Kana Palmer: How One Kid is starting to change Kailua’s paddling scene.
The Tides of Kailua’s very own paddling scene are turning, all due to one of Hawaiʻis emerging groups of Local Talent. The Young up-and-coming Paddler leading his division explains just how he and his crew are doing what it takes to make it all possible.
Who are you?
Aloha, my name is Kana Palmer, I am from here in Kailua and I am 18 years old… I’m a Mea Hoe Waʻa.
How long have you been doing paddling for?
I’ve been doing paddling for probably about 8 years now.
Ah, and what got you into it?
I mean I started as a kid I’ve always done… basketball, soccer, other like recreational sports like that. And I’ve always been in the ocean, and finally a friend reached out to me about paddling and, I never really stuck with soccer or basketball I never really like found a true connection to it or really like to do it.
And, paddling was one of the sports that like, RIGHT away clicked with me. And I just kinda had an instantaneous love for it.
Cool and what age did you say you were when you got into it?
I woulda been about 9 or 10 years old.
What high school were you with when you started paddling?
I was leaving my elementary with Kaʻelepulu, going into Kailua Intermediate School, and then at that time I was paddling for Kailua Canoe Club.
That’s awesome, you wanna give us a bit more of a background as to… what exactly you like about paddling? In specific?
Yeah, I’ve always had a strong connection to the ocean… I’ve always grown up around the ocean, my Dad is a big waterman and that’s kinda how he has raised me, so surfing and bodyboarding was always something I’ve grown up with. So being able to do a sport and an activity to be more in the ocean was always something I was interested in, and also just the cultural aspect of it is: Paddling is more than just a sport and a thing kinda to get you “all big and strong” but it’s a-there’s… a big spiritual thing with paddling. It really connects you to the ocean and it connects you with deeper relationships with the boys in the boat.
You mentioned doing sports and stuff like that growing up. What would you say makes you feel like there’s something from paddling you couldn’t really get from those sports?
Other team sports, I feel like there is somewhat of a connection you have to have with those people, but I think paddling there’s a different trust level. That you need to have with your crew, and if you’re in the boat, you’re trusting that no matter what, everybody in the canoe is pulling their weight. And you’re trusting that everybody is on timing with eachother.
You have a steersman, you’re TRUSTING that that steersman is guiding you guys and taking you on the right path because the ocean can be dangerous in all different ways. So if anything were to happen you know, you’re out in the elements. So there’s a different style of trust you need to have with your boys.
Mmm… When you talk about your crew and everybody being on the waʻa, for like people who know nothing about paddling and just know that there are people in the waʻa, what are the different positions?
Yeah so you have 6 people in a traditional-style canoe. You have seat 1: the stroker, sets the pace for everybody. Everybody follows whatever the stroke the pacer’s going at.
Then you have seat 2, seat 2 is the biggest guy on timing. So everybody’s timing in the canoe kind of follows seat 2, cause he has to watch seat 1, and he also calls the changes so he keeps everybody on the same side for whatever time he picks.
And then 3 and 4 and 5, THOSE are the main powerhouses. They keep the boat going that’s like the engine room of a train, it’s in that canoe.
And then you have your seat 6, the steersman: A guy that guides the canoe, turns the canoe, all that falls on him. Steersman is probably more of like the leader of the canoe, cause he can see everything.
And what did you say happens if one person is off?
As soon as someone is off in the boat you can feel it, any glide or anything you have is almost like a hiccup every time. And the boat will be moving, you can feel it like slowly bouncing or like going off when someone’s off timing. So, you gotta be in perfect rhythm for the boat to actually move, especially when you get into lighter style canoes.
So you guys all really gotta be in sync then.
Yeah, I would say strength, your timing and technique are the most important things in paddling.
What can you expect to see when we’re looking through Kana’s lens: what you go through as a Hoe Waʻa in a “day of the life” with your daily routine?
What you can expect to see, in a day in the life with doing something like I do. It’s similar to other sports in training wise, so eating healthy, work out in the gym and train with a program that is beneficial to sports people in general to keep my strength up. And then other than that, I would say it’s pretty similar in just keeping mental state strong that’s very important, because outside of endurance and strength, mental health is really important.
How come?
Primarily in long distance, I would say it’s very easy to kinda get down on yourself and quit. And especially with those long practices and longer races, your mental health and staying strong and confident in your abilities is the most important thing. Cause that’s what will be the first thing to go out; is your mental stability through a race, and when THAT starts to go then everything else starts to go. So it’s about staying mentally strong it’s the biggest thing.
So coming to practice with that mindset is always something that’s real important to me. And to have a mindset where we’re here to train hard work hard. Cause overall I imagine alot of times when I practice, it’s the competition ahead. To think about that? That’s the reason why I’m here.
To represent Kailua and Hawaiʻi, that’s who I train for.
So you said you grew up in Kailua?
Yup, my whole life.
Why do you love it? Because I remember asking earlier off topic ‘If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be?’ and you said you would still live Kailua, why?
There’s something about Kailua that I think is somewhat overlooked. And it’s the community of Kailua. And I think that there’s an overall, cultural presence in Kailua that’s kind of overlooked, and even like deemed low on sometimes. Because Kailua’s such a touristy town, so it’s hard to find that everywhere because you do have a strong kind of tourist presence.
But I love Kailua, because there are pockets of Kailua that are extremely cultural and spiritual.
If I were a new person trying to get into paddling, what could I expect to see in an exact kinda rundown of how practice with you guys goes.
So, most of our training right now is based in the canal of Kailua. I paddle with Rudderless Hawaiʻi which is paddling in one-man Tahitian-style canoes. And, the way that practice looks like is:
We paddle in the Kailua canal, primarily because the conditions of the flat water is similar to what we race in for some races. And also being able to kind of get down basics is important, so the canal offers us a good space to do that.
Getting to practice: Show up, you get your canoe assigned, you’re getting on the water and doing warm-up pieces. So, a warm-up piece would include like a weave drill. Basically, if you were to like take the canal and split it in half, and you just go left right, left right on one side of the canal. Just to practice like controlling your canoe. Being able to turn around because, there’s no rudder on the V1 canoe (the one man canoe), there’s no rutter to steer it, so your steering is while you paddle.
After that, we do pack drills, so staying together, focusing on being able to control your canoe next to other canoes, we would do that for another half mile. After that it would be about endurance and sprints.
So, we’ve done things like a three mile you just go three-mile sprint as fast as you can then when you finish you pau, take the canoe up. Also like build-up drills: starting at like a slower pace, then building up building up until you’re at MAX speed and going. Just so that you could in a race see if you’re able to pass someone, or you’re on a surf run and you’re going to surf, that you have the endurance to be able to build yourself up to higher rates from going at like an easier rate.
Then once practice is done (normally when the sun is down) it’s all about kind of helping each other put canoes away. So, you could imagine we have about… probably like 25 or 30 one-man canoes out. It takes alot of effort to get all that put away, rinsed off and put in the hālau so.
It’s all about helping everybody. No one is kinda standing around doing nothing, everybody’s like on your canoe, on someone else’s canoe to help rinse something off and then, we get it all packed up and then, pau for the day.
Solid, what is a rudder exactly?
A rudder is almost like a surf fin (if you would imagine a surf fin on a canoe) under the canoe on the backside. So, a normal OC-1 canoe (a one-man canoe) has pedals by your feet, and those pedals if you push the right, turns the rudder to the right push the left, turns the rudder to the left. Kind of so you can help steer the canoe when you go.
However the rudder creates some sort of drag just because it is something at the bottom of your boat, so the way that a V1 (which is really popular in Tahiti, it’s a Tahitian style canoe) HAS no rudder on the end. So all your paddling and steering happens in your blade while you kind of paddle.
So what are the differences between a Tahitian traditional waʻa and a Hawaiian waʻa that is used in practice and for races and things like that?
You see, Hawaiian Waʻaʻs are like an outrigger people call it like an ‘outrigger’ style canoe, so I mean traditional is the Koa style canoe which we do race but, most canoes are made out of fiberglass.
In a normal Hawaiian canoe, it probably weighs about 300-400 lbs. It’s kind of your typical canoe you see, but the tahitian style canoe is called a Matahina. And it’s basically about 4x lighter like (about a 100 lbs. canoe), the difference in the lighter is it’s super sensitive and it’s a whole different stroke rate. So it makes it a little bit harder to steer, but however it highlights timing even more because if your timing is off in a canoe that’s way lighter you’re going to feel it more than you would in a canoe that’s heavier.
So it’s a whole different style of being MORE on it with timing, being MORE on it with technique. It requires a different stroke rate because it’s so lighter. And then when you get down to the one-man canoes it’s the same thing with the V1: it’s lighter and it’s faster because there’s no rudder in it. So it requires you to kind of master more of a stroke rate. Which in a Tahitian style canoe is a slower recovery, hitting faster in the water.
During club season I mean we have definitely over 30 outrigger canoes, and we have 3 koa canoes, so that when we do regattas in the summertime we bust out our koa canoes for race.
What would you say is the feeling you get when you’re out in the wa’a? You know, what does it bring you?
It’s a feeling of home kind of. Almost like safety at this point, where… anything that is happening out of the waʻa doesn’t matter inside. It’s almost like an escape from everything, just being able to be in there. Especially when you’re out in the one man, out in the ocean you know I think it’s you, the ocean, it’s the ʻāina around you and that’s it. That’s all that matters when you’re out there.
It’s the same thing when you’re in a six-man, except you're adding in the boys with you and you uphold yourself to them because you know that they’re gonna uphold themselves to you. Yeah, it’s a way for me to be able to connect in a different way and be able to bring up more of a spiritual side of myself.
Would you say there’s a sort of camaraderie you feel out there not just with the ʻĀina and Ke Akua and the wai itself, but also with your boys that are with you?
Yeah, absolutely. Anybody that asks me kind of if they should put their kids in paddling I always say yeah. Because, if I had to go on like some of the strongest bonds that I’ve made with people, it’s all through paddling…
It’s a different level of trust and it’s a different level of relationship. Because the things that you go through with them, i-it’s powerful.
Does anybody in your ʻOhana paddle?
Now newly we do! My Dad just started so now everybody paddles. *Laughs* I did not come from a paddling family so, I was the first generation paddler in this family and my then brother and sister followed, my Mom followed like 2 years ago and then my Dad follows now, he just started.
When we first started I definitely would not have imagined that.
So you take all the credit for it?
I mean, I guess so… nah nah nah nah *laughs*.
Getting deeper, I want you to walk through, or reminisce on a time where not everything was going your way. You know, something that changed you. Or a lesson that you just might have had to learn the hard way.
I would say, the hardest thing that we’ve gone through that I’ve gone through as a crew we’ve gone through and individually as a paddler and how I started to carry myself as a paddler, it was about 2 years ago…
Our main coach had passed away. Coach Pat. He was the one that taught me how to paddle, he recruited me and kinda stuck me into his crew and made sure that I was gonna paddle with him, all the way until I could leave the junior division it was kinda the goal.
And he became a real strong figure to us so, 2 years ago we came off a really strong season. We had 2 crews: one went undefeated the whole season up to states and then: my crew lost one race and then the rest we won ALL the way up to states. We came off a real strong season with him and then…
For him to pass away was a hard moment for our boys, but it kinda goes to show, just the relationship and the camaraderie that you have as a crew because, there is now way I could’ve gone through that without them. And that made us stronger as a crew, and it made us more hungry to fight as a crew. And I think it did make us stronger together, and then also just even in the wa’a and the way we hold ourselves cause:
Everywhere we go, we’re representing him, and we know he’s here with us.
Wow, I know for sure he’s watching over you guys... And what do you think your coach would’ve had to say now that you guys are progressing, especially when you’ve reached that victory?
Brah…
I think about that all the time. I wish he could have seen, I know he did but I wish he could have been here for it. Because right when he passed was me and then 2 of my other original crew members I learned how to paddle with. We did our first ever Molokaʻi crossing together. Literally like the week after he passed we did that and then two weeks after that I got into the OIA First All-Star Crew for High School… and that was a really big moment for me.
But I think he’d be really proud of us cause it was always his dream for us to be able to compete on a state level. We went and competed on a WORLD level. And we always talked about doing the Molokaʻi together and this past year we did it. All of us in a six-man canoe for the first time, and we killed it so, I think he would be really proud of it.
Give us the most off-the-wall, crazy things you and the boys have done.
We have done some pretty stupid stuff I will say that *laughs*.
We… probably some of the dumbest things that we’ve done have been IN the Kailua Bay stretch and that is: Going out far in surf that is not meant for canoes to be like that, we’ve surfed canoe backwards and have flipped multiple times. We even had the fire department called on some of our boys because they were in a three-man canoe, it disassembled out in the water and fire department had to come.
We found them like three miles down The Kailua Bay, walking in with like a canoe all washed up on the shore *laughs*. So we’ve had some fun times together.
Would you say that’s one of the more fun times you had?
Yeah I would say so *laughs*. I mean there is a lot of seriousness that we take with paddling but, you know always the fun times. There’s fun in it all. And it’s always good to kinda be able to like let loose and have fun with it.
So that’s always the most fun is just being able to get out and paddle out and just to have those fun days out in the water. It’s always the best.
Is there a difference between paddling for competitions vs paddling not for competition in terms of practice and training?
It depends what season you’re in, like you’re in your sprint season you’re really focused on sprinting. You’re going all out you know you’re focused more on just being like strong and fast in the boat. And then when we enter distance season you know the mindset changes to:
You’re building your endurance, you’re building glide in the boat and seeing if you can just keep up a good pace, and you can keep the boat gliding for longer distances. But there’s always a training mindset in paddling, and you’re always training for something.
What would you say your message or word of advice is for somebody first starting out in paddling? Something you’ve wanted to hear.
I would say that paddling is one of those sports that’s for everyone. I don’t think there’s a limitation in age, size, like if you’re not athletic as someone else, paddling doesn’t have those kinds of limits.
What’s the age range for your crewmates on your team?
In our age range we have 16-18 but brah I could NOT tell you how many times we have gotten all of our ʻōkoles whooped by like the 65-year-old men in races that we do together. They. Are. Like. We’ll be going at like faster, all out and they just like…
NICE AND SLOW, they’ll pass us all the time. I get older guys that always like, even less than 65 say that they’re too old for paddling and I’m like… There’s no way.
But, I would just say that it’s more mental than people think. Your mindset when you come into practice is you need to have something you’re training for and something that you’re fighting for. If you are paddling with no why, then you can’t get through it.
There HAS to be a why for what you’re doing.
And your why was?
My why is racing to be able to represent Hawaiʻi and Kailua on races. I want to bring recognition especially with my boys. It’s easier on a six-man because you’re fighting with 5 other people and you can hold yourself more accountable. But when it’s one man time, you know it’s just you and yourself.
You gotta push yourself to the limit, instead of being able to limit yourself. In an Independent mindset, I mean my overall goal is: I wanna race at a level where I win for Kailua and I win for Hawai’i in general.
Going off of how far you want to go with paddling, is there a level you see yourself going beyond with Hoe Waʻa?
Absolutely. This first time me and my boys this ‘group of Kailua raised boys’ who… brah if you told us like 2 years ago we would be competing at a world level, there’s no way we would’ve believed that. So we train hard and we went out to Hilo.
Before the world sprints they had the qualifiers in Hilo. So we went up against all the top of the best crews in Hawaiʻi, and we’re one of the youngest crews in our division. It’s an under 19 division so most of the guys you have are 19, in college like sophomores in college racing out. And we got boys like, I’m one of the oldest in our division as an 18-year-old, we got boys that are juniors in High School, you know.
We kinda went out there, gave it our best and we advanced into world sprints, and then brah. We’re going against like people from Australia, New Zealand, Canada… places you wouldn’t even think had paddling! The Division we’re in, everybody’s age lines up with the division so we’re not fighting upwards this year. So it’s gonna be a good year this year.
Would you guys say you’re at your strongest this year?
Oh yeah I think so. You know we never had a time where people are not gonna be double racing into divisions but we have ONE division. One race we’re focused on, and we’re all just gonna be training to that level. We haven’t had that before. In all my years of paddling…
We haven’t been able to kind of like focus on that one race you know we normally have people like double racing, racing up a division like they’re 16 and they’re gonna race up into the 18 division. Things like that. But this year is the year we’re really…
We’re the strongest we’re ever gonna be. We’re coming to it hard.
That’s awesome brah, and with your most recent win you’ve had… how did that go? What did you guys win and how was the training for it, how did it feel when you won?
We completed the Moloka’i Hoe challenge: The biggest race in Hoe waʻa you can do. It’s the hardest task I’ve ever done, and it’s the biggest one. 42 miles you’re paddling out in the middle of the ocean across the Kaʻiwi channel from Molokaʻi to the Town side of Oʻahu.
You’re out in the middle of the ocean with you in the elements, we have our boat coaches with us but you’re fighting against the ocean you know whatever the ocean’s gonna give to you is what you’re gonna deal with.
It was a big accomplishment for us cause like I said you know, this has been a talk for about 3-4 years we kind of talked about The Molokaʻi. It got delayed with covid a couple times so like we thought we were gonna do it but then it was like nope, covid. And the Lahaina fires last year, they didn’t do it because of that as well, so this year was the first year back. And we were all into it, going into sprint seasons we knew we were going to do it.
And we came out and gave it our all, so we were pretty stoked. We got 4th in our division and we were up against sophomore guys, they had some stacked crews. But we were 1st in our Junior Division for The Henry Aikau race which is the race from Hawaiʻi Kai over to Nanakuli.
This has been a long-term goal, and the real special thing is we had some boys that were like off island last minute like flights out just so that we could come in with a crew that was that OG crew. That was the biggest thing for us, we wanted to go with this crew and no other crew. Like it didn’t matter if there were stronger boys, we wanted our OG crew to be able to paddle it.
Wow. Ok I’m going to take us off of the paddling concept for a bit, so if you had a week to yourself no paddling, what would Kana be doing?
You know *laughs*, if I had a week off I would be a little relieved! And I’m not saying that like-I wouldn’t say no to that, but it’s funny I wouldn’t stay out of the ocean. So that would probably just mean that I get to go surfing more. I would go hiking more in the ‘āina, but probably also take a little week off of training too. And just being able to do more of the extracurriculars that I can do with friends more.
You mention being out in the ʻĀina, whether in the water or on land up in the mountains a lot, what exactly do you like about it?
I like going on hikes mainly up into the Mauka. Far up in the Mauka where it’s like there’s not a lot of people there, but it’s almost rainforesty kinda up there. For real like mountains where you’re out in the elements, there’s no remnants of… modernization.
Things where I can be in that, I love waterfall hikes and being able to walk into the wai up there. Later on, we’re gonna go up into the Manawili Falls trail, and the reason for that is cause:
It’s a hike up here in the Ahapua’a of Kailua, and Manawili has some of the most beautiful ‘āina views that I’ve seen. The views up there are amazing, you’re fully away from modernization. Any like ‘Concrete Jungle’ kind of ideology but you’re actually in ‘Āina and you’re in the element of that. It’s a different space than being out in the ocean and I like that. I like that relationship…
What’s next for you? Where do you see yourself going even outside of paddling and what are you currently doing to try and support that?
Going into it on a Hoe Wa’a scale, I got a little taste of it this past year competing at a world level. It’s a different experience, a different level of training so in the future I want to be able to compete at a more world level, and to kind of have that mindset where:
Not only are we gonna compete at a world level but we’re gonna start winning at a world level.
You know it was an eye-opener in Hilo, that we had our own world sprints in Hawaiʻi but yet in a junior division… no Hawaiʻi teams are winning. You know the representation in that is small so that was kind of an eye opener to be like next time, that’s not gonna happen.
That’s motivation to put Hawaiʻi out there and to let us be able to compete at a world level. Cause, I know we can. I want to perform in places outside of Hawaiʻi and outside of the state. My eyes are (right now) set on BoraBora, competing in the Matahinas. Then, the next world sprints are in Brazil, so I’m training myself to compete in Brazil in 2 years.
Then outside of Hoe Wa’a, I would say my main job is working Loʻi, in Manawili. I kind of touched on the importance of working in ʻaina and having a sport in the ocean because they’re connected.
I have a belonging to the ocean and the ʻĀina of Kailua. So, my job is I work Lo’i in Manawili and part of that is I help in farming Kalo and feeding the community of Kailua with Kalo production. Also just belonging to the ocean and representing Kailua. I believe that it’s my Kuleana in being here. It’s more than just representing Kailua in Hoe Waʻa races but it’s actually benefiting Kailua in terms of feeding Kailua and the community of Kailua, but also bettering the ‘aina of Kailua and restoring it because Kailua is quickly becoming more and more modernized… and more and more colonized.
I want to be able to restore the ʻĀina of Kailua and save it before it goes away too quickly.
Being Delusional here in The Palace means believing in something SO out there, and you’re just connected to that idea of “I’m going to make this happen, no matter what” that other people might not be able to get it or agree, but being Delusional IS that exact tunnel vision. What makes you Delusional?
What makes me delusional about paddling is the want to compete, and the want to be the best. And the want to make our crew, Kailua Canoe club the best. Most people that paddle it’s a summer thing it’s a one time thing… But for me it’s a year round thing.
I am always in the waʻa year round, there’s never a break. I don’t take a winter season off, if it’s winter season I’m into the one-man canoes and spring season I’m doing pre-season already and I go into sprints and distance. I don’t think alot of people are committed to it as I am to.
There are other people too, but it’s not as popular to commit to paddling year round like that. To put money into it, and to put alot of time into just traveling all around. Just beating yourself up in races, like to do such LONG races and to put alot of money into it just to be in a race that’s just grueling for like six hours or something like that, that’s not everybody’s first choice to do, but I love it.
6 HOURS!?
Yeah no our Moloka’i crossing was six hours and 40 something minutes, and I was in the boat at times for just a straight hour and a half without no break, so yeah *laughs*.
We’ve done practicing distances I would call it like an Iron Man style race. Iron Man style races for paddling can go anywhere from 11 or 12 miles, that’s like the Kailua Bay Iron Man, but I’ve done Iron Man’s that are 16 miles, that’s no breaks though you’re in the canoe, no breaks. We’ve done practices around that distance, but the real big ones we save for the race itself.
What else are you doing?
So right now I’m in my first year of college. I’m pursuing a degree in Hawaiian studies because again I feel it’s important to continue on with a career that allows me to bring awareness to and spread Hawaiian culture. Outside of Hoe Wa’a there’s alot more, outside of ʻĀina there’s alot more. So I’m in college to learn more, to practice the speaking of ‘Ōlelo and the importance of being able to… that should be a more common thing in Hawai’i. Again I feel a Kuleana has been brought onto me to promote that and be a part of that.
I do side jobs also, I work local plate lunch shop in Kailua food company. I work there just to get gas money and to do more things on the side, that’s kind of just good discipline to kinda keep myself you know, working a job that’s a little bit more like ‘cashier and enclosed’ and something that I might not wanna do all the time, but it’s a good job.
Where can we find you at online?
You can find me @kanaballer on Instagram, that’s my main kinda platform of sharing out my paddling journey and my journey in ʻĀina work and allat.
If you want to follow our collective paddling journey: @kailuacanoeclub on Instagram.
Awesome, anyone else you want to shoutout or give mahalos to?
There’s a lot of people I would like to thank, and I first wanna first thank off my ʻOhana. And a lot of my friends, and my crew who have gotten me INTO paddling and allowed my paddling career to become what it is, and my whole journey on paddling. I owe it all to them.
To my coaches along the way especially Coach Susan and Coach Pat… I wanna thank because they’re the ones who taught me how to paddle and who keep me going now. Another big shoutout to my uncles, Uncle Walt and Uncle Kaniala. They’re the reason that I’ve grown up in Hawaiʻi surrounded by SO much culture and the reason that I have a love for ʻĀina. It’s all because of them.
What’s your final message you want to leave with everybody?
I really just wanna bring awareness to the people of Hawai’i in Hoe Waʻa that are trying to bring awareness to us on a world level. There’s multiple people tryna do it, and it’s a competitive field. But I wanna bring awareness to that and that you know…
Hoe Wa’a is more than just a ‘race’ and a ‘strength competition’ but it’s a spiritual way for us to connect to our culture. It goes deeper than just racing for fun and all of that. It’s a way for people to connect back to our culture.
It’s a spiritual sport, and the more people do it the more it becomes a common thing and the more better it is for Hawaiian culture.
BONUS QUESTION: Kana you’re the first Official Delusional Palace person to be in the palace, so giving us the opportunity was the best and we’re extremely grateful to as you’re the first stepping stone for us and for yourself as well. Haha how does it feel?
I’m super blessed to be able to do it, cause it’s a blessing for me to be able to share your story. To be able to share your message to the world is a really cool opportunity and blessing. So mahalo to you for giving me the opportunity to do that!
With that being said.
Be Delusional.
follow kana palmer and kailua canoe club here.
Kana Palmer: How One Kid is starting to change Kailua’s Paddling Scene.
“Your mindset when you come into practice is you need to have something you’re training for and something that you’re fighting for. If you are paddling with no why, then you can’t get through it. There HAS to be a why for what you’re doing…”
- Kana Palmer
