A select group of paddlers from Hawai'i are in Europe this week for an ambitious adventure.

Team Hawai'i — nine paddlers from around the state — will participate in the inaugural Across the Sea Race this weekend.

"It's a great promotion for Hawai'i and for outrigger canoes, but it will also be a very tough race," said team manager Karel Tresnak Sr.

The race course will start on the coast of Slovenia and finish at Venice, Italy. The course across the Adriatic Sea will be approximately 67 miles, and Tresnak expects it will take around eight hours to complete.

"When I found out how long it was, my first reaction was, 'Are you kidding?' It just didn't sound right," said paddler Donovan Leandro. "But we're all in shape and we've been training for it, so we should be OK."

The team will feature three paddlers from Outrigger Canoe Club (Jimmy Austin, Byron Ho and Karel Tresnak Jr.), two from Kailua (Leandro and Kawai Mahoe), three from Kai 'Opua on the Big Island (Bruce Ayau, Kafoa Halalatu and Nate Hendricks) and one from Hawaiian on Maui (Rick Nu'u).

Four other teams — all from Europe — will challenge Team Hawai'i in the race.

"I just hope we can pull away early," Leandro said. "If one of the other teams stays right with us and we have to push the whole way, it's going to be tough."

Tresnak Sr. said the conditions across the Adriatic Sea vary from day to day, so the race will run on a day when the winds are favorable. It is expected to run Friday, Saturday or Sunday.

"Even with a good wind, I'm a little worried that it's going to be too grueling," Tresnak Sr. said. "But the guys running the race wanted it to go from one country to another, so that's what they came up with."

Tresnak said the trip will not only be about racing.

Team Hawai'i members will conduct a paddling clinic in Venice, and they will also try to paddle their canoe in the famous Grand Canal as a demonstration.

The Hawai'i paddlers are also planning to perform a traditional Hawaiian blessing before the race.

"It's our sport, so the main intent is to go there and represent Hawai'i and show them what it's all about," Leandro said.

Tresnak said European officials of the race have a plan to nominate outrigger canoe paddling as a demonstration sport for the 2008 or 2012 Olympics.

"They're trying to put their foot in the door, so one of the goals is to show that there is a lot of interest from nations all over the world," Tresnak said. "So we're not just representing Hawai'i, we're representing America."