| Paddlers | John & Debra Lazarus |
| Boat | OC2 (Double Outrigger Canoe) |
| Course | Short Course |
| Year | 2026 |
The national sport of Hawaii is Outrigger canoeing. They have huge turnouts for Outrigger Canoeing events — similar to the numbers we have here for the Freedom Paddle. However, there are none in Cape Town, except for our OC2 (Double Outrigger Canoe).
We built it from a very unstable double Surfski, connecting the AMA (Outrigger float) to the hull with aluminium iakas (connecting poles). I connected them in a completely different way from how the Hawaiians connect them — I hadn’t seen a Hawaiian outrigger when I designed ours. I’ve since bought two OC1s, so can now see the different construction.
Fear of the Huli
We practised for the Freedom Paddle in Simonstown but were very wary of going out in big surf and strong winds for fear of an Huli (capsize). A Huli happens when the AMA goes flying from the port side of the boat across one’s head to the starboard side, lands upside down and dumps you in the water.
When we saw the prediction of 3.2 m swells, we hesitated — but then persuaded ourselves that if we could not cope, we could always turn back.
Mountains of Water
We faced the swells in the first round of the 10 km when heading south. It was like nothing we had ever encountered — mountainous swells, from which, when we breasted them, we could see in the distance the yellow buoy behind the next mountain. No matter how many times we paddled over these mountains, the buoy never seemed to get any closer. Until it did.
We are not young, and we were prepared to stop after the first round. But then we applied the same irrational logic — that we could opt out at any time — so we repeated the upwind battle a second time and enjoyed the downward runs a second time, to the finish.
No Hulis! We were very proud of ourselves and enjoyed the experience immensely. Most importantly, we learned that we could handle seas that we thought were beyond our ability. Thanks to the Freedom Paddle.
— John & Debra Lazarus | 2026 Prescient Freedom Paddle | OC2 Short Course
