Va'a outrigger canoe racing

Va'a racing is the national past time of French Polynesia. It is like little league baseball is to the USA. Paddling is not only done for exercise but it is a matter of Polynesian Pride! Every single day, no matter what anchorage we are in or island we are on there is always a va'a paddler going by. But in Tahiti it is huge!

There are single person va'as. There are 3 person va'as and there are 6 person va'as. I am not sure of all the rules, but my guess is that there is a total weight minimum and possible maximum to keep the boats even.

The secret to success is synchronicity in the paddling and the movement of the body as the boat slides through the water. The superbowl of Va'a racing is the Hawaiki regatta. It takes 3 days for the race and they paddle 100's of 6 man canoes between the islands of Huahine, Raiatea & Tahaa and then over to Bora Bora where they finish on the beach like superstars. We watched it on TV while in Tahiti.

We see people practicing every day.

Then one day in early December we see a big race of 6 man boats. So we zoomed over in our dinghy to watch.

They were turning at the channel marker near where we were anchored.

 It was so surreal with Mo'orea in the background.

They were smiling and having fun.

Some of them were decked out in Christmas hats and decorations.

It was good to see they also had a safety boat.

Mike was so exhausted from watching all that paddling, he took a nap in the cockpit.

Just lasts week in February, we saw a huge single man va'a race which came right by the boat.

There were at least 100 boats in the race.

Both guys and gals too! Women were originally not allowed to even look at a man's canoe, it was taboo! But in the last two years, they have come of age and now girls can paddle in groups or on their own. We have seen one guy coaching several of them, which warms my heart.

Now not sure what happened to the safety boat in this race, but this poor guy in the green boat had his ama (outrigger) come untied and he was flipped out of the canoe. I watched him for some time, long after all the other paddlers were gone.

He finally got it retied and I made sure he was OK and he turned and went back the direction he came from. 

 Such is the life of a va'a racer!  Paddling into the sunset!