OUTRIGGER: THE ANCIENT HAWAIIAN SPORT.

Byline: Shawn M. Bush Special to the Daily News

It was a cloudy, drizzly day, yet neither weather nor early hour could dampen the spirits of the paddlers gathered at Mother's Beach.

Forming a semicircle around their coach, the 23 women of the Marina del Rey Outrigger Canoe Club cheered after his final comments and headed toward the four torpedo-shaped vessels beached at the marina's edge.

Piling into the 45-foot canoes, each six-member team quickly attained a uniform rhythm and glided into open water with the fluidness of birds flying in formation.

Some might consider this an odd scene for Southern California, but the centuries-old sport of outrigger canoeing has outgrown its sole association with Hawaii, where it originated. The Marina del Rey Outrigger Canoe Club, founded in 1966, enjoys an active membership of 85.

The coterie is one of 20 clubs in the 800-member Kalifornia Outrigger Association (KOA), named in reverence to the native Hawaiian koa tree from which canoes and paddles were first made. Other groups are in Santa Monica, Ventura, Santa Barbara, Redondo Beach and Dana Point.

``Now it has grown worldwide,'' said Sandy Kahanamoku, one of the founders and the treasurer of the Marina del Rey club. ``I travel a lot and officiate at other races. I love the ocean, being able to stay in shape and be on the water.''

While the May-through-September season is winding down for local outrigger canoeists, their regimens have intensified in preparation for annual racing competitions in September and October. The men's and women's teams practice two nights a week and on Saturdays, doubling their normal workouts of 90 minutes.

``The first 15 minutes are the worst,'' said Julie Wolfe, a Castaic firefighter who joined the sport about four years ago and now paddles for the Newport Beach club. ``After that, you get your second wind.''

It is the rush from that second wind that attracts many to the growing sport.

``It's the gratification that I can do something where the level of competition can be so intense. You definitely get aggressions out,'' said Nancy Dopp, president of the Marina del Rey Outrigger Canoe Club. ``You can beat up the water instead of someone else.''

Lindsey Richman, who is in his first year coaching the club's women's team, was surprised by the number of word-of-mouth recruits.

``We have a good turnout this year. It is such a subculture here because of the size of the population,'' Richman said, ``but in Hawaii it is a huge event. We have a really dedicated group here making it happen.''

``We attract the right people, people who enjoy the sport and will put all their heart and soul and money into it,'' Kahanamoku said. ``We are located where we can feed off of a lot of little cities.''

Richman said the benefits of the sport are numerous.

``It seems the more I give, the more I get back,'' he said. ``There are a lot of reasons people paddle. Being on the water is therapeutic, it is a good way to unwind and there is the camaraderie.

``And then there are the cultural aspects and connections to the past. It is growing from the Pacific.''

It is fitting Richman's club launches from Marina del Rey - Spanish for ``coast of kings'' - because outrigger canoeing was originally known as the sport of kings. The prowess of Hawaiian chiefs was displayed through the skills of their chosen teams, which competed in the tropical waters off the islands.

When missionaries arrived at the archipelago at the turn of the century, they put a stop to the sport. It was revived in the 1940s, however. Women became active participants in the 1970s and now make up nearly half of the outrigging community.

Today's fiberglass hulls fit teams of six. An extension arching to one side called an iako with a thin platform, or ama, that skims the water serves to balance the craft.

The Marina del Rey women's team will culminate months of training by entering a race from Newport Bay to Catalina during the first weekend of September. The men will finish up the year at the prestigious Molokai Channel Race in Hawaii on Oct. 12. Both contests will include teams from Tahiti, Canada, France and other countries.

CAPTION(S):

3 Photos

Photo: (1--color) Members of the Marina del Rey Outrigger Canoe Association paddle their way through the marina. The sport is no longer restricted to Hawaiian waters but has spread not only to California but other nations.

(2--color) The Marina del Rey club has 85 active paddlers - they are paddlers, not rowers. Women are welcome.

(3--color) Crews from the Marina del Rey Outrigger Canoe Association paddle their 43-foot crafts out of the marina and into open sea.

Hans Gutknecht / Daily News