Advertisement - Click to support our sponsors.
The setting sun painted the Pacific Ocean golden orange as 12 people stood over an outrigger canoe, their arms outstretched to form a circle. Braving cold waves
of the NorthwestBy Jonathan Nelson
Associated Press"Na Keiki 'O Pacific City," they cheered.
"No, no, no, we can do better than that," chided Charlie Ahuna.
"Na Keiki 'O Pacific City!" they shouted above the surf.
"Much better," Ahuna said.
Ahuna, 47, is the cheerleader and honorary coach of Na Keiki 'O Pacific City, which means children of Pacific City. It is thought to be the only outrigger canoe club on the Oregon coast.
Whereas clubs in Hawaii and California train for tough races, Pacific City's version is more social. Each Tuesday night, the club gathers near Cape Kiwanda State Park, slide into wet suits and immerse themselves in Hawaii's culture. Ahuna is their guide.
"They learn to respect the ocean," Ahuna said. "You get into a rhythm and it's like soul searching. It just feels like you get renourished."
Polynesians culture relied on outrigger canoes for generations to ferry people between islands and to harvest the sea's bounty. But the workhorse also provided pleasure as fishermen raced each other back to shore.
Those impromptu challenges evolved into canoe clubs, popularized in the Hawaiian islands and now on the mainland.
Clubs dot the California coast and are in places you wouldn't expect, such as Texas, Phoenix, and Portland and Bend, Ore. The Portland and Bend clubs practice in rivers, but some of the competitions are on the ocean.
Pacific City got its club from Allen Oakley, who owns the town's only grocery store. The California native with Hawaii roots got hooked in January after a bartender at a local microbrew pub took Oakley and his wife, Kimberly, on their first ride.
"Once you've got a paddle in your hand, it feels right," Oakley said. "There's nothing like it. It's hard to explain."
The bartender, however, soon left town. Oakley wanted to continue canoeing and bought a 44-foot, six-person canoe from the Kai Elua Outrigger Canoe Club in San Diego.
The fiberglass canoe, named Hoku 'O Kai Elua, was in Pacific City by May. A new canoe can cost a club up to $5,000, Oakley said. "We gave the boat its first official blessing and started on the river," Oakley said. "You don't want to throw them in the ocean just yet."
But once the club reached the ocean, the adventures began. The canoe, which measures 2 feet across at its widest point, went from calm water to swells of 4 to 5 feet high as the club headed to sea.
One moment Oakley would be looking down at the paddlers in front of him, the next they were above him as they slid up the swell.
"Sometimes you find yourself paddling air," Oakley said. "You're wondering if the swell is going over or under. It gets a little hairy in open water."
Danger coexists with the coast's beauty and serenity. Oakley said they often stop paddling and just sit in the quiet, watching the birds overhead, a school of fish underneath or a seal playing nearby.
Club membership is now 15 people, including a several people who drive many miles to paddle.
A native of Waianae, Ahuna joined his first canoe club when he was 10 and raced until he was 30, competing in such events as the Molokai Challenge. He hadn't paddled in 17 years until he returned to canoeing this summer.
Ahuna, like Oakley, sees paddling as a chance to escape life's troubles and nourish the soul. Their ancestors ascribed similar qualities to the canoe.
Generations ago, priests selected koa trees to be carved into a canoe's hull. The trees were blessed and prayers said to build a canoe that would protect paddlers from the sea and sharks.
The history is passed down to Pacific City's club while members lash together the canoe by tying the arched beams called 'iako to the outrigger's float, or ama.
On a July evening, Oakley and Ahuna cajoled Berely Mackiatia to come paddle. Mackiatia, like Ahuna, grew up in a canoe.
The 55-year was raised on Kapingamarangi, a Micronesian island only 7 miles wide. The canoes were essential to move among the atolls and for fishing.
Mackiatia said until his trip to Pacific City he hadn't paddled since moving to Oregon in 1977. "I didn't forget any of it, it's in my blood," he said.
That same evening the club had two newcomers, Philip Amler and Jackie Ledbetter, both 16. The teens saw fliers Oakley had posted throughout town inviting people to try canoeing.
"You don't want to sit on the whole seat, but on the edge of the seat, stay low in the wind," Ahuna said. Ahuna warned the teens to keep the blade away from the gusting wind or risk losing the paddle, sage advice on a night when the surf was whipped to a frothy white. Ahuna kept the canoe close to shore that night, letting the sleek vessel race the waves to shore.
Amler, who was vacationing in Pacific City with his family from Georgia, leapt from the canoe and declared he was ready for another trip. "It was exhilarating," he said. "There were times when we'd all paddle in unison and we'd instantly go faster. It was a real feeling of teamwork."
Ahuna and Oakley hope to draw more to the club next year, particularly the youths who flock to Pacific City for surfing. "Down the line, those will be the ones we want to teach," Ahuna said.
Click for online
calendars and events.
