updated for the season ahead, so there will be plenty of ways to keep in touch and informed during 2011 and beyond.

See you in the water and mahalo for reading! Laura

Your club needs you!

2011 is going to be a big year for Lahaina Canoe Club, a vey big year.

We’re going to be hosting the Restaurant Races, the Keiki O Maui Regatta, the Championship race, the 2011 State Regatta and much more.

Add to that the fact that there is the much-needed fundraising to be done throughout the season, recreational paddle sessions to be monitored and a revamped keiki (kids) program and it all makes for a busy year ahead.

Which is where WE come in. LCC will be forming committees to tackle each and every aspect of our club’s progress and the superb events we’re going to be a part of this season.

First up is the Restaurant Races and our Recreational Paddling program and we need all the assistance we can get. If you are interested in having your say and helping to organize these fun and valued parts of the club then please get in touch! Committees are being formed and springing into action in the next few days and we need your help!

Mahalo for reading and everyone at LCC hopes to have you on board.

Aloha for now, Laura

New year, new members, new boat!

It was about this time last year that I started paddling with Lahaina Canoe Club and Wednesday morning’s rec paddle brought back floods of memories of how and why I got hooked on the sport.

It’s easy to explain – with not a cloud in the sky and the water beautifully glassy, we paddled out from Canoe Beach in search of humpback whales (I think that sentence alone says it all).  We had two boats out on the water which, along with the lovely Jamie and Vae, were crewed completely with girls. Nice way to represent ladies of LCC!

A Lahaina canoe, early on Wednesday. Pic courtesy Wendy Phillips.

It was great to have some new female paddlers out on the water with us too – Tracy and Wendy have now been out in the boat a couple of times and the Brasileiras Patricia and Fabi came along for their first try. Welcome, e komo mai and bem vindo! They all did so well and I hope they get bitten by the bug as much as we did last year.

Jenny and (two silver medals now!) Carlee. Pic courtesy Wendy Phillips.

In other news; after much hard graft, LCC’s club president Adam received a check this week from the non-profit organisation Makana Aloha. A check for $20,000! That check has now been mailed to Bradley Hawaii and a new Lahaina boat will be coming our way in the near future. Thank you does not even come close!!

I’ll be back with more news from LCC very soon, in the meantime come and paddle with us on Friday evening at 5pm if you can. The sunset paddle will be followed with a barbecue organised by Vae, so please bring some food and a couple of beers if you’d like to stick around for some Friday night fun!

Thanks for reading! Aloha for now, Laura