The following was written by waterwoman Jennifer Holcomb, who submitted a very inspirational story about a group of determined paddlers:

Outrigger crews generally rely on what they see to keep their team paddling in unison - but how do you know where to go if you can’t see the big blue ocean?

“We listen to the water dripping off the paddles,” according to team member Gayle Clausen.

We’ve all lost our senses at some point; saltwater will do that to you. But for the Makapo Outrigger Canoe Club, being on the ocean is bringing something back.

Racing in the open ocean is one of the most riotous of sensory experiences - all elements come together in a fluid base where predictability is foreign, and adaptability is the key to success. It’s no wonder why a blind person might actually feel right at home.

On July 12, the OC Makapo Aquatics Project will be helping to get blind and visually-impaired children and adults out on the water by holding a benefit luau at the Newport Aquatic Center. The non-profit hopes to raise money for its programs, and purchase new canoes. Now, the club relies on the use of canoes and equipment from the Newport Aquatic Center.

“Makapo” is the Hawaiian word for blind, or literally, “night eye.”

The men and women of the Makapo Outrigger Canoe Club are creating the only non-adaptive blind racing club in the world.  They don’t use any special equipment (though their paddles are painted, in cheeky homage, to look like walking canes), nor are they granted any special accommodations during the races (all crews have a sighted steersman).

Secretly, I think they all might be adrenaline junkies.

Spend just a few minutes with any of these paddlers down at the Newport Aquatic Center, and you can’t help but to be excited and inspired. The typical greeting of “Nice to see you!” is generally followed by a hearty laugh and quick hug.

For club co-founder and former Huntington Beach lifeguard, John Chavez, not having any options for a  “blind athlete” was unacceptable. He lost his vision at the age of 24; outgoing, gregarious and an athlete, Chavez was not about to let his blindness take his life.

A friend at the gym where he trains mentioned outrigger racing to him and before anyone could say “not a good idea,” Chavez was the only blind paddler in the world’s largest outrigger canoe race - the Queen Lili’uokalani in Kona, Hawaii.  After paddling 18 miles along the Kona coast, he came home determined to find four other men “as crazy as he is” to race as the first all-blind crew. 

A siren song for any athlete, the thrill of competition, the camaraderie of a team and the prospect to once again feel the bliss of total physical exhaustion were too much for four other men, but in 2006 with only a few months of training, the first blind crew raced in Kona. 

“For 17 years, I felt like something was missing, that I wasn’t a whole man,” explains team member Thomas Olzak. “I played football and I know if sounds silly, but I missed the rush of competition, the cheering, the rush of being on a team.” 

“There was major concern that we wouldn’t make it,” recalls RJ De Rama, the club’s co-founder, “they were afraid we’d all bonk.” The crew was assigned a jet-ski escort, though he had no idea his charges were blind. Frustrated and vocal after miles of following such a slow and hopelessly out-of-sync crew, the Hawaiian escort yelled over “Eh…they makapo?”

From there on, the crew had a champion and a tour guide.  “He pulled up next to the canoe and would coach us on our stroke,” says De Rama. “He got on the horn and all of sudden all of his friends were coming over to cheer us on.”  And then he gave the crew something they never would have expected; he helped them see Hawaii.  “Now you’re at Kealakekua bay…” he’d say, and then describe what he saw.

After the race, the crew chose “Makapo,” to honor “the culture whose sport has given us a new life and avenue to participate in team sports,” says De Rama.

Since then, women have gotten involved.  Makapo’s first women’s, “wahine,” and kid’s, “keiki,” crews debuted this season - and for a sport as intense and physically demanding as outrigger racing, none of the women came from an athletic background.  

“We paddled [from the Newport Aquatic Center] under the PCH bridge,” remembers Patti Carpenter. “It was such an emotional moment because I could here the sound change [under the bridge]. I grew up here and I used to be able to see, so I knew how far I’d gone…it was the most amazing experience.”

“The OC Makapo Aquatics Project’s mission is to help blind and visually impaired athletes see their potential,” explains De Rama. In addition to the racing team, they take blind and visually impaired children and adults out on the water through their GetOnBoard Outreach Paddle program, opening new opportunities and perspectives on what it means to be blind and an athlete. 

Grammy Award Winner Daniel Ho will be the musical guest at the fundraiser and there will be plenty of prizes, games and entertainment for the entire family.

For more information and to purchase tickets, visit http://www.OCMap.org

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