Maui Paddle Clubs
Want to join a club but not sure where to start? Here’s a list of Maui Canoe Clubs, locations and offerings.
North Side Clubs
Lae’ula O Kai Canoe Club
is located at Kanaha Beach behind the airport. Lae’ula is a medium sized, well run club known for its dedication to Hawaiian culture, excellent coaching and its top quality crews. Head coach is Sharon Balidoy . If you are an athlete and want intense coaching to become your best, this is the club for you. Be prepared to work really hard. They have an active and fun off-season 6-man and 1-man practice schedule. LUOK sent 3 open women crews and 2 men’s crews to the channel in 2007, despite being smaller than Hawaiian, Kihei or Kahana. Head coach, Sharon Balidoy works hard to get everyone in a race and exemplifies true Hawaiian love of paddling and the ocean. As one of the top woman paddlers in Hawaii, you will enjoy being in the canoe with her, if you are so lucky.
North Shore Renegades
is a year-round club which is not a member of MCHCA and does not compete in regatta season although it competes in a few distance races. Karen and Malama Chun are head coaches. The Renegades jokingly refer to themselves as the “Lae’ula O Kai Auxiliary” since many of their members join Lae’ula during race season. The club owns 2 canoes and tries to limit membership so no one is left out. Rules are: Be nice, have fun, paddle hard and don’t come here to recruit for another club. Contact Karen & Malama
Hawaiian Canoe Club
is the State Champion, winning out over all the other clubs in Hawaii in most of the last 7 years. It is a huge club geared to winning regatta.. Hawaiian is at Kahului Harbor with blue canoes. For the huge number of paddlers they have, their distance program is small. Because Hawaiian is so big, you have to be good to race officially. There are usually many more paddlers than race slots – especially since Hawaiian’s goal is to qualify as many crews as possible for State Race. That means often a strong paddler will race twice before a weak paddler is used. Dues are high and much fundraising is expected of members.
Na Kai ‘Ewalu canoe club
is located next to Hawaiian Canoe Club at Kahului Harbor. The club, “offers a broad range of experience levels. We invite any and all to come and join us. We host Kamehameha School and Baldwin High School during the Maui Interscholastic League season. We participate in the MCHCA regatta season posting crews in divisions ranging from 8 years old to 60+ years old with all experience levels.”
East Side Club
Hana Canoe Club
is a small club which paddles out of Hana Bay. If you live in Hana, come on down and join up! Their kids program is active in regatta and they are looking for more adults to race.
