Are you out paddling? Planning to race this year? CORA membership is necessary to compete in all CORA events. You can now renew or become a CORA member in two ways:

1. Download and print the 2012 CORA Membership Form (available on the CORA Resources page). Complete the form and submit, with payment, in the mail or at a CORA sanctioned event.
2. Better still – Renew or apply online! Become a CORA member by paying your $25 CORA membership on-line. Go to the Membership tab at the top of this page to login or register.

If you are already a CORA member and haven’t renewed or logged in yet, we have automatically generated ‘usernames’ and ‘passwords’ when we added you to the new database. You can log in with these and then modify your information. Usernames cannot be modified.
Automatically Generated Username: firstnamelastname
Automatically Generated Password: birthyear (YYYY)

If your username does not work for you, it’s possible it was not entered correctly. All the information in the database was entered from hand-written forms – not always legible hand-written forms! If necessary, please create a new membership profile. Payment options include PayPal and credit cards.

Planning an event? Have you got something to sell or looking to buy? Logging in with your membership ‘username’ and ‘password’ makes it easier to participate in the on-line discussions.

Note: all paddlers must have 2012 CORA membership. What does your CORA membership provide you?

• Access to CORA sanctioned events (races, clinics, socials, etc.)
• Access to a schedule of regional and CORA Cup outrigger events
• Recognition as a sanctioned Canadian Outrigger paddler in Canada and by members of the International Va’a Federation (IVF)
• Representation at the International Va’a Federation
• Access to IVF World Outrigger Sprint Championships
• The right to vote at the CORA AGM and through your CORA club representative
• Liability insurance for CORA sanctioned club activities

Mahalo and here’s to a great year of paddling!

Team Canada time trials are set for June 2 – 3rd, 2012 at Burnaby Lake.   If you are interested in attending, please register your intent online now.   Update emails are sent to everyone who has registered their intent.  To read more about 2012 IVF World Sprints, check out the sprint section of our website.  IVF Sprints

Intent to Compete will “close” as of April 15th, so please make sure anyone who is interested in participating in Canada’s Outrigger World sprints goes to the CORA website and registers their name and email.   This is not a commitment, just a way for us to have everyone’s email for the next step.
 
After April 15th, we will be asking those who want to time trial for a National spot or appear on the timed ladder to register with a $30 fee.  This will cover $15 of your IVF race fee, and $15 for time trial.  The total IVF race fees are $60, so the final $45 will be collected when you accept your seat as part of Team Canada.  The $25, will not be refundable if you choose not to continue.
 
On April 22nd, we will be asking those who have formed pre-determined crews to register their crew’s names and category.  Every crew member must be registered online before April 15th.  If any crew member decides not to time trial, they will still be required to pay the $15 race fee.

It looked like it was going to be a true winter classic in Vancouver today. As we were heading to the race site, there were snowflakes in the air and a cold wind coming from the north.

In spite of that, 40 canoes were on the water at the start line!

We changed the course to accommodate the wind and tide – heading east towards False Creek, over to English Bay, up past Jericho to the first dolphin and then back to the Jericho pier. This made the race a bit longer than was planned (and depending on the line the paddlers took – even longer!) but there were no serious complaints. The post race soup, bagels and coffee were inhaled as were the cinnamon bun prizes.

Thanks to everyone who raced and the volunteers and supporters who helped make it happen. Results are available from the CORA Race results page.

Jan

Welcome to the new CORA website… the new home for the Canadian outrigger paddling community.

It’s more interactive, feel free to  comment on the postings and generate discussions for each posting.

There’s a new Safety section.  Great saftey tips, as well as an excellent article on How To Recover From a Huli.  You’ll also find a downloadable PDF of the CORA Safety Manual.

Read along as our travelling paddlers share their international race experiences with us in the Guest Blog in the Community Section.

And , you can now pay your dues on-line. This will help automate the membership process and free up our volunteers to do more fun things!

Also expanded is our social media presence  – updates to the site will now be reflected in your RSS feed, and you can share stories on our facebook page.  Twitter will also keep you up to date on what’s going on in outrigger paddling in Canada, and it’s an fun and easy way to share it with your friends.

If you have any questions or comments, you can leave them below, or fill out the form in the contact section.

Aloha, and happy paddling for 2012,
Colleen

Thank you to all that attended the Technical Meeting and AGM at Jericho. The tentative 2012 schedule is now posted. Race directors, please let us know if you would like more information added to you race or if corrections are required.

The final 2011 CORA Cup Results are now posted in the resources section.

Calgary 2012 gave a great presentation on how their planning for the World Championships is going. They are in need of VOLUNTEERS to assist with the event this August. Please let us know if you’re interested in or know anyone available to help out in Calgary between August 8-16th.

Stay tuned for our new webpage, there will be a few days CORA will be offline while the switchover is taking place but you can find us on twitter @CdnOutrigger and on Facebook

Jan – Jericho

The final day of racing was all Sprints and all fun. This was a change in the order of events from previous years, which wrapped up with the change race. In past years, there were too many paddlers tired, bruised and beaten up from the change race to really enjoy the closing party. Not this year!

Held at beautiful Muri Lagoon, the day started with a parade of paddlers, led by local traditional drummers, warriors and canoes. Then, the somewhat serious sprints began. Crews raced by club and age category and were honest – for most part. Lots of teams filled up crews with whoever they could get. The race course was a straight 500m. from the ocean side of the lagoon towards the beach. It was quickly obvious that there were a lot of steers that did not know how to race sprints – as crews crossed one or more lanes to get to the finish line – all the more fun for spectators. The more serious crews advanced to the final heats. For the rest of us – the party had an early start.

After the race finals, there were a bunch of fun events – fun to participate in and to watch: SUP relay (with and without paddles), the underwear exchange (you’ll have to wait for pictures), piggyback race in the lagoon with kids, and the Fly the Ama challenge. The winning crew in that event made it look truly easy as they just popped that ama up and kept paddling for another minute or two.

The closing party began with an amazing dinner. It was all served on hand-woven plates of palm leaves and included many traditional dishes and local food. The drink was iced coconut water, fresh out of the shells. It was all beautiful to look at and delicious too. There were speeches and thanks made, then it was drinking and dancing time. While there was a deck to dance on, there wasn’t room for everyone, so most of the dancing took place on the beach – under the stars, and into the water. A great wrap up to a great week. Highly recommend Vaka Eiva for any crew planning to do an international event.

We’ll get some photos here as soon as we can! Or, shall I say – as soon as I stop shivering…. From 29 one day, to 2 degrees the next. Ah well – all totally worth it

Jan – Jericho

Up at 5am for a 7am Round Rarotonga change race start. There’s a bit of cloud cover but it’s mostly going to be a sunny hot day. The canoe is set up, ready to go and the gear is loaded on to the support boat. The boat was excellent; a good size, had a nice cover, great coolers and a captain that had done this race every year. He got us settled and we were off.

18 women’s crews were in the race. The Australian crew – Crown Beach, was in the lead, with the Cook Islands 1 crew closely behind. We had a great start, and the first change was about 20 minutes into the race. It’s so wonderful to jump off an escort boat (or canoe) and into warm tropical water. The last changes we’d done were in a practice around Passage Island. Each change into the water there was heart attack inducing! Our escort boat dropped us in perfect position each time, and timed it around the big reef breaks. He had a long towline to toss us each time, so no swimming required to get back on to the supprt boat.

Conditions changed about every 5 kms. around the island, from big waves, to tough choppy stuff, headwinds, and then a final 2 km run into the finish line on small bumps, wind behind us and blue-green glassy water below us. During the race, paddlers saw a humpback whale or two, turtles and flying fish! As you round the final buoy, it’s a couple hundred meter dash to the finish line. As soon as your canoe is in site, there were four local drummers, who hit the Tahaitian drums to give us a pounding welcome in. It was fantastic. The volunteers are there to take the canoe off your hands, and then we were treated to fresh fruit and iced fresh coconut water, right out of the shell. We managed to finish 12th out of 18, but with the smiles on faces, you would have thought we’d come in first!

The men’s race went off at 1pm, with about the same number of crews and very similar conditions. Teams from the same clubs won that event – Australians from Crown Belle and the Cooks Islands top men’s crew. The Cook Islanders put on a much better show coming in with big smiles, same side paddling and flying the ama across the finish line. That race did have a bad note as one of the paddlers on a local team suffered a heart attack. They got him off the water, and quickly treated but he didn’t survive. His crew finished the race and got a big welcome in.

All in all, an amazing day. Thursday, the mixed crews do their Round Rarotonga, Friday – it’s time for sprints and wrap up parties…..

Jan – Jericho

Iron races
Monday morning we wake up to a cool (22) and windy day. It stayed overcast for most of the day – good for racing but worked it’s way up to about 26. Due to the small number of canoes, there are multiple iron races organized by groups: men’s masters, senior masters and under 19s, then women’s masters, senior masters and under 19s, then the mixed crews. These races were all 12 km. While by age, we could have raced masters, we choose to race the 18km open race. When you have come this far, you might as well make the most of it.

It was a tough race. Winds were from the north east so the waves were ama side for the first half of the race, intonthe headwind and you also have the ocean swells pushing you around. Waves were 6-7 feet with the occasional 8-10 footer to climb. Coming back, we got to do some surfing but not in the nice sets as we were hoping for. The runs were faster by the reef but you can’t paddle too close as you get sucked right on to the reef. The locals really know how to use this to their advantage. For the first time, a Cook Island women’s team won, beating the strong Aussies and kiwis. We came in 11th and 12th, very happy to finish, stay upright, and beat a few other crews. Best of all, at the finish line – local kids are swimming in the water. They are cheering, then climbing all over the canoe, pushing us in and generally making for a fantastic welcoming committee!

There was one bad incident during the race. The men and women’s open crews raced together. About 4 km from the finish, one of the men’s crews hit the reef. Their ama broke and the paddlers got tossed out of the canoe. Most got away with a few scrapes and bruises but one paddler was beaten up pretty badly. They started to treat him at the first aid site but had to take him to hospital. We believe he is ok but haven’t had any status updates.

The day ended with an 8km fun mixed race. Paddlers from different crews jumped into canoes. The water was calmer and the race was on. With the shorter course, it was a much tighter race with lots of fun battles. An almost all Canadian crew chased a crew with Nappy steering all the way, but had to let the Hawaiian take them at the finish!

Tuesday is a rest day for us, with race for juniors in the lagoon. We will be heading up to do some cheering, while stretching out tired bodies in prep for Wednesday’s Round Rarotonga Change race….

Jan -Jericho

Driving
It’s on the left. Other than everyone regularly turning on windshield wipers instead of the signal light, we’ve adapted pretty well. It helps that the main road around the island is only one lane in each direction and that traffic seldom exceeds 50km. Cars are small as gas costs about $2.64 a litre! The main form of transport is the scooter. Almost everyone old enough to drive has one. It’s like Hells Angels on 50cc’s… Grandmas have the little kids with them, sometimes tied to them with a sash, often they just hang on. Speed limit fir scooters is 40 without a helmet, 50 if you wear a helmet. I think we’ve seen about 3 helmets as it’s too hot to wear them. Better just to go 40

Food and drink
For most part, the food has been really good and in some cases, outstanding. Prices are comparable to Vancouver. The baked goods – from bread to croissants to cakes – are amazing! Also – coffee…. to our great pleasure, it’s been wonderful. Coffee is grown on one of the outer islands and roasted here. And folks really know how to pull an espresso too. The fruit is as great as tropical fruit can be. There’s just something about papaya and mangoes fresh from the tree!

Traditional canoes
There are many, many traditional wooden canoes around Rarotonga. Some are simple hulls, others intricately carved and decorated. They sit in cages, hang in grocery stores or lie in hotel lobbies. Many of them get taken out at least once a year for a traditional fishing competition. There is concern that it is a dying art as there are fewer carvers around and fewer young people interested in learning.

Weather
Typically tropical – when it rains, it pours! There had been quite a drought before we arrived but we’ve had a few good dumps of rain. It does keep all these gorgeous flowers happy. It never lasts long and it’s still 29 degrees, so no complaints here. Winds have been u usually variable, coming from directions they don’t usually come in at so it’s anything goes

OC6′s
Rocs and Mahimahi are the main available canoes. The Rocs are a bit lighter and a bit faster. There is no weight restriction with the local racing association so most canoes are about 225 lbs. The very few Mirages are 400 lbs and aren’t used for racing. The rigging on the canoes is braced high off the gunnels. Skirts are attached with Velcro and and varying shapes and sizes. Some are so tight across the canoes that the knees are rubbing against them.

Wildlife
Roosters and chickens…. Nature’s alarm clocks, even if you don’t want to wake up at 4am. Dogs: pets and community dogs…. Not quite feral as everyone feeds them. Slow moving dogs in this heat, no one is playing fetch! Mosquitoes and ants….. Lots and lots and lots of them. We have donated a substantial quantity of Canadian blood to the mosquito population. Beautiful birds…. Fish…. Aquarium like fish in the lagoons, with even some aggressive ones. One of our paddlers was bitten while snorkeling!

Jan – Jericho

The races begin with OC1 and V1 events. For the non-racers, it’s market day and we all head down there early to stock up on fresh fruit, coffee and maybe just a few souvenirs. And yes, it is hot (29) and sunny again….

There’s not many personal canoes on the island (maybe 50?) and they are in all shapes and sizes (bout 50/50 for OC1 and V1). Conditions are breezy and a bit wild. Wind is coming from the NE, not the expected direction so it means a lot of side swell for the racers. For this race, all paddlers must wear the sponsor jersey. It makes it hard to pick out paddlers when they are all wearing red!

The first race of the day is men’s Masters and Senior Masters. No Canucks in this one, with Nappy Napoleon being the best known paddler to us. The race leaves the harbour, heads up the coast to Matavera, around a buoy and back – total 12 km. The Aussies take this event, Nappy finishes very respectfully mid-pack, and one canoe and paddler had to be rescued as he hit the reef and broke his (wooden) iakus. Luckily he only got got one bad scrape on the ankle.

Ladies next (open, masters, snr masters) and this is the biggest race with almost all available canoes on the water. Lilliana B. got out there to represent Canada, paddling a Paheo. This was the same course as the first race and turns out to be the most exciting one of the day. There were lots of races within races, lots of hulis as the paddlers try to make the final turn, and Lili finishes upright, not last, and with a great big smile.

The men’s Open race is last and it is extended up to Muri Beach for 18km. At the last minute, Phil G. gets a canoe (Hurricane), borrows water, paddles, jersey etc. He had to do a sprint to make the start line… The locals where well represented in this race and the best show put on by the V1 racers. They had to work so hard to make the final turn and then battle the cross currents to make it to the finish line. It looked like just way too much work. One V1 racer was getting pushed in to the reef, huli’d a couple times, got back up racing, but missed the buoy turn and was DQ’d within just that last couple hundred meters. Phil lost the handle to his race paddle about half way into the race, had to wave down the escort boat to hand that one off and then finish the race with the spare…. I’ll let him fill in his own details. He did seem to be ready for that beer at the finish line! Conditions were crazy all day. I heard one paddle say be was swept off his canoe about 20 times!

While all this was going on, there were junior races going on up at Muri. It would have been fun to catch those but OC1 races were behind time so we had to give that a miss.

The day wrapped up with official opening ceremonies, entertainment by a local school, day 1 medal presentations and then a paddlers dinner. My claim to fame this week? I was first in line for dinner – likely my only first place of the week:)

Sunday – no racing, and no paddling at all. It’s church day here in Paradise….