Paddles up at the 2023 Samoa IVF Va'a World Distance Championships

by Loveni S. Enari

After the wonderful scenes of Don Bosco Technical College, resplendent in the pouring rain, wowing, no - absolutely smashing the International Va'a opening ceremony in Apia Harbour yesterday - at 7:30am today, it was business time.

The Under 19 men kicked off the championship and Samoa came in an honourable fourth behind race favourites, Tahiti, Aotearoa and Hawaii, in that order.

The final medal table on 18 August will look similar, with a very tight struggle expected between perrenial champs, Tahiti and the always strong Kiwis, with permission of Hawaii, Australia and the Cook Islands.

The opening ceremony and march past were well supported and provided spectacularly festive images of the beach front road for the rest of the world.

Minister for Natural Resources and Environment and Tourism, Toeolesulusulu Cedric Schuster said, "This is great for the Samoan economy, great for tourism, and even greater for visitors to see and enjoy beautiful Samoa, our home."

Team manager for the Samoa Under 19s Ala'imalo Fatu Enari said the sense of pride in both Samoa as hosts, and in his own team, was immense.

"To see such colour and so many different people from so many nations here in Apia is just so awesome," he said.

"The place is buzzing and reminds me of that old T-shirt: New York, London, Rome, Rio, Apia!"

"Our boys have been training very, very hard with 4am rises and twice daily sessions."

"The best in the world turned up to Samoa today and we're fourth best in the world at this very minute!"

"I couldn't be prouder."

Four more races were scheduled for today with teams looking to suffer in the late morning, early afternoon heat, though the rains have threatened. 

No races are scheduled for the late afternoon meaning, alas, there will be no beautiful shots of paddlers racing in the cooler, setting Samoan sun. 

Races can be followed on the following YouTube link:

YouTube - International Va'a Federation

Hopefully there will be an improvement there because, despite the good work of commentators Vaimasenu'u Zita Martell and Kingi Gilbert, the technical glitches were many, and took away from the enjoyment.

Communication between those on boats close to the paddlers was faulty, often interrupted and the poor commentators had difficulty knowing what was happening 12 kilometres out to sea and therefore relaying it to the almost 1000 watchers following the live stream on the internet.

Yes, it was only the first morning but yes again, maybe these issues should have been sorted before race day.

The Aussie women took the honours in the second event of the day, the Masters over 50 event. 

And last but not least, just remember, the Chile team is actually Rapa Nui. 

Less goo!

The full schedule of races can be found here.

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