The first race included 10 men's teams and 8 women teams. This was the first year for the PNWORCA (Pacific Nortwest Outrigger Canoe Association) which includes teams from Oregon and Washington State. The race also attracted the strong Canadian teams. This race was won by the men's Statterheads lead by Dave Belisek - who is also a leader at Falls Creek. An allstar team of mostly Canadian women called the Statterchicks also won - and started their domination of the race for 3 years until the 2000 come from behind upset by Jerico.
One of the top Scatterchicks Canadian paddlers, Lori Belisek (Maiden name Stewart) can be seen in stroking in the full page Hamilton Cup picture from Sep 2003 Kanu Culture (page X). She was also a member of the 2005 wining Team Bradley Molokay team.
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JD Davies has been the motivation for this amazing race. JD has a long paddling history including paddling with Lanikai and racing the Molokai Challenge from his first in the historically rough 1986 race to the 1992 race. He also was at the forefront of the oc1 trend and transitioned to the mainland bringing the Karel "Viper" mold with him. He continues to make but mostly sell oc1/2 canoes through his "Water Walker" canoe company.
JD had the grand vision for the Gorge Race after competing in the 96 Gorge Games and talking with the organizer Peggy Lalor. He described how the outriggers would be perfect for the newly started "Gorge Games".
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Gorge Games
The Gorge Games began in 1996 to celebrate the outdoor recreational environment of the Columbia River in the state of Oregon. The games include events such as with events in climbing, kayaking, kite sports, mountain biking, off-road triathlon, outrigger canoe, 49 sailing, trail running and windsurfing.
The 1999 and 2003 games were cancelled at the last minute due to difficulties with gaining adequate sponsorship.
Founder Peggy Lalor says the organizers intend to hold the games on an annual basis as long as the sponsors and community support the games.
Outrigger paddling was included starting with 1998 after JD met with Peggy Lalor and described how it would be great for the games.
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Jill Komoto recounts the first Gorge Games as the steerswoman for Seattle Outrigger.
"1997 was the first year of the Gorge Games. I along with Sabine and Diane were members of the infamous group that are referred to every year as a reminder of which buoys to turn around!"
"1997 was also the year we probably had the biggest waves-estimates were up to 6ft. If we knew then, what we knew now... I was a novice steersperson- this was my third race steering! I'd never recommend that now. We had a crew I will never forget. We decided at the last minute to go- and when we all got in the canoe for our only practice together, we knew we had something special. We had to fight for Po Anuenue- they weren't about to let us use the Bradley. When we drove over the Bridge of the Gods that morning and saw the whitecaps, we knew it would be a good one. No one knew how big the waves would be- all we had were two blue tarps, taped over seats 1 and 2. Dave did a great job of rigging the canoe-more than what I'd need today, but definitely for a novice steerperson."
"We shot out in front of everyone and I remember on the downrun cruising along side a sailboat. It was difficult to steer and had to have Beth in seat 5 poke every once in a while to keep the darn thing straight. Someone said our stroke rate was near 70. Coming back upwind, we battled hard and were way in front. The first year they had a different course with a buoy to turn around close in, so the spectators could view it better. We were going along and I thought, where is that buoy? I turned around and saw everyone going straight and I started cussing. (Sabine remarked later she had never heard me cuss before!) But everyone was great- they said don't worry, we'll get it back. We were in third at that time. We caught #2 somewhere downwind and were battling hard with the new #1, they turned around that first buoy and we followed. Our crew- Carrie, Diane, Laura, Sabine, Beth and myself battled back and won at the finish line."
"I don't know if I've ever had this special of a win; we all felt a special kinship because of this race, and a special place in our hearts for Po Anuenue. I've never paddled with a group of more supportive paddlers ever."
"I'm in Hawaii now but have great memories of battling Kikaha back in the days. a hui hou - Jill"
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Sabine Jessel, from the SOCC team adds more to the story of the first race.
"One more thing to add is that the course was shortened accidentially by every single canoe in the women's race that year (SOCC's first year to race in that race), because the lead canoe took the wrong buoy (they could not see the correct one, way further down the course and I am sure everybody was already super tired even at that point of the race) to head back to the finish line. So when we (SOCC) caught the number two canoe at that point in the race and just past them before the buoy, I thought to myself, good... now we have plenty time to catch number one going up wind, knowing how well we did on the first go around into the wind. When I realized that somehow the finish line was coming closer really fast, I just hoped that we still had enough time left to pass the leading canoe and yes we made it just in time. Some time during that stretch I realized that we all must have made the turn too early and just hoped that everybody would follow the lead canoe and that way nobody would be disqualified for that, which is what happened... It all worked out great for SOCC's women crew and yes it was one of my most exciting races ever and a very fun crew to paddle with. -- And yes this is the first time I had heard Jill cuss..."
(Note. Sabine races one year's oc2 event with the ama on the wrong side . That picture is posted so the curious can look for it.)\
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Sabine Jessel adds more about the Oc-2 with the ama on the wrong side.
"yeah that was me and Michelle with the OC-2 and the ama on the "wrong' side. Someone else had put it together for us and as we were late to get to the startline we decided not to rerigg. Within 100 yards after the start we flipped and after gathering our floating-away flipflops.. we were in such a hurry that we forgot to take those off.... we rightened the canoe and decided to paddle the course anyways, despite the fact that by then all the other canoes were long gone. We had a blast downwind and came in third in the OC-2 division... so I am not so sure anymore about the "right" verus "wrong" side of the ama, it sure worked great for us where it was for that race (wind and wave direction)... just another story."
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Boy Chun Fook, a founder of Kikaka O Ke Kai, and current president of PNWORCA - the governing body, also competed in the first Gorge race in 97.
"JD Davis approached us at one of the OC-6 races and told us about this Gorge Games Outrigger Race at the Columbia Gorge in July of that year. JD said we needed to have skirts or cover our canoes because the Gorge can get rough and nasty like a minature Molokai rough day. Bill Schillings was our President at that time and he asked if we can do it, I said we need skirts, if not we got to cover the canoes with tent tarp. So thats what we had to do with the canoes, covered it with blue and brown tent tarps. We only covered seats 1,2,3 & 4, plenty duct tape and lots of learning. Only one canoe had a skirt and it was for our Masters Mens on a Calmar Outrigger borrowed from Pacific OCC."
"Although Kikaha O Ke Kai OCC started our club in 1996 we were in our first year of racing against paddlers from the PNW in 1997. As you know we had our first canoe "Kikaha O Ke Kai #1" a fiberglass mold to make Malia canoes originally. It was rebuilt to be used as practice canoe for starting clubs. It was 456lbs. and a tank to go through any race."
"Anyway, I put the first crew in the Force Five borrowed from CROCC, 2nd crew of Masters in the borrowed Calmar from Pacific OCC and the 3rd canoe of drinking buddies in Kikaha O Ke Kai #1."
"On the first lap for the mens race, we kept up with the first pack and first crew till the first turn and started taking in a lot of water from the start of the race. I didn't want to bail yet until made the turn. We took in so much water after the turn, I had to bail and we started losing ground to the leaders. The crews behind us was checking us out as I bailed from seat #5 and they only could think out loud and said, "Eh, thats a whale in front of us and its shooting water from its spout". I was bailing water about 1/2 of the race and tugging that 456lb. Outrigger Canoe was its first and last time we took it through the Gorge. Another note, our steersman bang the second turn buoy not once but twice that race."
"Lots of our paddlers had rash burns from the tarp covers and cramps from that grueling first hard race we ever did. We drove home that night of the race and promise to stay another night next year cause it was a fun race and we had a blast. Till this day, that first race was an experience for all of us! "
Bend 2005 Pictures - courtecy Tinh Vu
