Author: Graeme Galves

Following the 2020 Annual General Meeting, CORA announced the creation of a new award to acknowledge Athletes, Coaches-Builders, and Pioneers in the sport of outrigger canoeing in Canada. The Canadian Outrigger Hall Of Fame (HOF) Policy / Process has recently been approved by CORA after several months of discussion.

Nominations for selection may be made by any CORA member or club representative of any active CORA club in Canada through the CORA website. Individuals may be “Active” or “Retired” or “Posthumous” at the time of their nomination. CORA has already received over a dozen nominations and has compiled detailed biographical histories on these individuals. Nominations must be received by June 16 to be considered for the July ballot to be voted on by the CORA Awards Committee.

Canadian Outrigger Hall Of Fame

Although the Canadian Outrigger Hall Of Fame has no inductees at this time, there is a CORA website perpetual page that contains a Mission Statement, a link to a HOF Policy / Process document, a link to a Nomination Form, a table of Inductees / Years, and a grid of Photos. Note that by clicking on the Inductee Name in the table or the Inductee Photo / Name in the grid, the user may view the “inductee” sample bio.

The Nomination Form has been streamlined to encourage CORA members to acknowledge one another. Please provide contact information, a few details on why you believe the nominee should be considered for the Canadian Outrigger Hall Of Fame, and we will follow-up with you to fill in the nominee bio.

The Peter Forand Masters Challenge trophy was AWOL for 2017 and 2018 and 2019. Once the trophy was recovered, we were finally able to present it to Peter Marcus, the 2017 champion, at the 2020 FCRCC Winter Series race, and to Mignon Fontenelle, the 2018 and 2019 and 2020 champion, at the 2020 Jericho Winter Series race.

2021 has been another exceptional year for the PNWORCA Winter Series. There were no PNWORCA Winter Series Canadian events for the first time. There were 3 virtual PNWORCA Winter Series USA events and 2 onsite PNWORCA Winter Series USA events.

There were only 6 PNWORCA paddlers and 2 CORA paddlers who participated in at least 3 races to place 1st or 2nd in their boat / gender / age division. There were only 5 OC1 Masters paddlers who participated in at least 3 races.

Discussions between PNWORCA and CORA resulted in agreement that there was indeed one OC1 Masters paddler who not only participated in in a minimum of 3 events in the same Division and was first in Points, but dominated OC1 Masters paddling by financially supporting all host clubs and finishing 1st place OC1 Masters in 3 virtual Canadian Small-Boat Winter races, 3 virtual PNWORCA Winter Series USA events, and 2 onsite PNWORCA Winter Series USA events – including the Sand Point Championship race.

The 2021 PNWORCA Winter Series winner for the Peter Forand Masters Challenge is Beau Whitehead (Kikaha O Ke Kai) in the Men Masters 50+ OC1 Division. The 2021 PNWORCA Winter Series event organizers recognize Beau Whitehead as the Peter Forand Masters Challenge winner in accordance with guidelines as the Male or Female Masters (40+ / 50+ / 60+ / 70+) paddler with the highest number of points across all age / gender brackets at the end of the Winter Series.

Congratulations to Beau Whitehead as he continues to demonstrate commitment and excellence in Winter Series small-boat racing.

Virus permitting, we would like to present this trophy to Beau in person at the next race that physically happens.

For more information about the Peter Forand Masters Challenge, CLICK HERE

Santa was a bit delayed this year what with the 14-day quarantines at every border, but there are some gifts at the CORA Cultural Continuity page if you are looking for some outrigger canoeing reading now that the Christmas and New Years festivities have quieted down.

What started out as a CORA Canoe Registry project in early 2020, resulted in a collection of historical documents after nine months, covering outrigger canoeing history in Canada 1980-2020. These PDF documents do not have the same level of detail as the VCKC – 50 Years of Paddling, but please feel free to share any outrigger canoeing stories that could add to the CORA historical archives. CORA is presently working on outrigger canoeing history for Eastern Canada, the Okanagan / Interior, and Vancouver Island.

This set of of historical documents can be found at the CORA Cultural Continuity page. A huge round of thanks to the CORA, PNWORCA, and SCORA members who contributed to these historical documents, including Grace Morissette, Jan Chavarie, Drew Mitchell, Boy Chun Fook, Bud Hohl, David Boulding, Hugh Fisher, Don Mulhall, Jim Mancell, Garry Mancell, Doug Mancell, Dan O’Donovan, Matt Kelly, Jude Turczynski, Donna Harrison, Val Simmons, Scott Borle, Andrea de Bruijn, Joan / Brent Patriquin, Wolfgang Presslauer, Sue Milligan, Barry Kosturos, Ross Creasy, Corey Teramura, Lynda Roberts, Kenneth Ang, Bob Disbrow, and so many others.