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Outrigger outings: Putting their mettle to their paddles, Northwest canoers follow ancient tradition
By GREG JOHNSTON 
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
The action is soothing, rhythmic, almost hypnotic. So even though the skyscrapers of Seattle loom in the distance, your head is somewhere else entirely.
Imagine, say, off a Hawaiian island.
Face forward, focused, water rushing by like a sparkling dream as shoulders dip, paddles pound, arms pull, spray flies.
You're in a zone. It could almost be 1,000 years ago.
"Hut" shouts the lead paddler, the "stroker," signaling the others aboard to switch strokes to the other side.
"Ho," the crew responds in unison, raising paddles out of the water, across the canoe and back down in a single beat.
"Smooth switches now, reach forward, steady strokes," calls out the "steersperson," the skipper, from the stern. "Go Seattle Outrigger, it's yours, you've got it. Strong and steady."
You are racing in an outrigger canoe, a wa'a kaukahi, each stroke expressing the joy of being on the water and having a good workout, as well as the satisfaction of working with teammates and carrying on an ancient tradition.
"On warm days, it's almost like being in Hawaii. That's the thing for some of us, it reminds us of home," says Sunshine Walker, a member of the Seattle Outrigger Canoe Club, who grew up on the island of Hawaii and who just spent her first year in Washington -- one with precious little of her namesake.
"I'm just glad to be paddling. It's been my only salvation."
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