Vuda Point
Club History
Located only 15 minutes outside of Lautoka City is the youngest outrigger canoe club in Fiji, the Vuda Canoe Club which is based in Vuda Point Marina.
Before we became an official club in 2008, outrigger canoeing at Vuda had first been established back in 2005 where the Vuda Yacht Club had purchased a V6 outrigger canoe to see if it could generate enough interest to take up this growing water sport in Fiji. Only a couple of people had taken interest in this sport for recreational and personal fitness purposes at the time.
We knew we were in no position during that time to become an official club member under the parent body Fiji Outrigger Canoe Racing Association to compete with other established clubs because we did not have any experienced paddlers, coaching or even proper paddles to start with. For some time we had to use plastic paddles for us to enjoy canoeing out at Vuda Point until we officially were donated wooden paddles by Mr Marc McElrath who is a long time resident of Vuda Point and an avid supporter of our club.
From that time onwards, Vuda began to participate in friendly challenges against our neighbours across the bay, Nadi Bay Canoe Club and then would to eventually show up from time to time when there were regattas hosted by Nadi Bay Canoe Club at Wailoloa Beach in Nadi from 2006-2007.
With our very limited paddler numbers sharing only the one V6 canoe, we mainly regarded outrigger canoeing at Vuda Point more as an outdoor activity than take it seriously enough to become an official club that would participate at local regattas on the Fiji Outrigger Annual Calender.
In 2008, the Vuda Yacht Club got behind us once more and sponsored us for the whole year where we had competed on a more frequent basis therefore which also cemented our status in Outrigger Canoeing Fiji as officially the newest club in Fiji as well as the 2nd club based within the Western Division.
In April 2009, Fiji Outrigger has provided the club with a 2nd V6 canoe to help further establish our Club in terms of having competitive training sessions as well as generating more interest in people taking up the sport at Vuda Point.
Since then we currently have 25 registered paddlers who are part of the Vuda Canoe Club for 2009.
Facilities
Vuda Canoe Club is very fortunate to have its club base right at Vuda Marina where its members have full access to the Vuda Yacht Club’s family friendly bar and restaurant that overlooks the Mamanuca islands and Nadi across the bay. It provides some great scenery especially during sunsets and serves as a fantastic venue for paddlers or even non paddlers who make the effort to drive over to Vuda to relax by the bar, enjoy a few drinks, the ocean breeze, watch the yachts enter the marina and eat some great food from the restaurant.
Each Sunday during and after training sessions, paddlers enjoy the luxury of listening to live music at the Vuda Yacht Club which draws in some good crowds from around the West.
Change rooms, restrooms and shower facilities are all available on site. There is a General Store, Café and Boat Shop to cater for any other needs that may be required by paddlers and non paddlers.
Goals for 2009
Vuda Canoe Club’s main goal for 2009 is to become a well established and recognized outrigger canoe club in Fiji and wish to leave behind them their “fringe club status” as earlier mentioned.
We also wish to improve the popularity of the club by securing more members from the local area whether they seek to take up this great outdoor water sport in a competitive manner or simply to live a healthy lifestyle and meet and make new friends through canoeing.
As a young club, it is our goal to also improve performance wise through competing in as many regattas as possible and to learn as much as we possibly can to master the art of outrigger canoeing.
Sponsors for 2009 Season
Coffee Warehouse Fiji
Sitar Indian Restaurant
Navini Island Resort
Chilli Tree Café
Punja and Sons
Subsurface Fiji
Baobab Marine
Weekly Training sessions
Tuesdays and Thursdays 5:30pm – 8:00pm
Normally on the Tuesday and Thursday training sessions we take the canoes out of the channel of Vuda Marina and enjoy the open sea before it gets dark
We are quite fortunate to have the privilege of continuing on with our training within the Vuda Marina Basin once it gets dark as it is very sheltered and quite safe to conduct a decent training session.
Saturdays 2:30pm – 5:30pm
Sunday training sessions are optional depending on those paddlers who are willing to train on the “day of rest”.
For further enquiries please contact Lorenzo Ah Sam at 9940000
Vuda Canoe Club Committee for 2009
Club President
Dwayne Worthington
Vice President
Lorenzo Ah Sam
Secretary
Carina Bjiers
Treasurer
Gerard Lord
Located only 15 minutes outside of Lautoka City is the youngest outrigger canoe club in Fiji, the Vuda Canoe Club which is based in Vuda Point Marina.
Before we became an official club in 2008, outrigger canoeing at Vuda had first been established back in 2005 where the Vuda Yacht Club had purchased a V6 outrigger canoe to see if it could generate enough interest to take up this growing water sport in Fiji. Only a couple of people had taken interest in this sport for recreational and personal fitness purposes at the time.
We knew we were in no position during that time to become an official club member under the parent body Fiji Outrigger Canoe Racing Association to compete with other established clubs because we did not have any experienced paddlers, coaching or even proper paddles to start with. For some time we had to use plastic paddles for us to enjoy canoeing out at Vuda Point until we officially were donated wooden paddles by Mr Marc McElrath who is a long time resident of Vuda Point and an avid supporter of our club.
From that time onwards, Vuda began to participate in friendly challenges against our neighbours across the bay, Nadi Bay Canoe Club and then would to eventually show up from time to time when there were regattas hosted by Nadi Bay Canoe Club at Wailoloa Beach in Nadi from 2006-2007.
With our very limited paddler numbers sharing only the one V6 canoe, we mainly regarded outrigger canoeing at Vuda Point more as an outdoor activity than take it seriously enough to become an official club that would participate at local regattas on the Fiji Outrigger Annual Calender.
In 2008, the Vuda Yacht Club got behind us once more and sponsored us for the whole year where we had competed on a more frequent basis therefore which also cemented our status in Outrigger Canoeing Fiji as officially the newest club in Fiji as well as the 2nd club based within the Western Division.
In April 2009, Fiji Outrigger has provided the club with a 2nd V6 canoe to help further establish our Club in terms of having competitive training sessions as well as generating more interest in people taking up the sport at Vuda Point.
Since then we currently have 25 registered paddlers who are part of the Vuda Canoe Club for 2009.
Facilities
Vuda Canoe Club is very fortunate to have its club base right at Vuda Marina where its members have full access to the Vuda Yacht Club’s family friendly bar and restaurant that overlooks the Mamanuca islands and Nadi across the bay. It provides some great scenery especially during sunsets and serves as a fantastic venue for paddlers or even non paddlers who make the effort to drive over to Vuda to relax by the bar, enjoy a few drinks, the ocean breeze, watch the yachts enter the marina and eat some great food from the restaurant.
Each Sunday during and after training sessions, paddlers enjoy the luxury of listening to live music at the Vuda Yacht Club which draws in some good crowds from around the West.
Change rooms, restrooms and shower facilities are all available on site. There is a General Store, Café and Boat Shop to cater for any other needs that may be required by paddlers and non paddlers.
Goals for 2009
Vuda Canoe Club’s main goal for 2009 is to become a well established and recognized outrigger canoe club in Fiji and wish to leave behind them their “fringe club status” as earlier mentioned.
We also wish to improve the popularity of the club by securing more members from the local area whether they seek to take up this great outdoor water sport in a competitive manner or simply to live a healthy lifestyle and meet and make new friends through canoeing.
As a young club, it is our goal to also improve performance wise through competing in as many regattas as possible and to learn as much as we possibly can to master the art of outrigger canoeing.
Sponsors for 2009 Season
Coffee Warehouse Fiji
Sitar Indian Restaurant
Navini Island Resort
Chilli Tree Café
Punja and Sons
Subsurface Fiji
Baobab Marine
Weekly Training sessions
Tuesdays and Thursdays 5:30pm – 8:00pm
Normally on the Tuesday and Thursday training sessions we take the canoes out of the channel of Vuda Marina and enjoy the open sea before it gets dark
We are quite fortunate to have the privilege of continuing on with our training within the Vuda Marina Basin once it gets dark as it is very sheltered and quite safe to conduct a decent training session.
Saturdays 2:30pm – 5:30pm
Sunday training sessions are optional depending on those paddlers who are willing to train on the “day of rest”.
For further enquiries please contact Lorenzo Ah Sam at 9940000
Vuda Canoe Club Committee for 2009
Club President
Dwayne Worthington
Vice President
Lorenzo Ah Sam
Secretary
Carina Bjiers
Treasurer
Gerard Lord
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