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Monday, March 18, 2024

Outriggers arrive at Wrightsville Beach

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The bow of the 45-foot outrigger canoe sliced through the choppy surface of Banks Channel July 26, its six paddlers stroking in unison. Reggie Barnes sat in the stern of the narrow craft, dragging his paddle to steer the fiberglass canoe between idling motorboats, drawing more than one curious double take. Every dozen strokes, the paddlers, in one motion, lifted their paddles and began stroking on the opposite side, keeping time with Jarrod Covington’s chant from the bow.

“Hut, hut, ho!”

The six-man outrigger canoe is one of two crafts Barnes ordered one year ago from a shop in California. The boats arrived in Wrightsville Beach June 30. Coastal cities in New York, Florida, California and Hawaii have clubs and races for outrigger canoes, he said, but the sport has yet to take hold in southern North Carolina.

“As far as I know, these are the only six-man outriggers anywhere around here,” Barnes said.

He said he was inspired to order the canoes after years of visiting the north shore of Oahu and watching the outriggers pass by in the ocean. A friend of his knew legendary Hawaiian outrigger craftsman Sonny Bradley, who creates seaworthy crafts out of koa wood in the centuries-old style of early Hawaiians.

Bradley’s website states he searches the forests for a fallen koa tree. After purchasing the log from the property owner, he and his fellow workers cut a path through the forest and he whittles the piece of wood down to size. Then he extracts the log using a one-ton pickup truck and, once out of the forest, he carves it into a sleek hull.

While Barnes’ canoes are made of fiberglass rather than rare koa wood, they are modeled after Bradley’s design and shaped by a few of his protégés. The men spent time in Hawaii studying the craft of canoe building under Bradley before opening a shop called Ulu Pono Canoes in southern California.

“I was basically their first customer,” Barnes said. “They have a license to build [Bradley’s] design, the Bradley Lightning, and so I thought he must have faith in these guys if he’s going to let them build his boats.”

The Ulu Pono craftsmen ran into some unanticipated issues during the building process, Barnes said, but ultimately the product they delivered was worth the wait.

“We wanted to have them this past spring for the Carolina Cup so we could just paddle them around and have fun because a lot of the people who come here for that event are actually outrigger canoe paddlers as well as standup paddlers,” he said, “but … they turned out really good so I’m happy with the quality.”

Ulu Pono shaper Geoffrey Smith brought the two outriggers to the East Coast on his way to a canoe race in New York, Barnes said. The day the crafts were delivered, Smith and Barnes took one of them down to the water to try it out, recruiting a few fellow watermen to join them.

Not only was it the craft’s maiden voyage, it was Barnes’ first time in an outrigger. He and his crew cruised through Banks Channel, finding a steady paddling rhythm as they zipped along.

“We were all just grinning from ear to ear,” he said.

They also recently tested the craft in the ocean. The float, or ama, attached to the left side of the canoe stabilizes the narrow boat while navigating the open seas or catching waves.

“We want to try to ride the swells out there at the shoals off Masonboro when we get a little more comfortable,” Barnes said.

He wants to get the second canoe in the water during the next few weeks, he said, so he can take 12 people out at a time. The paddling technique is very similar to stand-up paddleboarding, he added, so it’s a natural transition for those athletes.

It also introduces a team aspect into the vibrant local watersport community, he said. While he hopes the community embraces the sport enough to someday form canoe clubs or races, for now, he said he’s content to enjoy the camaraderie.

“It’s really all about fun,” he said, “and being on the water … doing something where you have six people al working together for the same goal.”

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