Meeting My Ohana

By Courtney Haile, Photos by Mandy O’ Connell
Have you ever longed to wake at an ungodly hour, just to get your butt handed to you by the salty Pacific while an aggressive acquaintance yells, Get your sh%t together, [insert name]? Pale Kai Outrigger is the stuff of local legend; and the folks at the non-profit canoe club in Avila Beach have been paddling, racing, and playing for twenty years.
My friend Diana assured I’d find friendly faces and little to no yelling at Pale Kai Outrigger’s demo day in Morro Bay. She introduced me to membership coordinator Mandy and I arranged to meet the group at 8:30 on a Saturday for my first go at outrigger canoeing.
I arrived, signed waivers, as I am apt to, then sat on a bench and raised my arm while a veteran crew member named Kristin fit me for a paddle. What followed was the scary speech my mother warned me about — what to do if the canoe turns upside down. On demo days, the folks at Pale Kai don’t intentionally flip the boat, but it can always happen so they prepared us for the worst. I appeared calm, focused on each time they underscored the rarity of this actually happening on the calm bay. I remembered one thing: never lean to the right.
In our canoe were two vets, a couple folks who’d paddled a few times, and two brand spankin’ newbies. While still ashore, the experiences ones demonstrated paddling technique, and I joined with mine facing the wrong direction. Oops. As I climbed into seat four, it registered that this was my first team adventure where one right tilt could dunk the whole crew. Would I pull my weight?

The veterans coached, giving commands from seats one and six. In seat four, my job was to emulate seat two and I focused on plunging and pulling my oar in rhythm. Hyper aware of my positioning, I took feedback about inserting the paddle vertically with my bottom hand low. The expert in seat six had a nice view of my form, which made coaching and corrections easy.
We rowed for about 30 minutes before heading back, and upon our return, I got in the groove. I felt at peace as we rowed in unison on gorgeous Morro Bay, while my competitive side wanted to beat the other boats, we started later. I felt my core working the entire time and had to control my breath a couple times as my heart rate rose. Close to shore, the gentleman in seat three inquired about how far we’d paddled and we were informed that we basically did a good warm up.

I cannot imagine paddling in the ocean with waves, or under pressure to row faster than another boat. These folks are indeed hardcore and seem to have a lot of fun being so. The teamwork clearly builds trust and camaraderie that one can’t find solo. Curious? Check them out at www.palekai.com.