BOOKMARK
Book brings outrigger-canoe paddling to life

PADDLING IN HAWAI'I: A Photo Essay by Joss, photographs by Joss Descoteaux, text by Ian MacMillan; Mutual Publishing, oversize hardback, $25.95

By Wanda Adams
Advertiser Books Editor

Got a paddler on your holiday gift list? Your shopping's over once you get your hands on this new coffee table book that details in pictures and some well-chosen words the very Hawai'i sport of outrigger canoe paddling.

"Aha'i la i ka pupuhi," the proverb says. "Away like a gust." Just in that way, this book breezes swiftly along with beautifully composed photos including competition shots, painstaking shots of equipment and photos of some of the sport's best-known figures. MacMillan's text teaches the reader a fair amount about the challenges of paddling.

Descoteaux, who came to Hawai'i at age 17 to paddle in the Moloka'i Hoe for a Canadian team, lives here now and is a multifaceted free-lance photographer, working on everything, including advertising, wedding and beauty shots, and, of course, coverage of water sports.