The CORA Board had an initiative for 2020 to compile an updated Canoe Registry. The pandemic of 2020 lockdowns in Spring / Summer provided an opportunity to connect online with CORA and PNWORCA and SCORA members who had a wealth of knowledge related to most of the big boats (OC4s / OC6s) throughout Canada, yet that history had never been captured in written records.
Those interviews with individuals having first-hand knowledge of the history of outrigger canoes in Canada and extensive online searches resulted in a very definitive Canoe Registry of the vast majority of big boats (OC4s / OC6s) throughout Canada as well as several documents that detailed the timeline of the travels of those canoes.
The CORA Board recognizes that these historical documents are a legacy to the founders and builders of Canadian outrigger canoeing and should be preserved for posterity. Those historical documents are to be found on the CORA Google Drive and have been published on the CORA website. It took nine months to collect and verify the details in this set of documents. The CORA Board recognizes that these documents may contain errors and omissions. If anyone in reviewing these documents has something to share, please contact CORA to have those contributions incorporated into these “living” documents.
Acknowledgements
There were many individuals who contributed material for these stories. However, a huge debt of gratitude is due to Grace Morissette (Lotus) and Jan Chavarie (Jericho) and Drew Mitchell (False Creek) and Boy Chun Fook (Kikaha O Ke Kai) for not only taking the time to sit for informal and formal interviews, answering countless questions, taking it upon themselves to do research to confirm events / times / places / individuals that are the threads of the history, and for diligently proof-reading / spell-checking / grammar-checking several drafts until the content was factually correct and politically correct.
Canadian Outrigger Hall Of Fame Slide Decks
The CORA Board has included these Canadian Outrigger Hall Of Fame Slide Decks that were presented during the CORA Town Hall Series .
- Canadian Outrigger Hall Of Fame 2023 – Stellar Seven
- Canadian Outrigger Hall Of Fame 2022 – Recognition East To West
- Canadian Outrigger Hall Of Fame 2021 – Lest We Forget
Historical Documents
The CORA Board hopes to add to this set of historical documents with further research on outrigger canoeing on Vancouver Island, the Okanagan / Interior, and Eastern Canada.
- The Malia in British Columbia – First publication on outrigger canoeing in Canada by Doug Mancell (Lotus Sports Club)
- The First Outrigger Canoes in BC – Revisit of the Doug Mancell article with further insights on the Canadian Malias, Hawaiian Class Racers (HCR), and Calmar Canadian Class Racers (CCR) from the 2020 research
- “The Burrard” – First OC6 in Canada (1985-2006)
- The Lotus Story – Extensive history (1986-2019) of Lotus Sports Club
- The False Creek Story – Extensive history (1982-2000) of False Creek Racing Canoe Club
- The Jericho Story – Extensive history (1993-2020) of Jericho Outrigger Canoe Club (Jericho Paddling Club)
- The ORPC Story – Extensive history (1995-2021) of Ocean River Paddling Club
- The Skaha Story – Extensive history (1997-2021) of Penticton Racing Canoe Club
- The Onake Story – Extensive history (1972-2023) of Onake Paddling Club (Quebec)
- The Nanaimo Story – Extensive history (1980-2023) of Regional District of Nanaimo (RDN) Clubs
- Unlimited Canoes In Canada – Detailed background on history / distributors / owners of all the various Unlimited OC6s across Canada
- Outrigger Canoes Chronology – Collection of short stories on the history of outrigger canoes from the original Hawaiian Malia (1938) to the various Unlimited OC6s with a focus on outrigger canoes in Canada