First Person's Perspective on Marina Del Rey's OCC
The outrigger canoe club I paddle for, Marina Del Rey Outrigger Canoe Club, in Marina Del Rey, CA. Is rich in history. I've been paddling with MDROCC for just over a year now, and it's been a great ride so far. My buddy Adam got me started in this. But in actuallity, it's not my first exposure to outrigg canoe paddling. I think in 2003, while working at Sony Pictures, a friend told me about how she paddled, and that one race, she did between Catalina and Newport Beach. I was floored, because I knew that she was small for her size, but for her to say she crossed the Catalina channel impressed me. So after that, i took it upon myself to go looking for a club. My friend told me that there were a few up and down the South Coast of California. I found one located in Marina Del Rey. I emailed and called, but no reponse back. I was curious, and tried to get a hold of them for a bit, but still no response, and that's where it ended for me. I hadn't persued it further.
Years later when I met up with Adam, he told me about paddling. He paddle when he was younger back in Maui, and was jonesing to get back out in the water. He was able to contact the Marina about going out and doing some offseason paddling. I was kind of dumb-founded because of not hearing back from them and counting them out. But lowe and behold October of 2005, we both were in the Marina with 18 other people, ready to paddle.
We had quite an off season. Towards the end, the people who were part of the club, had come up to Adam and I and few other friends, to ask if we were interested in being a part of the club, and doing a season. Adam was up for the challenge. Myself, I was reluctant. My first time setting foot in an canoe, and all that. But I said, yes, what the hell. We met he novice coach, Cal Hirahara. Reserved guy, older, but seasoned. I had other obligations to keep. I was getting ready for Merrie Monarch with my halau. Cal's response? "you better make room for paddling.. "
Through the course of the season, my crew, basically made of the guys from off season, did quite well. We were top 4 every race, eventually, taking first place in the sprint category for the state. We finally edged towards the end of the season, the 9-man races, with the finaly race being the Cataling Crossing.
I didn't do that well in the catalina crossing. it was grueling. It's distance is 34 miles in cold water. It's about a 5 hour race. My crew finished and we were pretty much beat up. But we were so proud of ourselves pushing mentaly and physically. We looked forward to the off season.
When the offseason came, we were exposed to new aspects of the club. It's history. We heard stories of the founders of our club, like names of our canoes came from a couple of the founders, and also this guy, Al Ching, who also was a founding member. He now runs the club, Lanakila, in Redondo. We the following is a story, that is basically a one man perspective on the origins of our canoe club.
Al's Story
The following is written by Al Ching, co-founder of Lanakila Canoe Club in Redondo Beach, CA. He also is the maker of Mudbrook paddles . He's still at all the outrigger races and spins a good tale, some of which are up at his website.
Actually this is a partial history from my viewpoint. This period is from 1964 to 1970.
Originally the club was called Kai Nalu Canoe Club located at the opposite end of the beach where Marina now resides. In 1965 we moved to the present location, which was occupied by a club called the CalaHawaiians, after they fell apart. As the name implied they were made up of Californians and Hawaiians. Earlier clubs tried to build all Hawaiian crews, but it never made a difference and often ended up slower. As a result crews were made up of the club’s best athletes, regardless of race, color or creed.
I met Sandy Kahanamoku at Little Hawaii, a bar where the local Hawaiians and friends hung out. My college roommates from Pasadena were drinking there one night and met Sandy who was sitting at another table. He came over, introduced himself and after a while invited us to a regatta the next morning at Santa Monica Pier. None of us had raced canoes before and as we watched the regatta in our hung over state of mind, the coach Buster Jeremiah came over and counted us, “One two three four five six.” He asked, “Anyone paddled before?” We mumbled, “A little.” Then he said, “Anyone know how to steer?” Harold Brown my roommate said, “I do.” That’s when coach Buster’s eyes lit up and said, “Eh you guys come with me.” He led us to a canoe and said that we were racing in the novice race coming up soon.
We were shocked, scared and in our street clothes as we never made it home. We complained halfhearted, but took off our shoes and shirts and entered the race with less than basic instructions. I was designated as the stroker and didn’t have a clue what to do. All Buster said was, “No worry bruddah. Just keep a steady rhythm.” He didn’t even tell me when to call a change. So I didn’t call a change until the turn. We were just a fill-in crew to get a point for the club. The favored crew was Newport, who barely beat us at the finish. In the end we were totally burnt out, but became the instant talk of the club. As was the custom, we partied right after the race, going from bar to bar. At a popular bar called Shee’s, my teammates and I wearing silver medals with red ribbons danced atop a large piano. Everyone sang along as the piano player pounded out Hawaiian songs. We couldn’t pay for a drink, as everyone kept our table filled with beers. Then the whole gang moved on to Little Hawaii for more beers we, still in our street clothes. Thus was my introduction to paddling and Marina Del Rey.
Head Coach Buster Jeremiah was a colorful character who had worked at the beach in Hawaii, where he met and married a beautiful rich girl. He often flew many of his friends to Las Vegas for weekends. The marriage didn’t last and he moved back to Hawaii. Mercy and Clinton Makekau took over the head coaching and with better recruiting; the club became the dominant leader in California winning nearly every regatta handily. But soon they too moved back to Hawaii.
Meanwhile, coach Steve Kekuewa from Santa Monica Canoe Club lost their site and was invited to join Marina. Steve, Don Lee and crew brought their canoe called the Mamo Kai. It was the fastest canoe in the association. It was owned and sponsored by the Bank of Santa Monica, thus the name of their club. Steve and Sandy became the head coaches bringing the club to the next level. Being a second year paddler and still in college, I was asked to coach the novice men in the mornings.
At a club meeting we voted to change our name to Marina Del Rey in order to get more sponsors, on the assumption that local businesses would rather sponsor a Marina Del Rey name, than an unknown Hawaiian name like Kai Nalu. In later years it proved untrue, as sponsors usually go with the best exposure. Marina’s colors were changed to Blue and white. For the next five years we enjoyed terrific seasons, becoming the most successful and largest club in KOA
At the time the big three clubs in California were Marina, Newport, and Balboa, with occasional clubs that appeared and disappeared just as quickly. Jim Dempsey who was another real character handled the maintenance of canoes and trailer. Like a true keeper of the canoes he always scolded us for not caring for the canoes. But most of all, he was noted for his habit of scratching where the sun don’t shine. Since there were basically three clubs, we partied after every race together. Our favorite place was someone’s home close to the race, usually a host club’s member. A favorite house was Haole Pete’s in Santa Monica, George Kopas in Newport and other similar homes.
At first our workouts consisted of paddling to the 76 gas station and back a distance of about 3 miles, which we thought was difficult. Later, Steve took us to Santa Monica pier about 10 miles and still later round trip to Malibu about 30 miles in preparation for Molokai.
By 1969, after college, I began working at United Parcel Service in Los Angeles and it was becoming increasingly difficult to make the long drive from Hermosa to L. A. to Marina. After five successful and fun years at Marina my brother Ralph and I decided it was time to form a small club closer to home. We looked at a local beach in Redondo and decided that we could launch canoes from there. The daily drive to practice would be cut to 3 minutes. Ralph came up with the name Lanakila. So 1970 ended my memorable and adventurous chapter with Marina Del Rey and began a new one with Lanakila.
Mahalo AL Ching
