The Ohana Paddle Club is a non-profit social club that a group of us paddlers formed to paddle together all over the waterways in the Bay and beyond. How it really started for most of us is that we each took a lesson with Mike Wang at Mike’s Paddle, loved his approach to paddling, teaching and making friends, and never looked back. His approach embodies the “Ohana” spirit. Ohana means “family” in Hawaiian and when he says “Ohana” that means we never leave a paddler behind. He makes this a reality in so many ways — always teaching, always learnding, and most importantly, always having fun on the water
On our social paddles, if you are way ahead of the pack, then you need to make a pivot turn (regardless of conditions) and loop back to the person in the back. This ensures a few things — the beginners are not always last as it can be frustrating to paddle non-stop, finally catch up, then the group moves on. You never catch a break! The added loop for the more experienced paddler gives them a better workout. And finally, it helps us to stay as a pod which is a great safety practice.
We started the Ohana Paddle Club with many of these experiences in mind and plan to continue with the weekly Race League practices expanding on our paddling techniques and adding many social paddles with some added social time post paddle in the form of potlucks or bbqs. This is really just the beginning. Each of the founding members have so much energy, ideas, and excitement to build this club into something that we hope you will enjoy and be inspired to contribute to.
So, if SUP (or paddleboarding) is your thing or you want to make it your thing, come join us. We love to bring you into our Ohana and learn to love and share the stoke!
Mahalo!
--chris