The first World Sprint Championships featuring the Hydra are now just weeks away. Across Australia, clubs have been working through the same challenge of how to turn these lightweight canoes well. Their speed is clear, but getting the best out of them around the turns has taken plenty of work and shared knowledge.
The way clubs have responded says a lot about our sport. Club colours and competition matter, but people have still been willing to share what they know and help paddlers from other clubs. That is ohana in practice, helping one another so we can all move the sport forward.
This spirit is not new, but learning to master the Hydra has brought it into clearer focus. It is a reminder that the strength of our sport comes from the formal and informal leaders within our clubs who make this culture possible.
Five Islands Outrigger Canoe Club would like to thank Pete Williams, Leia Sakaria, PJ Dorries and Leisha Antunovich for sharing their knowledge, challenging our thinking and helping develop our paddlers.
Thanks also to the Five Islands members who have filled seats at training and made it possible for our crews to get quality sessions on the water.
We also thank Port Hacking Outriggers Club, Hekili Outrigger Canoe Club, Mooloolaba Outrigger Canoe Club, Sunshine Outrigger Canoe Club and Noosa OCC for making their Hydra and training canoes available to us. The opportunity to train in these canoes has been invaluable in preparing our athletes for the IVF World Sprint Championships in Singapore.
Six Five Islands paddlers, together with a Hekili paddler who has trained with us for the past three months, will join athletes from outrigger clubs across Australia in Singapore. All seven are better prepared because of the cooperation and support shown by our wider paddling community.
On behalf of everyone at Five Islands Outrigger Canoe Club, thank you. We hope to honour your example by paying it forward.
John Leard
President, FIOCC
Five Islands Outrigger Canoe Club
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Lake and ocean paddling in the Illawarra — learn, train, race and connect.
23/06/2026
Hamilton Island Outrigger Cup 2026
Five Islands was proudly represented at this year’s Hamilton Island Outrigger Cup, with paddlers competing across OC1, OC2 and OC6 events and achieving strong results across both the 16 km and 42 km races.
Five Islands crews had a fantastic weekend on the water, with strong results in the Open Men, Open Mixed and 42 km events. A special thank you to Jess Crowe, Will Lee and Anisha Huntley for joining our Five Islands Open Mixed crew and helping deliver an outstanding result.
Five Islands results:
1st Open Mixed, 16 km — 1st overall
1st Open Men, 16 km — 3rd overall
1st Open Men, 42 km Changes Race — 3rd overall
1st Golden Master Mixed OC2 — John Leard and Tamea Rice, 10th overall
7th Open Men OC1 — Reuben Thompson, 37th overall
Team Cronulla also welcomed Five Islands paddlers into their crews. John Leard raced with the Open Men, while Kim Walker raced with the women’s crew. After Jenny Madden and Lisa Brune were sidelined by injury only days before racing, Anna Muraoka and Tamea Rice stepped in at short notice. With paddlers from Cronulla Outrigger Canoe Club, Kurnell Outrigger Canoe Club, Port Hacking Outriggers Club and Five Islands coming together, the women’s crew adapted quickly, supported one another and gave everything they had under challenging circumstances.
Team Cronulla results:
3rd Open Men, 42 km Changes Race — including John Leard, 10th overall
3rd Open Women, 42 km Changes Race — including Kim Walker, Tamea Rice and Anna Muraoka, 45th overall
6th Open Women, 16 km — Margherita’s, including Anna Muraoka, 16th overall
7th Open Women, 16 km — Margaret’s, including Kim Walker and Tamea Rice, 18th overall
Thanks to Mark Bell, John Leard also joined Mission Beach Masters Men for the 16 km race, continuing the spirit of paddlers supporting crews across the event.
Mission Beach result:
8th Masters Men, 16 km — including John Leard, 33rd overall
A huge thank you to the Hamilton Island Cup 2026 organising team, especially AOCRA for hosting this event, the Event Coordinator Gena Kenny, for bringing this event together, and to Paddle Life TV and Ocean Paddler for their coverage and support of the paddling community.
A special mention to Stewart Woodger, whose contribution extends far beyond race day. From steering, coaching and organising the many logistics that come with getting crews to major events, to the countless hours spent training and developing young paddlers and fostering a strong competitive culture, Stewart continues to invest enormously in our club, which in turn strengthens the wider sport of outrigger canoeing.
Congratulations to all Five Islands paddlers who raced, stepped up, supported crews and represented the club so well throughout the weekend.
Tamea Rice & John Leard
Vice President & President
22/06/2026
Hamilton Island Cup 2026
Congratulations to all our paddlers that went up!
We got some amazing photos of our superstar paddlers from Paddle Life TV 🙌🙌🙌
22/06/2026
Well done team 👊
27/05/2026
National Marathons 2026 — Club Points
Five Islands OCC finished 7th overall on the National Marathons Club Points table.
That is a strong result for our club and a reflection of the effort, commitment and team spirit our paddlers brought across the event.
To finish in the top 10 nationally is something to be proud of, especially alongside some very established clubs.
A big thank you to all our paddlers, steers, supporters, and everyone behind the scenes who helped make it happen.
Well done Five Islands.
John and Tamea
23/05/2026
Tamea and myself want to say a huge thank you to everyone who helped make Nationals such a successful weekend for Five Islands.
A big thank you to AOCRA and Coffs Coast for hosting and delivering such a huge event.
Weekends like this take a massive amount of work behind the scenes, and we appreciate the effort that went into giving clubs the opportunity to come together and race.
To everyone in our club who raced, steered, organised crews, helped with canoes, sorted gear, set up, packed down, towed, loaded, tied down, cheered from the beach, supported from home, and quietly did the jobs that keep a weekend like this moving — thank you.
Nationals takes a full club effort. From the planning before we left, to the racing, the new Hydra arriving, the blessing, the rigging, the pack-up and the long trip home, there were a lot of moving parts. It was great to see people stepping in, helping each other and representing Five Islands so well.
We are incredibly proud of all our competitors who came away with medals across the weekend. Every podium result takes training, commitment and trust in your crew to go hard. Those results are something the whole club can be proud of.
We are just as proud of everyone who put themselves on the start line, whether they came home with a medal, a hard lesson, a race memory, or simply knowing they gave everything they had on the water.
For us, that is what made the weekend successful. Not just the results, but the way Five Islands showed up as a club.
Thank you again to everyone who played a part.
Proud of our club.
John and Tamea
President and Vice President
Five Islands Outrigger Canoe Club
18/05/2026
A few shots of our members racing up at the AOCRA National Marathon Champs in Coffs Harbour 🌊
We had some epic conditions and results.
Well done FIOCC 🙌
Day 1:
🥇 U12 girls OC1 - Alexis Herrald
🥉 U12 boys OC1 - Ned Herrald
4th SMMx OC2 short course - Carmen and Martin
🥈 OW OC1 short course - Nadine
🥉 OW OC1 short course - Anna
🥇 OW OC1 long course - Leah
🥉 OM OC1 long course - Luke
4th OM OC1 long course - Riley
5th OM OC1 long course - Reuben
🥇 OM V1 long course - Dylan
🥉 SMM OC1 long course - Stewart
11th SMM OC1 long course - Dean
🥈 SMM V1 long course - Kelvin
🥇 GMMx OC2 long course - John and Tamea
🥇 U12 mixed V3 - Alexis, Ned and Ben
Day 2:
🥉 OW unlimited OC6 long course
🥇 OM unlimited OC6 long course
4th OM unlimited OC6 long course
🥈 GMM OC6 long course
Special shoutout to our juniors - Payton, Alexis and Ned - which jumped in combined crews with other juniors.
🥇 for Alexis and Ned’s U12 crew and 🥉for Payton’s minnows crew
Day 3:
🥇 MMx unlimited OC6 long course
🥈 OMx unlimited OC6 long course
🥈 OW unlimited OC6 short course
5th SMW unlimited OC6 short course
🥈 SMM unlimited OC6 short course
25/03/2026
This morning 🌅
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