How clubs like Marina del Rey blend Polynesian heritage, racing culture, and mentorship to shape paddlers across generations and skill levels.
On quiet mornings in Marina del Rey, the harbor echoes with a single rhythm: paddles striking water in unison. Paddlers launch brightly colored outrigger canoes from the beach and power down the channel to the Santa Monica Bay, where waves and wind can add to the challenge. Somewhere behind it all, a man gives subtle cues to those newest to the sport.
That man is Calvin Hirahara, beloved novice coach at Marina del Rey Outrigger Canoe Club (MDROCC). For 44 years, Hirahara has quietly shaped the sport he loves as a paddler, coach, trainer, and builder. He grew up in his family’s woodworking shop, LA Shoji, where he and his father crafted delicate sliding doors of wood and paper. Those skills translated naturally into canoe fabrication after a chance encounter with legendary Hawaiian designer Sonny Bradley. Hirahara helped arrange for the first fiberglass Bradley canoes to be built in California, forever altering the state’s racing scene.
Hirahara is proud of his longevity as a coach. “If you think I’m a good coach, then I am. If you think I’m a bad coach, then I’m not,” Hirahara jokes, reflecting his humble style. When a newcomer struggles, Hirahara avoids singling them out. Instead, he climbs into the seat behind them and makes corrections in real time. Even if you don’t see him on the beach, his influence is felt in the hundreds of paddlers he has guided over the years. 
A Club that Reflects the Community
At MDROCC, Hirahara is one strand in a broad web. Club secretary George Durzi, who joined three years ago, notes the club’s 150-plus members span youth, parents, competitive athletes, and even people recently displaced by the Palisades wildfires.
Outrigger canoeing, he says, can be “cradle-to-grave.” Grandparents sometimes paddle alongside their grandchildren, and athletes cross over from other sports after injury. Newcomers, says Durzi, should expect to spend a lot of time in six-person boats learning timing — entering and exiting the water exactly with their crewmates. “It takes a while to understand that,” he says.
For more advanced competitive paddlers, training and racing vary by season. In spring, the “iron season” brings shorter, no-change races that test speed. By summer, endurance takes center stage with long-distance events such as the Dana Point Whitey Harrison Classic in August, Oceanside’s Paopao in late August, and the 32-mile Catalina Channel Crossing each September. In these longer races, nine paddlers rotate in and out of the six-person canoe. The fall and winter months shift focus to off-season training and preparation for the next year.
Culture on the Water
Cultural traditions remain important to the club. Rooted in Hawai‘i, where outrigger canoe voyaging has been practiced for centuries, today’s California clubs carry that heritage forward — blending Polynesian traditions with local community life. MDROCC president Angie Miles, a 38-year veteran, insists outrigger is more than racing. She recently helped organize a Hawaiian-style blessing, or Ho‘ola‘a Wa‘a, of the club’s newest boat. Christened Kāholo, it is a sleek fiberglass Malama model built by ER Canoes.
The ceremony at Mother’s Beach in Marina del Rey was led by Kama, who guided the community in prayers and helped decorate the canoe with leis and other blessings before its launch. Several novice paddlers were among those paddling it for the first time.
“People show up looking for a reprieve, and paddling gives them that,” Miles says. “Competitiveness is great, but events like this remind us of how it all began.”
The club’s largest annual gathering is the Kahanamoku Klassic, held the first weekend in June. Hundreds of paddlers from the region — and occasionally Tahitian teams — fill the shore along Mother’s Beach. The fundraiser supports programs for novices, youth, and masters and helps maintain the fleet as well as purchase new canoes like Kāholo.
A Coast-Wide Network
MDROCC is just one of many outrigger canoe clubs along the California coast, stretching from San Francisco to San Diego. Each has its own rituals, training methods, and community flavor. Together, they form a vibrant network where competition, camaraderie, and culture intermingle.
Most outrigger clubs, like MDROCC, offer the curious a chance to get on the water, either through a structured training program or some practice paddles. Fall and winter are the best times to get started, before training for racing season begins.
ED NOTE: To find a club near you, visit the Southern California Outrigger Racing Association at scora.org or the Northern California Outrigger Canoe Association at ncoca.com.
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Read other stories by Anthea Raymond.
