honoluluadvertiser.com

Sponsored by:

Comment, blog & share photos

Log in | Become a member
The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Monday, April 18, 2005

Club back paddling thanks to hard work, community

By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Windward O'ahu Writer

WAIMANALO — In November 2003, a storm ravaged the entire fleet of the Waimanalo Canoe Club and devastated its members.

From left, Jordan Anderson, Lorrin Baptista, Hillary Anderson, Ku'u Reis-Moniz and Kau'i Reis-Moniz, and others in the Waimanalo Canoe Club, earned money for new canoes, to replace those destroyed in a storm.

Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser

For hours, waves battered the club's seven canoes, which were chained together on Kaiona Beach. One canoe was swept out to sea and only bits and pieces of it were found. Another was destroyed. Three were severely damaged with cracks and holes and almost all of them lost their ama and 'iako, the stabilizing float and boom of the canoe.

Some people believed the club, one of O'ahu's smaller paddling organizations, would have to end its program.

But faced with losing a community tradition, the members showed their spirit. And this week they received the first of two new highly prized Bradley racing canoes, thanks to the Harold K.L. Castle Foundation.

But the $8,750 sleek, lightweight canoes were not a gift: the club had to earn them with sweat equity, performing 2,000 hours of community service, which they completed months ahead of schedule.

Ku'u Reis-Moniz, 12, said after the storm she thought her paddling days were over but now she has a sense of pride in what the club has accomplished and in her contribution. The work was not easy, but Ku'u said she learned much from it.

"I learned that it takes hard work to get what you want, and it's not always easy to get something," she said.

The loss stunned the canoe club, said its president, Nazarene Anderson. But a core of 20 to 25 members decided to conduct fund-raisers and do the best they could to recover.

Other canoe clubs helped out, lending them boats, providing equipment and parts and even donating money so that three boats were eventually repaired, she said, but the grant from the foundation put the club back in the water.

It wasn't smooth sailing.

"At first we thought it was kind of over our heads but we just started doing big beach cleanups twice a month," Anderson said. "Then all of a sudden it started getting bigger and we got organizations and schools that wanted to join in with us."

They were able to attract hundreds of people. Mostly, they stayed in their community cleaning streams, walking for the American Cancer Society Relay for Life, helping with security at the Sunset on the Beach and working in the Waimanalo Christmas Parade. The club organized a community exercise paddling program, in which about 50 people were able to learn about the canoe and paddle it for exercise.

They also supported the Na Opio Canoe Racing Association, a children's program for fifth- to 12th-graders in Hawai'i Kai. Operated by the Maunalua Bay Canoe Club and Sammy Steamboat, the Waimanalo group brought canoes, coaches and paddlers to help about 30 kids train in Hawai'i Kai, said Larry Baptista, a Maunalua Bay and Waimanalo paddling coach.

In return the Maunalua club and Na Opio helped Waimanalo with their projects.

The exchange added to the experience for the paddlers and taught them to care for one another, Baptista said.

"They learned the right values and morals," he said. "We're not just teaching them to paddle. We're teaching them a way of life."

The American Cancer Society and the Waimanalo Construction Coalition said the volunteer work from the canoe club translated into money earned and money saved.

The construction coalition organized a Sunset on the Beach weekend and for two days the club provided security service in the parking lot, said Andrew Jamila Jr., coalition president.

Nearly $1,000 was saved by not having to hire an off-duty police officer, Jamila said, adding that his group would have had to raise money to pay for the officer.

"It was a very significant contribution," he said.

Beau Barker, with the American Cancer Society Windward Unit, said the club provided a team for the Relay for Life last year. Not only did it raise money for the Cancer Society, but it also spread the word about programs available.

"That was Waimanalo's second year and it's because of teams like that they doubled their income from the first year," Barker said, adding that the relay earned more than $10,000 last year.

Terren George, executive director of the Castle Foundation, said it normally doesn't support canoe clubs but made an exception because of the loss of virtually all of the canoes, and because canoeing is such a treasured Hawai'i tradition.

"What delights me about the experience is the canoe club 'ohana discovered the transformative power of community service," George said. "It led to the club deciding to continue this as a club tradition well beyond the required hours to earn their canoe."

Reach Eloise Aguiar at eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com or 234-5266.