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Announcements 4/30/2007 - 12/18/2007

Message from Denny
12/18/2007
WINTER PADDLING IN MORRO BAY

As many of you are already aware, winter paddling in Morro Bay has already begun for interested Pale Kai members and the incoming novice men. The incoming novice women are to begin in January. Keeping in mind that these 3-groups have a predetermined schedule for use of the 2-outriggers at this location, it is very important for paddlers to channel all communications through the "PKO Board Approved" leader of each group. These leaders are as follows:

1) Ted Waterhouse (783-2681) is the coordinator for all Pale Kai Members (including returning members that have been active within the past 5-years). Paddlers that do not meet these requirements must contact the men's or woman's coach listed below for evaluation and placement.

2) Greg Foster (431-0750) is the men's coach and coordinator for all incoming novice men's paddlers.

3) Tifnie LaCabe (474-6150) is the woman's coach and coordinator for all incoming novice women paddlers.

If for any reason a paddler is unable to make contact with their coordinator or has a question or concern about the Winter Paddling Program, please contact the PKO Club President, Denny Thatcher @ 805-710-3568.

Paddle Safe and Have Fun,

Denny Thatcher
Pale Kai Outrigger

Message from Denise
12/18/2007
SCORA UPDATE

ALOHA all Pale Kai Members!

I am finally taking a break from the winter paddling drama (if you don't know what I'm talking about, consider yourself spared) to inform you all about the results of the SCORA voting on December 8.

First, of most importance to Pale Kai, the Bradley restriction has been removed from all age groups. Yipee! This means that Masters, Seniors and Goldens can race any hull design equally. There is still opportunity to race Bradleys and medal in them separately in the Novice and Open divisions.

Age Groups:
Men's divisions remain the same - 35+ Masters, 45+ Seniors, 55+ Goldens
Women's divisions have changed - 35+ Masters, 45+ Seniors (was 40+), 50+ Goldens (was 55+)

For Pale Kai women, this means that we could field a strong golden crew with good medaling potential. Off the top of my head, I counted 8 or 9 PKO women who are, or will be 50 in 2008. We already had a rockin' Golden Men's crew this year. Go Goldies!

19 & Under: The 2 proposals written (one by Jeff Blauer) were withdrawn before the election, in favor of passing them by petition instead. Michelle Cassel of Kupa'a Mau and the new SCORA President, drafted a petition that had to be signed by 3 clubs (us, them and Hokuloa), and 2 clubs need to race this division in order for there to be a race. But the outcome is that 19 & Unders will be able to legally race the novice course with the 16 and 14 & Unders. Much more appropriate, safe and fun for our 19 & Unders. Yay!

Lastly, great news for Pale Kai... Pineapple Express is officially on the SCORA race calendar for June 21, 2008! It's a great ironman schedule - 6 races in 8 weeks - a weekend off between Ventura and Pineapple Express, followed by ironman champs in San Diego. That should provide us with better attendance, since not many clubs will want to have 2 weekends off before championships, and it doesn't land on Cal Poly graduation. Woo hoo!

Another topic, not in the elections, is International Va'a Federation (IVF) World Sprints on Lake Natoma in Sacramento August 4 -9, 2008. SCORA will be fielding 4 crews per division. Age groups are slightly different than SCORA ages. Men are 40+, 50+, 60+. Women are 35+, 45+, 55+. SCORA wants to send the cream of the crop paddlers to represent So Cal. For crew selection and coordination they have designated Josh Crayton of Lanakila as Head Coach. Danny Ching of Lanakila will be in charge of Open Men's crews. Tim Dougherty of Team California will be in charge of Mens Masters and up crews. Mindy Clark and Jill Schooler will be in charge of all women's crews. The Deadline for pre registration / intent to race is Dec. 31, 2007! $30 per paddler and personal information must be sent to Lori Kitahata of Nahoa. I encourage all PKO paddlers who are considering racing World Sprints next year to sign up now. I know Sacramento in August isn't exactly the most appealing place to race, but it will be an exciting, multi-cultural paddling extravaganza, and the best of the best will be coming from all over Polynesia to participate. Please contact me for more specifics if you are interested. SCORA's website probably has details, too.

Special thanks to Linda Fitzgerald for going with me, actually driving down and back to Newport in the same day, and for becoming Pale Kai's new SCORA Alternate Director. She's now eligible to vote on our behalf.

That's all for now folks!

Mele Kalikimaka! Peace & Aloha in the new year and always!

Denise Shandroff ,
Pale Kai SCORA Director

Message from Mike S.
10/24/2007
Hi Paddlers!

A FEW REMINDERS:

On Saturday, we will be cleaning all canoes and removing all of the wax out of them in preparation for applying texture coats. That should be the end of the wax in our canoes for good. Say it with me, "NO MORE WAX".

Things to bring to work party: 1) jugs/buckets of fresh water for washing and rinsing, 2) rags and/or sponges, 3) plastic scrapers, 4) gloves, 5) anything you think will be useful for cleaning our canoes, our storage site, and the road.

The Mirages and Bradley canoes will be de-rigged and turned upside down for the winter. There will be NO MORE PADDLING IN AVILA until next March. The two Clippers and the Turtle canoe will be loaded on the trailer for Morro Bay. The Clippers might be available as early as Sunday, depending on if the new texture coats are ready, and when they get off-loaded and rigged. Bill Hurley has volunteered to drive them north, and Ted is coordinating crews and canoes for Morro Bay.

Please talk to Ted about your Morro Bay paddling crews ASAP. Ted WILL NOT be filling crew seats. He will be working with crew representatives to coordinate canoe use. More from Ted soon.

Also, as discussed at the last PKO meeting, Bill Hurley and PKO are donating the old Turtle trainer canoe to Morro Bay's Junior Lifeguard program. This is a good thing for many reasons. They will have to do major rehab work on her, but she will see the ocean once more. The turtle will be added to John Gibson's old canoe. This will allow Outrigger Paddling to be introduced to more kids in our county. It will also help establish more recognition and a base of Outrigger Paddling in Morro Bay. This may help us in the future, as we will eventually need a new site for our winter paddling and canoes. PKO member, Evan B., who works with M.B. Harbor Patrol, is spearheading this effort and will do the rehab work. The space behind the sheds in Avila (which has been occupied by the Turtle) will be used for new OC1 racks being built by Mike Sullivan, Sott Bixler, Joe Whalen and others.

ELECTION MEETING & VACANT BOARD POSITIONS:

Very important meeting Tues. Nov. 13, 7:00 pm, at the Yacht Club. Please be there to vote on the future of Pale Kai. Right now it looks like we have at least 1 candidate for each board position, EXCEPT for PRESIDENT, VICE PRESIDENT, AND EVENT COORDINATOR. We must fill these positions! If you have even the slightest interest, or any ideas, please contact me ASAP.
How about the nasty approach?... if you disagree with anything in this email, or don't like the direction of the club, then step up, take your turn, be the next President! Stop hating, start participating! Spread the Aloha!

See you all Saturday at 9:00am (don't stay out too late friday!) and thanks for all of the support.

Message from Mike S.
10/16/2007
We will meet Tues. night (10/17/2007) at 7:00 pm at the yacht club.
On the agenda:
Schedule winter cleaning and maintenance party - every paddler should be there.
Winter paddling in Morro Bay - who will paddle? transportation and maintenance.
PKO Board elections in Nov. We still need a new Pres and VP. Yes, I'm stepping down.
Membership Policy ideas presented.

The biggest issue I see PKO facing has to do with training paddlers to maintain and respect our equipment.

As PKO has grown to around 75 members, we have introduced the sport to more people, which strengthens Outrigger, as well as injects new energy into the club. But as we have trained people to paddle, we have not trained all of them in the other necessary aspects of the sport: rigging, maintenance and culture. These other pieces of Outrigger are just as important as paddling, and insure safe passage on the sea. There are two main reasons for needing to integrate this into our routines NOW.

#1. Safety. Lack of rigging knowledge can result in injury or death. Each paddler must know how to rig and inspect the canoe. If you are 1 mile out to sea and the Ama separates from the hull, you may be out of luck. If the one person in the canoe who does know how to rig gets injured as things go wrong, you may be at the end of your rigging strap. If you did not take the time to learn rigging and you find you need it, it's too late. Think about it.

#2. Maintenance. Our canoes are made of thin fiberglass which deteriorates with use and exposure. That means they are continually getting weaker. To prolong their lives (and ours), the canoes must be cleaned, maintained, inspected and covered. Any damage must be promptly reported and repaired. Each paddler must know that the maintenance, inspection and rigging come first. Each paddler must expect to participate in this every time they are going to paddle, EVEN IF IT CUTS INTO THEIR 'WORKOUT TIME', and after each paddle. Outrigger paddling is not like going to the gym in that there is no one paid to clean up your sweat and take care of the equipment for you. It is a group activity and group responsibility. Everyone who works on the PKO Board is a volunteer there to help coordinate members efforts, not do all the work themselves. They pay the same dues as everyone else. When you join any outrigger club, you need to accept all of the responsibilities that the sport entails. New canoes cost about $10,000 to purchase. With proper care and maintenace ours should last a good long time. But without a boat house or fresh piped water, we need to be extra diligent about covering and cleaning sand, leaves, bird crap, etc. out of them, and at least rinsing them down with salt water at the shore. Treating the canoe as a 7th member of your crew, as a living object with a spirit (mana) is part of outrigger culture.

I do not bring this up to preach, but to show my concern. I see we may be heading for problems with the equipment and/or worse, an accident with someone getting hurt. I'd like to see these issues addressed in a membership policy to spell out expectations for members, and I'd like to see how we can integrate maintenance into our training and daily paddle routines. Please come to the meeting with your ideas and talents.

On a side note, in the recent SCORA paddler survey, the Pineapple Express 2007 was ranked the #1 ironman race, and it was 1/100th of a point away from being ranked #1 overall (being edged out by the State Sprint Champs).

Message from Mike S.
9/11/2007

Aloha PKO
Well, it was a small turn-out last night for the meeting. Here are few things I want to share with you.
Here is Jeff's proposal for the Kids Program, please review it and forward comments to Mike Shandroff ASAP. The paddlers attending the meeting gave it the green light as a basic concept with specifics to be worked out after funding is approved.

(See meeting minutes for 9/11/2007 to read the proposal)

Also discussed at the meeting was SCORA rules change proposals are due 9/15. Here are a couple emails from SCORA:

Aloha SCORA Paddlers
Another summer racing season is under our belts. Please complete the SCORA survey my clicking on the link below. The survey should take only a few minutes and gives us some
valuable feedback about our association. Survey's will be online through Sunday, September 23rd.
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=NogLvaQu_2fCtlTuW6jumV1A_3d_3d
Also, just a quick reminder...ALL race rule proposal amendments, ALL race host bids and ALL bylaw proposal amendments are due NO LATER than this Saturday, September 15th. All forms and the calendar can be found on our website, www.socaloutrigger.org If you have questions, please let me know.
Mahalo
Michelle Cassel
Southern California Outrigger Racing Association
Corporate Secretary

PKO FROM MIKE: Congrats to the Catalina PKO & Hanohano crew who took a silver. I hear they were introduced as "the men in lavender from Pale Kai". We are tough: not all guys could handle that.
Our next meeting will be Oct. 16th at 7 pm, Then we'll have our election and jersey selection meeting November 20th. There are still a few spots on the Board without declared candidates. Please think about who you'de like to have running the club, and encourage them to step-up.
It's a great opportunity to learn a ton about the sport and connect with our whole club and those who run the other clubs.
Brian LaCabe and I are stepping down to take a break, but will be here to support those who grab the chance to lead PKO.
About my experience, all I can say is I've enjoyed it and may want to do it again in the future if I get the opportunity.

Mahalo for your attention to our club, Pale Kai Outrigger.

Message from Mike S.
9/10/2007

Aloha to all!
Kona was a lot of fun. With 4 Pale Kai crews competing in the Queen Lili'uokalani Race, we kept running into PKO paddlers all over the island, pretty cool. Congrats to the McMasters team who took first in their OC-2 division, and to our golden guys who took a silver! Our women's and 2 other men's crews finished respectably in the middle of their packs.

We will have our club meeting tomorrow, tues. 9/11, at 6:30 pm at the Yacht Club. Please be there. I know that we usually meet on the 3rd tues. of the month, but I made a mistake when I scheduled this meeting a couple of weeks ago. Luckily, Yvette was able to secure the the Yacht Club for tomorrow and un-lock and lock it up for us. As it turns out, she would not be available the following week, and this earlier date also gives us an opportunity to review Jeff Blauer's Keiki program proposal before he has to present it to the Avial Foundation, and it gives us one more opportunity to consider SCORA proposals. Some things that will be discussed are...

• Keiki program proposal from Jeff Blauer
• SCORA proposals for race rule changes, by-law changes, and race host bids are due Sept. 1
  PKO Board positions. Who's coming back, who wants to step-up?
• Schedule a maintenance day to clean and de-rig canoes, and "winterize" our Avila site for the season.
  
  We will see you at the Yacht Club.
  

Message from Mike S.
8/7/2007

Pale Kai had a strong showing at the Alcatraz Challenge with 3 of 4 crews medaling and all finishing top ten. It was some of the most challenging water of the summer. At some points it felt as if we were shooting the rapids while dodging sailboats and seawalls. Lokahi and Benicia loaned us two beautiful Mirages that ran like the wind. Thanks to all of the paddlers and those that supported the efforts.

Next is Oceanside, see below for Kilohana (cash prizes?), Kona, Catalina and Vegas. Please let me know if you are organizing a crew for any of these races. And please request reimbursements from Tifnie ASAP as per our travel policy.

The Kainani is still under repair and should be back in the water soon. John Miller, with Charlie White's advise, is reinforcing her for more paddling.

Yvette is putting together a steering clinic for Aug 25. Please let her know if you would like to participate, 547-1254.

The new hats are back in stock: $18 each. Stickers $4. Call Denise.

Just a reminder, elections for all PKO Board positions will be held in November. All positions are described in the Bylaws on our web site at www.palekai.org. Please consider stepping up to help run OUR club. Everyone from Lon, Jeff and the founders and coaches to Me and the rest of your board have put a lot in to get PKO to where it now is. It will continue to run as a fun competitive club only with your help. We are to the point now where we should be able to manage the club pretty easily with our bylaws and policies in place. The best part about it as Jeff recently said, is getting to know everyone in our club as well as in the larger paddling community. I feel privileged and honored to have had the opportunity to help shape this unique club. I have learned more in the past two years about the sport than I would have in ten as a paddler only. If I did not need to get back to Denise and my business, I would love to continue, yet I think it's in the clubs best interest to have new leaders with fresh ideas and energy. So, consider stepping up and taking your sport to a new level. We will be here to help, and the season goes by quickly. Please contact me with any questions, your interests and your intentions.

Mahalo, and go get 'em Pale Kai

Message from Mike S.
7/19/2007
Aloha everyone,

We had a very informative meeting Tuesday night.

Most Important thing to tell you: Our bradley canoe, the #154 Kainani, is cracked along the bottom of the hull in the front. Please do not paddle this canoe. It will be taken to John Miller's for repairs as soon as the kids program is finished with it after Thursday.

Most likely the damage is due to use and sun exposure. The 155 is back in service after some major repairs. with all of our canoes aging, we must keep a sharp eye on them and report any damage , breakage, and cracks.

The two new canoe covers are in. USE THEM. They will help protect against sun exposure. If you see one has not been put on a canoe, put it on and please remind others to do the same. If you are not putting them on, you are abusing PKO equipment. When removing them, start at the back and roll forward. When covering, slip the front over the nose and roll back and fasten the straps. It takes two minutes to do.

Thanks and happy paddling

Message from Mike S.
7/4/2007

Aloha PKO
hAPPY 4TH of july.
Thanks for the timely input. I spoke with Evan yesterday,as well as Jason Vork and Jeff has spoken with Morro as well. We are good to go for the private lot by the boat launch again this year, and the city will let us use the little park next to it for the additional four canoes and the kids program if needed. Beacause we have agreements with Junior Guards in Avila, we will only move the canoes to Morro if we must.

Also,we are having a PKO meeting in two weeks. Here's the issues to vote on:

Official Shark Policy: I will propose that we adopt the current policy in place and use it until Harbor Commision changes our status.

We will get an accounting of PineappleExpress and discuss priorities for funds raised - Tifnie & Dave.

We will get an accounting of the Keiki program funds - Jeff & Tifnie.

We will get an accounting of how dues are holding out after ironman season and discuss additional funding of races this season. - Tifnie.

Have a great holiday

Safety Manual: All Paddlers Must Read It
4/23/2007
Based on information discussed at the steerpersons meeting (see the minutes in the previous email), all paddlers should review the Pale Kai Safety Manual. You can find the Safety Manual on the Pale Kai web site ( www.palekai.org) or you can get it directly at:
http://www.palekai.org/PKOSafetyManual200608.pdf

The final page is the "agreement and acceptance" form. After reading the manual, sign the final page and return it to Mike Harkness or Mike Shandroff.

Paddling Books (from Neil Tardiff)
4/30/2007
Below is the offer I received from KC Publishing ( orders@kanuculture.com). Maria seems really nice and I'm sure you could cut an even better deal with her.

What we will offer is if a club orders 5 or more books, you will receive a 10% discount.
Order 10 or more books and we'll give you a 15% discount.
Order 15 or more books and we'll give you a 20% discount.
How does that sound? Let me know how you go and I'll include your 2 books, so you just need to organise 3 more!
Also, we'll take orders of a mix of both The Art and Skill of Steering and The Paddlers Guide to Outrigger Canoeing.
Cheers
Maria Miller
KC Publishing
Ph: 61 2 4579 0052
Mb: 0407 263 846
www.kanuculture.com