Paddlers charge Te Aito today

Among 800-plus of the globe’s top single man V1 rudderless oe vaka paddlers taking on today’s Te Aito Tahiti race in Papeete will be five Cook Islands paddlers.

The Cooks top paddler Reuben Dearlove is pumped and as prepared as he has ever been ahead of a major race.

Te Aito Tahiti is the pinnacle event for the world’s best singles oe vaka paddlers – a race Dearlove is entering for the second time.

In 2010 he placed 41st from a field of 800 after a mass disqualification of over 75 paddlers.

This year he has a brand new super light vaka, approximately 10kg including the kiato and ama, sponsored by Cook Islands News and the Pacific Resort and Spa.

It is a vaka he hopes will see him cross the line of the 28km race with a top 100 placing.

But as Dearlove put it ”It’s not the vaka that counts but the machine that drives it“.

For Dearlove, honing his machine and paddling techniques has been an intense process that has included ”lots of paddling“ over the past 6 months.

He says his training has included a lot of resistance work where wife Victoria has played a key role by sitting in a two man canoe with Dearlove and letting the athlete do all the work.

Not one to talk himself up, Dearlove says, ”I’ll leave the talking to others and just do my thing on the water.“ Before the men’s 28km race, Toa Vaine paddlers will line up for their 14km, one loop of the men’s race course and among the 60 women expected to take on the challenge will be local girls Vaea Melvin and Jane Pearson.

Both are looking fit and are out to just give it their all on the water today.

Joining Reuben for the Cooks contingent in the men’s race will be Paul Pearson and John Beasley who both also have brand new canoes for today’s race which starts from Point Venus.

Yesterday Point Venus was abuzz with the junior Te Aito races staged where paddlers as young as 5 raced in mini canoes showing impressive skill and paddling prowess.

Today Point Venus will be paddling mecca and madness as over 800 paddlers line up along the coast, six deep in some places, for one of the biggest single man races of the year.

The local paddlers aren’t the only Cook Islanders here at Te Aito Tahiti with musician Kathy George and the regular Whatever Bar and Grill string band flown over to Tahiti for the after party.

Turtles Tees has supplied t-shirts, Island Craft carved the men’s and women’s trophies, Hori Signs supplied stickers for canoes and paddlers and Air Rarotonga will fly the winners of Te Aito Tahiti to Rarotonga for next year’s Te Aito Cook Islands.

Tourism Cook Islands will also have a booth at Point Venus today to promote paddling events in the Cook Islands including the annual Vaka Eiva festival plus the country as a whole.

Photos and coverage of Cook Islands paddlers at Te Aito Tahiti will be published in Monday’s Cook Islands News.