Outrigger canoe club wowing beachgoers with long boat

It's one of those things that stops people in their tracks, makes them gaze with that wide-eyed, "what-the-...." look on their faces and smile.

"My grandchildren would get a kick out of this," said Linda Nichols of Elgin, as she watched members of the South Carolina Outrigger Canoe Club carry a 45-foot-long, 19-inch-wide "canoe" down Station 12 on Sullivan's Island to the mouth of Charleston Harbor. "Heck, I'm getting a kick out of it."

For the past 11 months, a group of about 15 people have been wowing beachgoers and paddling the six-person canoe, which looks more like a surface-level torpedo, on a weekly basis. They are hoping to jump start the sport in the only section of the U.S. coastline, the Carolinas and Georgia, that is lacking in outrigger clubs and events.

Outrigger canoes have their origins in Polynesia, where people used long, narrow canoes, featuring one or two lateral support floats (known as outriggers) for stability, to travel long distances over ocean water. Today, Hawaii is the mecca for outrigger canoeing, but the sport has spread throughout the world, especially in Europe, Australia, Japan and the United States.

Mike Owens, founder and president of the club, got hooked on outrigger canoes after following his girlfriend, Tara Miller, to Hawaii, where she attended graduate school. Owens, whose father has a boat-building business in Georgetown, landed a job building outrigger canoes. They both got involved in outrigger canoe paddling.

Two years ago, they moved back to the area. He bought an outrigger canoe from a California club and started fixing it up with the idea of starting the club and fostering his business, Owens Ocean Sports, building outrigger canoes, surfskis (a sleeker, racing kayak), and stand-up paddleboards.

Last April, he introduced the boat to the Lowcountry at the East Coast Canoe and Kayak Festival and asked people to sign up for the club. Of the more than 100 who signed up, about 15 came out and stuck with it. Some are avid members of the local dragon boat race team who were looking to cross-train.

Despite their relatively small numbers, their backgrounds vary. Their ages range from the mid-20s to mid-50s, previous paddling experiences from a lot to none, fitness levels from strapping muscles to nonathletic, and level of interest from competitive to leisure exercise.

The common denominators, however, are vigorous outdoor exercise, wholesome camaraderie and dolphins.

"The dolphins are always coming along. They must sense our positive energy," says 55-year-old Patty Kneelen, who has enjoyed her first year of retirement from the cleaning business in New Jersey. "I can't tell you how much this makes me feel good."

Carrie Manson, 33, a former rafting guide in Maine and current part-time canoe and kayak guide at Kiawah Island, says she was drawn to the club because it is good exercise.

"I've had to stop running because of some knee issues and I wanted to train and race," says Manson, who was among the members who went to Beaufort to race the canoe against kayakers last Saturday.

Part of the club's edge is Holm Schmidt, a volunteer coach for the team.

Schmidt, a member of the 1988 East German Olympic team and currently a local carpenter, met Owens through hard-core surfski training sessions. Despite his expertise, he says he offers his coaching advice for free because "it's worth it." He notes that all the participants are eager to do the grunt work of rigging and unrigging the boat before and after practice.

Schmidt seems to approach the challenge of training the array of paddlers with ease and philosophy.

"It's how you organize the boat," Schmidt says of juggling the levels of fitness and skills among team members. "You need to find the harmony in the boat."

He describes the improvement among the entire team within six months of consistent training as "outstanding."

Owens also is somewhat surprised at the enthusiasm of the group. He expected interest to wane a bit over the winter. Instead, except on the windiest of days, they paddled through December, January and February. As spring starts, they will start paddling longer distances, around eight miles per session.

Despite a great first year, Owens and Miller acknowledge the club has several logistics to work out.

"Our only limitation is that we only have one boat," says Miller, noting that the team sometimes has to go out on three separate training paddles and can't race anyone.

Owens says another obstacle is having no place on Sullivan's Island to store it.

"We have to rig the boat every time we paddle," he says of the chore that takes 30 minutes at the beginning and end of each paddling session.

Still, both of them and the team are looking forward to spring, its promise of growing the sport and eventually hosting outrigger canoe races right here in Charleston.

Reach David Quick at 937-5516 or dquick@postandcourier.com.