The annual Battle of the Breakwater Outrigger Canoe Race at Marine Stadium will take place on Saturday, June 18, bringing more than 1,200 paddlers to Long Beach from throughout Southern California.
The Long Beach Kahakai Outrigger Canoe Club will host the one-day event, during which paddlers from Santa Barbara to San Diego — who are part of the Southern California Outrigger Racing Association — will race on either a 4-mile short course within Alamitos Bay or a 10-mile long course just inside the breakwater jetty
This year, organizers say, they plan to make this more than a fundraiser and fun competition — they plan to impact the long-term ecological balance by making this their first zero-waste event.
“When asked for help to make Battle of the Breakwater a zero-waste event,” Kahakai member Noelani Mengel wrote in an email, “my goal was to discover what Long Beach is already doing for sustainability.”
Long Beach Community Compost, at Farm Lot 59, will process the bulk of the events food water, Mengal said. And the club will look to help Sowing Seeds of Change, an approximately 1-year-old urban farm, jumpstart its composting.
“Each visiting club,” Mengal said, “will be given some five-gallon buckets with lids to make the compost collection convenient.”
Race organizers also plan to eliminate single-use water bottles by providing water filling stations; each paddler is encouraged to bring reusable water bottles and utensils. Even the keiki (youth team) is on board: they will collect the recyclables and use the money to purchase their equipment.
“I want to amplify the people and organizations that are doing regenerative and sustainable practices each day,” Mengal wrote, “recycling, creating soil, intentionally generating less trash, taking a few hours out of a week to give back, working together.”
Coco Taps, the world’s first zero-waste-designed coconut water tool system, will be one of the vendors on the beach during the event. The “Chief Coconut-In-Charge” is Long Beach resident Coco Vinny of “Shark Tank” fame.
Kahakai (meaning “beach” in Hawaiian) was founded locally in 1989. Its male and female paddlers have competed in the world-class Molokai Channel Crossing, a 41-mile race from the island of Molokai to Waikiki Beach on Oahu, and in the world’s largest outrigger canoe race in Kona, Hawaii.
“The participation and facilitation of these events,” Mengal said, “allow the perpetuation of the rich Pacific Island culture and traditions of the sport’s origin.”
In 1990, Long Beach’s Marine Bureau suggested an unused corner of Mother’s Beach, adjacent to the Girl Scouts Marine Landing, as a home for the outriggers, according to the history portion of the Long Beach Kahakai Outrigger Canoe Club’s website. Since then, the club has grown in both members and canoes, with the fleet including nine racing canoes, two four-man practice canoes and a number of one-man sprint trainers.
The Battle of the Breakwater is the club’s signature regatta and an annual fundraiser. The club will make Marine Stadium their race headquarters, where there will be food and gear vendors, a silent auction and a raffle
The group welcomes new members and is looking for raffle item donations and support. Visit kahakaioutrigger.com for details.
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