Dana Outrigger Canoe Club is a competitive outrigger canoe racing club based in Dana Point, California. We are a Southern California Outrigger Racing Association (SCORA) member. The objective of this Association is to encourage, maintain, and perpetuate outrigger canoe racing and the rich Pacific Island culture and traditions rooted in this sport.

We offer programs for youths, first-time paddlers, and experienced paddlers of all ages. We welcome new adult members each year through our novice program, which begins in February. New Keiki paddlers (ages 9-14) and Junior paddlers (ages 15-19) begin training in June.

While all paddlers must be proficient in swimming and good health, we provide all of the instruction needed to master the skills required in racing outrigger canoes. Our Head Coach is Rich Long. Rich has been racing outrigger canoes for over 30 years and received his initial instruction from our club founder Lorrin “Whitey” Harrison.

We are a non-profit organization near the OC Sailing and Events Center and Baby Beach in Dana Point Harbor. You can usually see our open teams practicing during our regular season (March through August) Monday through Thursday nights from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. and on the weekends from about 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. Our teams also compete in various events outside of California and internationally. These include the Molokai Hoe between Molokai and Oahu; the Pailolo Challenge between Maui and Molokai; the Queen Liliuokalani and the Olamau on the Big Island; The Liberty Challenge in New York and the Hawaiki Nui Va’a in Tahiti.

The Dana Outrigger Canoe Club was established
in 1971 by the legendary waterman Lorrin "Whitey” Harrison.

In the 1920s, while in high school, Whitey was already among the few surfing San Onofre. Once caught skipping school, young Whitey was told to bring a note explaining his absence. He returned with a note that he had written himself that read: "The Big Ones were Humping." Whitey was expelled for two weeks after he was forced to explain what the note meant.

In the 1930s Whitey hopped a freighter to Honolulu. Here, he took up canoe surfing with the legendary Waikiki Beach Boys and paddled with the Hui Nalu or "Club of the Waves," founded by Duke Kahanamoku. He also bodysurfed with Noah Kalama, a connection that would lead to the introduction of outrigger canoe racing in California some twenty years later.

1933, the first regatta devoted strictly to canoe racing was held on the Big Island. Looking to increase the sport's popularity, Albert "Toots" Minvielle, an avid paddler and former UH swimming coach, began promoting the idea of an inter-island race. Given the treacherous nature of the inter-island channels, most people thought he was crazy.

But persistence paid off, and in 1952, the first Molokai to Oahu race was held. While the winning purse was $900, the course was so dangerous that Molokai residents offered their team $600 to NOT RACE. Only three teams entered, but the race was a huge success and helped propel interest in Hawaiian outrigger canoe racing to an all-time high.

The next step was to introduce the sport to the mainland. So, in 1959, Toots hand-picked Noah Kalama to generate interest in an exhibition race from Catalina Island to Newport Beach. Kalama was sent to California, where he called upon his old friend Whitey to help put the California team together. With only two months to train, Whitey and his crew paddled daily until 9 p.m., preparing for the big event regardless of conditions.

The race was held on September 20, 1959. The Hawaiians brought over two koa canoes: the Malia and the Niuhe. Built in 1933, the Malia was also the most decorated boat on the islands. The Hawaiians kept that boat for themselves. Whitey's crew paddled the Niuhe.

Halfway across, the Californians held their own against the more experienced Hawaiians and their celebrated canoe. That is until they flipped after being hit by the wake of an escort boat. Despite this setback and their overall lack of experience, the Hawaiians beat the Californians after five hours of paddling by only 11 minutes. Whitey claims he paddled the whole way without a sip of water while wielding a paddle that weighed at least 10 pounds. You can see a video of the 1959 Crossing here.

After the first Catalina Crossing, a group of California paddlers "borrowed" the Hawaiians' treasured Malia while awaiting transport back to Hawaii. They secreted it away and made a mold of its hull before slipping it quietly back into the boatyard. Shortly after that, fiberglass replicas of the Malia began to appear up and down the California coast. Outrigger canoe clubs also began to exist, ultimately leading to the Kalifornia Outrigger Association (KOA), which has since become the Southern California Outrigger Racing Association (SCORA).

In the 1960s, Whitey continued participating in outrigger racing events with his team using the unofficial name of Doheny Canoe Club. Then, in 1971, an outrigger race was planned as part of the opening ceremonies of Dana Point Harbor. Whitey talked some friends and family members into paddling with him – his son, Lorrin Jr., Jean Pierre Van Swae (a.k.a. "The Fly"), Reggie Fernandez, Dan, and Tom Snipes, Walter Allen, and Dean Andre. They entered the race in an old canoe hand-built by Whitey named the Kamuela. Whitey and the boys finished fifth after flipping just inside the Dana Point Harbor mouth.

Following this race, Whitey decided it was time to form an official club, and in 1972, the Dana Outrigger Canoe Club was born. The club's first canoe purchase was one of the fiberglass Malia replicas they purchased from SCORA Historian Bud Hohl. They named this canoe the Alenuihaha ("Rough Wild Waves"), after the channel between the Maui islands and Hawaii.

But for Whitey, canoe surfing always took priority over regular training.

As another legendary local waterman and founding member of Dana Outrigger, Fly Van Swae, recalls: "We would go at it, no matter what the weather was. Everybody was stoked, and we would just be catching wave after wave. And, Whitey would be in the back steering the canoe – hootin' and hollerin' – 'Woo Hoo! Damn, does it get any better than this?!'"

Whitey remained the head coach of Dana Outrigger until 1983, but he continued to race with the club until he steered his last race at 79. He passed away the very next year, in 1993, but left behind a legacy and tradition of boundless energy combined with fierce competitiveness. He passed these traits on to two young paddlers in the 1980s – John "Yamo" Yamasaki and Rich Long.

Yamo and Rich became co-coaches in 1988 and quickly began racking up an impressive list of accomplishments. This included a first-place win in the 1992 Molokai Hoe Koa Division.

Today, they are still at it. Rich Long is the head coach of the club and the open men's team. Under his guiding hands, Dana Outrigger has become one of the California Coast's largest and most competitive clubs.

Dana Outrigger now has approximately 300 active members. This includes 100 kids, ages 9 to 19, participating in our annual Keiki and Junior Programs. We have a fleet of thirteen canoes. These include six unlimited classes, two Bradley Racers, two Bradley Lightenings, two Mirages, and one canoe hand-built by Whitey using a sketch of a canoe he spotted off Ta'aone Beach, Tahiti. You can read more about our fleet below.

Our most recent acquisitions are three unlimited-class canoes built by Puakea Designs, named "Te Aito" ("The Warrior" in Tahitian), the "Ohana" ("Family" in Hawaiian), and the "Manawale'a" ("Generous Heart" in Hawaiian).