In September 2024, the greatest women's paddling race on earth resumed after a four-year hiatus, the Na Wahine O’ Ke Kai, Molokai to Oahu channel crossing.
After a lifetime of paddling whitewater, I was first introduced to Hawaiian-style outrigger canoeing in 1999. My raft team was training for the world whitewater rafting championship in Chile scheduled for February 2000. Since training on rivers over the winter is difficult, we looked for alternatives to stay in paddling shape. Fortunately, in California, there are many outrigger canoe clubs, which paddle year-round, and another teammate and I began training with a club in Sacramento. We quickly became hooked.
After our raft team placed 2nd in the World Rafting Championships, me and one of my teammates continued to paddle and race with Hui O Hawaii Sacramento for the rest of the year, including competing in our first Na Wahine O Ke Kai (translation - The Women of the Sea).
Although I had competed in numerous international championship races in whitewater kayaking and rafting, the number of women competing in these events rarely exceeded 20 to 40 in number. Therefore, when I went to my first Na Wahine opening ceremony on the island of Molokai, I was filled with awe at the sight of 800 women paddlers taking part in the crossing the following day.
This event dramatically differed from any other paddling competition I had participated in. The Na Wahine is more than a race. It is a celebration of Hawaiian culture, which centers around the outrigger canoe, used to travel around and between islands for centuries. It is also a powerful sisterhood of water women that began with the first crossing of women's crews in 1975 and the establishment of the first official women's race in 1979. For most teams, the thing about the crossing… is doing the crossing. Where you place is secondary.
Na Wahine, considered the women's world championship of outrigger canoeing, is a challenging 42-mile paddle across the notorious Ka’iwi channel, known for stiff winds, erratic currents, and big swell, often coming sideways to the canoe. The race takes about 6 to 8 hours (depending on the crew), with each crew consisting of ten to twelve paddlers to power the six-person outrigger canoe throughout the crossing.
Each canoe is followed by a motorized chase boat, and every 20 to 30 minutes, paddlers are swapped in and out of the canoe in what is termed a water change. Even after years of paddling big whitewater, water changes are terrifying for me, especially out in the middle of the Molokai channel.
To set up for a water change, three paddlers in the chase boat jump out and line up about 100 yards in front of the canoe, treading water out in the middle of the fricking ocean in four to sometimes eight-foot swell (with no life jackets I might add). The crew in the canoe paddles full speed up to the paddlers in the water, and as the canoe passes by, three women jump out of the canoe, and the women in the water grab onto the side of the canoe and pull themselves in. It’s like grabbing onto the pommel of a running horse and hucking yourself into the saddle. A fit and well trained crew makes this look easy. For many, including myself, each successful water change, without dragging the boat to a dead stop from not getting my body out of the water fast enough, or even worse, having to let go, felt like a minor miracle.
Na Wahine is the kind of event in which you will never forget who you paddled with or the conditions on that day, and leads to friendships that last for a lifetime.
Like many sporting events, it took several years for all the pieces to fall back into place and resume after the COVID shutdown. The 2024 Na Wahine featured 45 women's crews, a considerable reduction from the 71 teams that competed in 2019. But many big names were still at the top (shout out to Team Bradley for their 13th, first-place finish!). And, notably, for the first time ever, there was one team participating in the oldest age group, the 65+ category.
This category was added for the first time in 2024 after years of lobbying by Melita 'Lee' Kalama, a veteran paddler with the New Hope Canoe Club on Oahu, who has participated in over thirty-five Na Wahine crossings. She personally put out the call for a crew, with the following criteria. Must be 65 or over, have been training and racing consistently for the past season, and can still do a water change. In other words, still badass… and…. Not Pau Yet. (Pau means done, through, ended in English).
The word spread quickly, and women stepped up from nine clubs representing three Hawaiian Islands to form the 12-member Not Pau Yet 65s crew. For two of their paddlers, it was their first crossing. Eight crew members were 70+ years old, and individual paddling experience ranged from 5 to over 40 years.
The 2024 crossing Lee Kalama described to me sounded magical. They had sunny, calm weather with smallish swells. The crew blended well, and everyone paddled hard and consistently. They did not miss any water changes. And they had fun - traveling together by boat to Molokai before the race, an exhilarating day on the water on race day, and a wonderful gathering afterward with food, family, and friends on the beach to celebrate their accomplishment.
While the only entrant in the new division this year, Lee Kalama, the crew’s organizer, and steersperson, says, “As word gets out that OHCRA has established a new 65's division, we expect to see more kupunahine (grandmothers) participating in the future. We’re doing this, in part, to light the way but also because we love to paddle. Like our crew name says, ‘Not Pau Yet 65s.”
I competed in three Na Wahine crossings before life took me in a different direction, but I still paddle regularly at my home near Lake Tahoe on SUP and outrigger canoes. I don’t know if I will ever participate in another crossing personally, but I get immense satisfaction that ladies like these are and will continue to do so.
Paddling is a longevity sport and a considerable body of recent science finds we age better if we stay active, particularly if we stay active outdoors. As long as we adjust the pace and extremity of our activity appropriate to whatever decade we are in, the decline in physical, emotional, and mental health due to aging can be significantly slowed by living life, Not Pau Yet.
The 2024 Not Pau Yet 65s crew are living proof of that science; vibrant, healthy, and engaged in life and sisterhood.
Maikaʻi ka hana ladies!
Leona Porter, 71 - Keahiakahoe, Oahu, Linda Kreiger, 70 - Hui Nalu, Oahu,Terry Pergamit, 67 - Kai Ehitu, Kona, Hawaii, Kristin Lindquist, 70, - Na Keiki o Ka Moi, Charlotte Farmer, 70 - Lanikai, Oahu, Nancy Vaughn, 67-Namolokama O Hanalei, Kauai, Leslie Crawford, 66 - Keauhou, Hawaii, Stacy Evensen, 70 - Lanikai, Oahu, Barbara Held, 70 - Hui Nalu, Oahu, Melita (Lee) Miller-Kalama, 70 - New Hope, Oahu, Lorna Kaaloa, 66 -Anuenue, Oahu, Laverne Cummins, 71- Keahiakahoe, Oahu
The following are some helpful and entertaining resources to learn more about staying active as we age. Check it out!
For entertaining reading about the science of improving aging through staying active in the outdoors I recommend: Tough Broad -How outdoor adventure improves our lifes as we age by Caroline Paul.
For information about how to optimize you physiology, maximize your fitness, and harness your power through menopause and beyond, I recommend listening to:
To learn simple principles and practices that are undemanding enough to work into any busy schedule, lead to greater ease of movement, better health, and a happier life doing whatever it is you love to do— I recommend reading Built To Move, The game plan for the long game by Kelly and Juliet Starrett.
And for pure entertainment value, here is a short video clip of what water changes look like, Water Changes
Mahalo (thank you) for your excellent blog. You’ve artfully captured the magic of women who love to live in the moment, physically, mentally and together as a sisterhood! You’ve inspired us to keep the adventures going!