On the Hawaiian Islands, OUTRIGGER CANOE PADDLING is more than an enormously popular sport — it’s a culturally significant link to the extraordinary seafaring traditions of Hawai‘i’s first people, who came to the isles aboard double-hulled sailing canoes that they paddled across some 2,000 miles of uncharted ocean using only the stars and flight patterns of birds to guide them. In fact, they found the Hawaiian Islands more than 1,000 years before European explorers arrived in 1778.
Today, outrigger canoe paddling is the state’s official team sport, and races draw hundreds of paddlers from clubs throughout the Hawaiian Islands.
On Kaua‘i, you can see paddling clubs practicing at HANALEI BAY, KALAPAKĪ BAY and WAILUA BEACH . Many of Kaua‘i’s hotels keep an outrigger canoe for guests looking to have a Hawaiian paddling experience. Ask your concierge or activity planner, and see what makes careening down the face of a wave with five other people such a special experience.
