Hamilton Island Cup 2011

The dream to compete in one of the toughest outrigger canoe racing events in the world brought a team of 10 Canadian women together!  4 from Comox, 3 from Victoria, 2 from Vancouver and 1 from Chemainus, BC, calling themselves the Comox Canucks.

The goal: The Hamilton Island Cup 2011 consisting of 4 days of racing in beautiful Hamilton Island, Australia.

The team consistently met about once a month for over a year, training with coach Rick Nu’u, some girls having to drive 3 hours and others needing to take an hour and a half ferry ride to attend.  The decision was to enter as a Masters Women’s team, with the Masters age for this race being 35+.  The youngest on the team was 36 and the oldest 53, everyone bringing their own experiences and passion for paddling sports.

As part of their preparation for Australia, the team raced the Pailolo Challenge and Na Wahine O Ke Kai in September 2010, spending two weeks on the Hawaiian Islands of Maui, Molokai and Oahu.  With a 4th place Masters Women’s finish in the Molokai to Oahu race, only 15 seconds behind 3rd place, they felt confident in proceeding with their plans to race in Australia.

After a slight change of two women in January 2011, the crew was finalized:  Laurel Archer, Annie Boulding, Lyse Fortin, Michelle Genge, Heather Taylor, Julie Kippen, Helen Currey, Melanie Conard, Shannon Brenner and Jacinta Sheridan.

The training continued on the water through the chilly Canadian winter and spring months.  Meetings were held, money was collected, time trials took place, Australian contacts were made to borrow boats, flights booked , hotel rooms reserved, and two Western Australia women were recruited to fill the second OC6 for the sprints and 16 km race.  The main group of 10 would re-group for the 42 km change race on Day 4.

On Monday, June 13, 2011, the team arrived on tropical Hamilton Island, Australia, part of the Whitsunday Islands in the Great Barrier Reef area.

Day 1 consisted of small boat racing with all girls participating either in OC2’s or OC1’s doing the 8 km or 16 km course and 250 m sprints.  The crew accumulated two 1st place, two 2nd place, and two 3rd place finishes throughout the day’s racing.

Day 2 was the 16 km OC6 race around Hamilton Island that started with collisions off the start and at various turbulent points around the island where strong currents played havoc for the steersperson.  The Comox Canucks top crew came away with a 2nd place finish in the 16 km race and also in the 500 m sprint that day.

Day 3’s event was the 1000 m OC6 sprint with 3 buoy turns.  Both crews made it into the final heat with the top crew pulling off a 1st place finish even after a slight collision at the 2nd turn.

Day 4 was the 42 km change race, the event the Comox Canucks were waiting for.  The crew came together with a fabulous coach, Simone, and an excellent escort boat complete with crew, Phil and Judi and a few fans to cheer us on.  There were 42 canoes on the start line, men, women and mixed.  It wasn’t long after the start that the water got HUGE with 20 knot winds against current giving seat 1 and 2 lots of airtime and then sending us crashing down wave after wave.  We had a classic Hamo on our hands!  Whooo Hooo! There were times we felt close to crashing down on top of another canoe or them on us.  The conditions tested us mentally and physically but we were strong, focused and pumped for the challenge.

Our changes were awesome and everyone stayed aggressive and on their game right to the end.  At one point we were paddling really close to shore, coming up to a corner and then got picked up by a wave and surfed our way around the corner.  Cool!  Another time, Laurel steered the boat through a rock opening that I never thought a boat would fit through!

We battled it out against the Mooloolaba Master Women’s team, passing them once only to have them pass us again until close to the end where we made our move, passed them and hammered it to the finish line.  What a blast!  On the escort boat, a hearty, “O Canada” was being sung, everyone proud of the day’s accomplishment!  We placed 1st in Masters Women and 2nd overall for the women’s teams.

At the awards party that night we were presented with a $2000 cheque, medals and then also found out that we had been nominated and won the Aloha Spirit Award!  What a fabulous end to our Hamilton Island experience.  The way it all came together was incredible.

"Sweet As"

The people who loaned us canoes, our change race coach, escort boat driver and crew, the race organizers, the paddlers – everyone who helped us out along the way made it the most amazing experience ever!  It was a long way to go, but so worth it!  …..or as the Aussie’s say, “Sweet as!”

Really great video from the races can be found on the race website: http://www.hamiltonisland.com.au/Events/Hamilton-Cup/video/Pages/day4-highlights.aspx