Gliding, but not effortlessly

BATHED in dappled, early morning sunlight, water lapping gently at their feet, six paddlers carry a 40-foot-long outrigger canoe into the water at Mother’s Beach in Marina del Rey.

Grebes and diving ducks make way as the crew trots next to the canoe, then jumps in and begins digging its wooden paddles deep into the water, quickly gliding out into the inner harbor.

The athletes, members of the Marina del Rey Outrigger Canoe Club, follow the quick pace of stroker Allison Kahanamoku-Mermel at the front, working in unison and switching sides every 15 strokes to the steady chant of “Hut, Hike, Ho!”

The scene stirs childhood memories of Polynesian torch movies -- storied boats gliding soundlessly over idyllic waves, powered by sun-bronzed paddlers. But that same Bali Ha’i experience is available off the beaches of Southern California, where members of outrigger canoe clubs meet about three times a week, in the early morning or late afternoon.

Currently there are about two dozen clubs in the Southern California Outrigger Racing Assn., which started in 1959 with one loosely organized club at Newport Dunes. As the clubs multiplied, so did membership, which has ticked upward in recent years to an estimated 1,000 active, competitive paddlers. The sport is expanding even faster across the U.S. and worldwide, with new clubs sprouting up in Canada, Germany, Italy, Brazil and Asia.

Powering a six-person outrigger canoe is not for wimps. Paddlers hammer the 400-pound boats through 2- to 4-foot swells at about 65 strokes per minute, working the upper body relentlessly for hours at a time, reaching speeds of about 7 knots (about 8 miles per hour) as they travel out to sea and up and down the coast.

The constant digging motion, as the athlete leans forward and pulls the paddle through the water in unison with his or her teammates, makes for an extreme workout, burning the lats and core.

“You’re constantly rotating forward and then ripping back,” says Ian Foo, a designer for canoe manufacturer Hypr Canoes. “It’s very much like swimming,” he says. Because of this, “your love handles just disappear.”

In 20 minutes, a paddler might complete 1,000 strokes. “No amount of stuff you do at the gym will get the same result,” says Foo.

Despite the rigors, outrigger canoeing attracts fans of all ages and fitness levels, including amputees. Many clubs have special divisions for juniors (18 and younger), masters (35 and older) and senior masters (55 and older).

Generally, first-timers to the sport are either hooked by the first practice, or are never seen again. Those who stay are assigned to novice boats and practice together. As their skill level increases, they move to boats with more advanced paddlers.

Although the exact origins of outrigger canoeing is lost to history, some anthropologists believe that it originated in Southeast Asia and was used in migration to Samoa, Micronesia and Melanesia. Undoubtedly, Polynesians have used it for centuries for traveling between islands and as a means of getting across the open ocean.

Outrigger clubs hew closely to the sport’s Polynesian roots, says Howard Adamson, president of the association’s executive board. “We continue to maintain the traditions, from giving our canoes Hawaiian names to doing traditional Hawaiian blessings.”

Paddlers are drawn to the sport for various reasons. Some stumble upon a practice and decide to give it a try. Others are attracted to the sport’s strong ties to Polynesian culture, while still others are recruited by friends.

The biggest evolution in the sport has been the growing popularity of the solo outrigger canoe. Typically in the past, these boats have been used by teams for training and to assess the capacity of individuals before assigning them to boats, and were difficult to obtain. But the boats have become more widely available in the last few years as more manufacturers have entered the market.

Historically, outrigger canoes have been made in people’s backyards, similar to the early days of surfboards, Foo says. “You could wait for a year to get one,” he says.

But the costs are still fairly prohibitive. A solo canoe will run about $3,000, while a six-person fiberglass canoe starts at about $8,000.

Back at Mother’s Beach, Kahanamoku’s canoe and a half dozen others are out in the open ocean, the skyline barely visible behind them, their crews paddling furiously for the Santa Monica pier. Because this is a practice session, the crew will do “piece work” of 10- to 15-minute runs, followed by short breaks.

With a little luck, the paddlers will see seals, sea lions and dolphins skittering along next to them and pelicans, terns and gulls soaring overhead on the 12-mile round trip. They will arrive back at Mother’s Beach exhausted.

It’s this combination of extreme exercise, teamwork and intense contact with nature that keeps paddlers coming back, says steerer and 30-year outrigger veteran Nancy Dopp.

“I think that all paddlers are in love with it,” she says. “It’s calming. It’s hard. It’s competitive. It’s everything that a team sport could be.”

Being out on the water erases tension and the memory of anything else that’s gone wrong during the day, she says. “For most paddlers, there’s some kind of magic involved, because even when the weather’s bad, it’s a good day out there.”

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janet.cromley@latimes.com

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Ins and outs of races

Hut! Hike! Ho!

Teams in Southern California begin actively recruiting new members in early March, weather permitting, for the four-month season, which begins in mid-May. Some continue to practice and recruit in the off-season. For a list of clubs and race dates, go to the Southern California Outrigger Racing Assn. website at www.socaloutrigger.org. Among the events:

* Sprint races, held in July, are spectator-friendly races that take place on a fixed, marked course of 500 to 3,000 meters.

* “Ironman” events (mid-May to late June) are 8- to 14-mile races in the open ocean.

* Nine-man races (early August to mid-September), are the longest events, up to 32 miles, and are like relay races, with three new members rotating into the six-person crew every 20 minutes from an escort boat.

* Solo races (November through May) take place in the sport’s off-season and are generally organized outside of SCORA.

* The season culminates Sept. 8 and 9 with the Catalina Crossing, in which hundreds of athletes from around the world compete for the U.S. Outrigger Championship title. The women race from Newport Beach Harbor to Avalon, and men race the following day from Avalon to Newport Beach.

* The Super Bowl of outrigger canoeing is the Molokai Hoe, a 41.5-mile open-ocean race from Molokai to Duke Kahanamoku Beach in Waikiki, Oahu. Considered the world championship in outrigger canoe racing, the men’s race is held Oct. 7, and the women’s race, called the Na Wahine O Ke Kai, is Sept. 23.

More than 100 teams from around the world are expected to compete in the men’s race, which started in 1952 and is one of the longest running annual team sporting events in Hawaii.

About 70 teams are expected to compete in the women’s event, which first hit the surf in 1979.

-- Janet Cromley