The SCORA (Southern California Outrigger Racing Association) has two seasons within one year: “Iron” season and “9-man” season. Iron season has crews of six racing 9 to 12 mile races without stopping–pretty self explanatory.
9-man season is where most paddlers agree that racing gets interesting… and where paddlers jump out of perfectly good boats.
9-man season consists of three races ranging from 20 to 32 miles–culminating in the Catalina Channel Crossing. Each team has nine paddlers; six in the outrigger and three “extras” on an escort boat that follows the canoe throughout the race. After a designated length of time (usually 20 minutes or so), one to three of the “extra” paddlers will jump off the escort boat into the ocean and line up in the water. As the outrigger approaches the “extras” in the water, the designated paddlers in the outrigger will roll out of the canoe on the right, while the “extras” pull themselves in on the left side. This is called a “water change” and allows paddlers to get a break on the escort boat, get some water and food, and then…repeat!
Every race, the crew’s coach will come up with a “Change Chart”, where they list the paddlers starting in the outrigger and the “extras” starting on the escort boat. They will then designate which seats the “extras” will pull themselves into in the outrigger. During the race, the coach will call out to the canoe, “Changing X,Y,Z seats!” then have the escort boat motor far ahead of the outrigger. They’ll then confirm with the escort boat driver that the motor boat is in neutral and have the “extras” jump out! The outrigger then approaches the “extras” in the water at full speed!
While it’s the coach job to arrange the water changes, and escort boat driver’s job to ensure safety jumping off the boat, it’s the steersperson in the outrigger that coordinates the paddlers’ exit from the canoe. As the outrigger approaches the “extras” in the water, they call out, “Set your blades!” and the designated X,Y,Z seats will stow their paddles. The steersperson then yells, “OUT!” – the order for the paddlers to jump out of the right side of the canoe. A well executed water change has the paddlers jumping out at the same time, and seconds later the “extras” grabbing onto the canoe and pulling themselves in as quickly as possible.
The thrill of jumping off the escort boat into the middle of the ocean and the bragging rights of who pulls themselves into the outrigger first is what makes this season of paddling so fun. Water changes can make or break a race depending on how well your crew can do them and as stated before keeps the race interesting! Plus…it’s pretty cool to say, “I paddled from Newport Beach to Catalina this past weekend.”
Check out some water changes from this past weekend’s race:
This past Saturday, NAC Outrigger participated in the first of three long-distance “9-man” races of the season: The Whitey Harrison Classic Outrigger Challenge, a 20 mile race hosted in Dana Point.
NAC fielded eight crews: two women’s, three co-ed, and three men’s crews–one of our largest showings during 9-man season showcasing the program’s continued growth. The “Whitey” race is seemly always plagued with heavy fog in the morning, race delays a common occurrence in the past, but Saturday was clear and sunny with light winds. The steers people for the Coed and Women’s race all agreed it was a tough one to steer between other team’s poor escort boat driving etiquette and not being able to find clean water.
Still NAC pulled off some podiums: The Coed Master’s team came in not only first place in their division, but also the first NAC team across the line. The Coed Open grabbed third place and maybe could have taken second if it weren’t for their competitor’s inability to understand overlap at the turns and where their escort boat is allowed to be on the course (Yes, Bobbie is still salty about this!). And a shout out has to go to the Open Women’s team who placed 4th in their division, their best place this season! 
The Men’s race had the wind pick up and allow for a fun downwind section heading back to the finish. The two Open Men’s teams took home second place–impressive given that they raced with only eight paddlers–and fourth place overall. And the Master Men nabbed third place in their division even after flipping two times!
Maybe even cooler than the podium placements, it was 14 of our Novice team members’ first 9-man race–officially making them “Novice” no more! Congrats gang!
