About the Maitahi Outrigger Canoe Club
About the Maitahi Outrigger Canoe Club
About the Maitahi Outrigger Canoe Club
Waka Ama in Nelson
The Maitahi Outrigger Canoe Club aims to promote waka ama (outrigger canoeing) as a recreational, social and cultural activity, and competitive team sport.
We’re based in Nelson, which is at the top of the South Island, Aotearoa/New Zealand.
We have lots of different crews, paddling at different times of the day on the local harbour, Nelson Haven. Our club owns four OC6 (six-person canoes) and three OC2 (two-person canoes).
Our club was formed in 2001 and our name is derived from the river now known as the Maitai. The Maitai River flows into Nelson Haven.
Come paddling with us
We offer a couple of ‘getting started’ paddles for a fee of $5 to introduce you to waka ama.
If you decide you’d like to paddle on a regular basis, we’ll endeavour to place you in a crew as places become available. Alternatively, you may want to paddle on a more casual basis, filling in when crew members are away or joining the social paddles on Friday evenings or Sunday mornings.
The club provides lifejackets and paddles for beginners.
Fits with our Kiwi lifestyle
Waka ama fits in ideally with our Kiwi lifestyle and attracts paddlers from age 6 to 70+.
Waka Ama is currently the most popular water sport in the country. The sport holds cultural, competitive, social, family and fitness appeal and its popularity just keeps growing.
We have a number of useful resources for outrigger paddlers.
Seb Head, racing open mens OC1
Waka Ama NZ Long Distance Nationals, 2016
Photo by Garrick Cameron
Waka Ama Racing
Our club has a number of paddlers who compete in sprint and long distance race events as individuals or as part of race crews.
Sprint races are fast and furious, with paddlers going flat out for distances of 500m to 1000m. Sometimes tight turns need to be made on the race course as well – a manoeuvre which requires great skill.
Long distance races are generally around 10km to 30km and test paddlers’ stamina. There are also longer races, called "changeover" races, where a crew will change paddlers every 20 minutes or so. They’re also very challenging, as there’s a special knack to changing paddlers while the canoe is moving.
Every year our club holds a race regatta, Tuna e Hoe Ana (paddling with the eels), at Lake Rotoiti, in the Nelson Lakes National Park. This is a popular event and features a series of races from 1km, 5km & 10km. To find out more go to the Tuna e Hoe Ana event page.
To find out more about other race events in New Zealand check out the race calendar on www.wakaaama.co.nz
Its never too early or too late to start paddling waka ama
We always welcome new members to the Maitahi Outrigger Canoe Club.
We have social and racing waka ama crews catering for a wide variety of ages and abilities.