Saturday, June 8, 2013

Hawaiian Sailing Canoes, Always On Big Water

I've posted before on the Hawaiian outrigger canoes. Here is a video of the traditional Hawaiian sailing canoes, focusing on one in the catamaran configuration. It gets interesting at the back end of the video as the wind and wave conditions approach nuclear in the channel; two helmsman fight to maintain control on the long steering oar aided by another auxiliary helmsman in the leeward hull with a big ass paddle adding some oomph when needed. Got to keep those bows heading straight while surfing down big waves. Spray everywhere. Fascinating!

Ka Ohana Holokai Pailolo Crossing from Scott Wong on Vimeo.

2 comments:

Aaron said...

Awesome video! Looks like they were in danger of stuffing the bows in the trough when the surf got big... Why did they keep the crew that far forward? Moving the guy at the mast back to the stern seems like it would have helped

Tweezerman said...

Not sure why they can't move back though everybody is stacked on the weather hull. The front crew are getting firehosed big time when the Hawaiian canoe gets to the bottom of the trough.