CORA News

After being on the CORA Board’s wish list for the past several years, the Board is pleased to announce that a new CORA website will replace the old website as of August 15, 2019. The URL for the new website will be canadianoutrigger.ca rather than canadianoutrigger.com, with visits to the old website redirected to the new website as of that date.

The new website has come to fruition through the hard work and dedication of CORA Communications Officers, Erik Ages and Paul Pilon, together with contributions from Erik’s team at Fairway Gorge Paddling Club, much of it during the busy race season.

The new website presents a more modern user interface, with webpage design that is more compatible with access from mobile devices, including larger fonts and simpler layouts. We trust it will be a principal resource to outrigger paddlers throughout Canada regarding membership, racing and community outreach.

The new message board has improved functionality, including sharing on social media and allowing members to directly contact each other in response to posts. However, with that improved functionality comes the need for tighter security, so the new message board will require you to log in with a username and password. These requirements are also aimed at preventing the spam attacks experienced by the old website.

As CORA is largely run by volunteers who have limited time and resources, we have endeavoured to copy most of the information on the old website to the new website, including race results and messages on the old message board, but you may find that old message board posts may be missing. If an active message post is missing from the new message board, we invite you to log in to the new system and repost the message.

If you discover any glitches on the new website or missing information or have other comments, please send us an e-mail through the new website’s “Contact CORA” webpage.

We hope that you will be as pleased as we are with the new website.

The CORA Board

Congratulations to the 23 CORA-affiliated OC6 crews who raced at the Gorge Outrigger Race this year. Big, fun, technical water presented paddlers from Canada, the US and as far away as Tahiti with head-to-head competition in both ultralight and spec canoes. The Canadian contingent represented approximately 1/4 of this year’s total race population, with strong finish-line results. Thanks to the people of WaterWalker and the town of Stevenson Washington for hosting another opportunity to race the dynamic Columbia River Gorge.

Ready for some history? Canada’s outrigger roots are cause for celebration, and this year’s Lotus Iron OC6 race (6 July) marks a milestone indeed. Read on!

This year’s Lotus Iron event marks the 30th anniversary of outrigger canoe racing in Canada. 30 years ago, the “Lotus Eaters” and a team from False Creek were drawn from athletes across various paddling backgrounds who were introduced through a demonstration dragon boat race during Expo ’86 in Vancouver. These two teams quickly became fierce yet friendly competitors in dragon boats, a competitive spirit that was transferred to outrigger racing on the lower mainland.

Canada’s first OC6 canoe was produced from a Malia outrigger mold obtained from California. Members from the Lotus Sports and False Creek Racing Canoe Clubs used this mold to make several Malia outrigger canoes.

In 1989, the Lotus Sports Club organized Canada’s first outrigger race, the Lotus Ironman Race, at Barnet Marine Park. Since this beginning, the sport of outrigger canoe racing has grown in popularity across the Pacific northwest. Today’s extensive list of Canadian outrigger races includes host clubs and competitors from across the country.

In recognition of this milestone, the Lotus Sports Club is planning on making this year’s race a special event. Come and celebrate with us! For registration information, CLICK HERE.