Lahaina Canoe Club
President’s Note, August 5, 2020
Aloha,
With both sadness and relief, the coronavirus has forced Lahaina Canoe Club to hang up the paddles for 2020. While our passion for 6-person outrigger paddling has been shelved for the foreseeable future, the threat of the virus to our community via the club is no longer.
After the Maui County Hawaiian Canoe Association elected to cancel the regatta season in response to virus concerns, the Lahaina Canoe Club Board of Directors and coaches made the calculated decision to open the club for members when the ‘all clear’ was given by our local government. The goal was to give our community keiki and adults an opportunity to experience some sense of normalcy of outrigger paddling during the virus pandemic.
I would like to thank all the coaches who stepped up to give our members, especially the keiki, an opportunity to paddle this summer. However brief, paddling was something to look forward to, something stable and predictable at a time when nothing seems that way.
Mahalo to head coach Boi Crichton for stability and leadership. Mahalo to keiki and manini coaches Fa’avae Maliua and Franklin Laborte. Mahalo to ever-important assistant coaches Carlos Wegner and George Asio.
Mahalo to Club secretary Rose Crichton for keeping us all in line; treasurer Ala Cordero for keeping our finances gliding along; board members Lorena Martinez and Michele Rosenthal for continued assistance.
Most importantly, mahalo to all the club members and parents who believed in Lahaina Canoe Club leadership, who had the faith in us to follow protocols and put their health and safety in our hands. A responsibility we take seriously. And this is why, at the hint of the virus in our small community, we closed all club activities down until further notice.
On behalf of the coaches and board members of Lahaina Canoe Club, thank you, be safe and we look forward to seeing you in 2021 to start a new chapter in tale of Hawaiian canoe paddling.
Mark Shimer / Lahaina Canoe Club President
Lahaina Canoe Club was the first canoe club founded on the Westside of Maui back in 1971 by founding committee heads George Paoa, Sam Kaai, Bob McDonald and Barbara Long. LCC is now a 501c3 ,nonprofit organization, located at Hanakao’o Beach Park (AKA: Canoe Beach, next to the Hyatt) in Lahaina on the island of Maui.
Our focus is on preserving the ancient Hawaiian and Polynesian culture. We continue to follow the founding members ideology of perpetuating these cultures by educating na keiki (kids) through proper technique of hoe wa’a (paddle canoe), ‘olelo Hawai’i (Hawaiian language), and community outreach programs.
Lahaina Canoe Club is a active member of the Maui County Hawaiian Canoe Association and a associated club of the Hawaiian Canoe Racing Association. We participate in the MCHCA regattas every Saturday from June to July with a total of 8 regattas every year. The season is finished off with the HCRA State Companionship.
Lahaina Canoe Club also participates in the long distance race season that starts after the HCRA State Companionship and includes local, national, and international races. Click here to see this years race schedule.
Lahaina Canoe Clubs members are as young as 8 years old and go up from there. Our main goals are to engage, promote, encourage participation, provide education and instruction in Hawaiian and Polynesian culture through hoe wa’a and other related activities on a local, national, and international level.
One of our most popular community outreach programs is assisting Maui Cultural Lands, Inc with their Honokowai Valley Restoration Project. Maui Cultural Lands primary goal is reforestation of the Honokowai Valley and the Ka’anapali area with native and endemic Hawaiian plant species. Click here for more information about Maui Cultural Lands, Inc.
