July 31st marked the day that Cayuga Outrigger Canoe Club was hoping to erase the events that occurred the previous year at Liberty World Outrigger Competition. What were those events? Four COCC members headed to New York City and met up with Ben (steersman) and Ray(paddler) to take on some extreme conditions in New York Harbor and the Hudson River. After more than 2 hours of paddling it was discovered that the boat had missed a turn, ended off course and was given a DNF. The crew was tired and dismayed and wondered if it was worth ever coming back.
Saturday morning found our team of Julie, Dave, Cookie (Paul C.), Paul W. and P.J. walking across the Brooklyn Bridge for an 11 o’clock race time. Our canoe, courtesy of the Washington Canoe Club, need to be rigged and a portion of the morning was spent lashing the the ama, iakos and wa’a together. A nervous morning was spent getting in some last food and water as we waited for the women’s race to end and for our Men’s Open to start.
Finally at 10:30 we launched our boat and paddled to the starting line under the Manhattan Bridge. The current was flowing strong against us with considerable chop but we were more than ready for the challenge. The race start was crazy but with some masterful steering P.J. kept us upright and ahead of another boat which was a cause for excitement. We quickly made our way to the tip of Manhattan, avoided getting run over by the Staten Island Ferry and were headed into some of the roughest water of the day.
As we headed north on the Hudson we faced a slight tidal current behind us the flow of the Hudson in our face and massive boat wakes that were reflecting off the shore.  Our ama spent some time in the air but due to an awesome team we were soon making the turn at W 29th Street and heading to the west side of the Hudson. Padding was almost enjoyable as we headed toward Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. At the Statue of Liberty things again grew interesting as tourist gawked from the Circle Line Cruise Boat and wakes again threatened the seemingly inevitable huli. After what seemed like forever, it was actually only a mile, we found safe haven behind Govenor’s Island and were paddling our way to the finish line. Not only had we finished the race but we came in ahead of another crew!
We were greeted at the shore by MHanh offered us relief in the form of PIZZA and BEER, are you kidding me, she is invited to all events from here on out!! A big Mahalo to her.
We finished off our day with the luau at the Frying Pan and ate to we could not fit any more. The luau also had women performing hula, a raffle and many great recaps of an awesome and exciting day.