 Oceanographer Helen Czerski was writing her new book, which she describes as a 'love letter to the ocean', when she decided to give outrigger canoeing a try. But if you're imaging a plastic canoe you might spot in a canal on a sunny day, think again. An outrigger canoes is a six-person boat, most commonly used in Hawaii and the South Pacific. They're traditional, long, wooden vessels, with an extra float on the side. For Helen, who is also a physicist and BBC TV science presenter, outrigger canoeing not only brought her happiness, but deepened her love for the ocean. This is clear for those who've read her book, The Blue Machine: How The Ocean Shapes Our Lives, where she examines 'the messengers, passengers and voyagers that live in it, travel over it, and survive because of it.' Here she talks to Metro.co.uk about finding contentment thanks to her unusual hobby on the water. What is an outrigger canoe? An outrigger canoe is a type of boat that's very common in Hawaii and the Pacific and has been traditionally used for thousands of years to do small daily tasks. So not for long journeys, but to go fishing and errands. It's a long, thin canoe and they have six people in them commonly. It has a connector that goes from the boat to an extra little float. This lets it ride the water in a way that other canoes don't. The traditions of outrigger canoeing are very strong in the Pacific, but it also exists as a growing sport and there are races all over the world. Why did you start to paddle in London in a canoe built for islands in the Pacific? It was unplanned and unexpected. I was new to London and heard someone mention a local Pacific canoe club. I didn't know what an outrigger was, but I reckoned that if there was a group of people bonkers enough to scoot around the opaque and chilly waters of the Thames estuary in a canoe designed for the equatorial Pacific, we'd probably ge){kind=link}
NEWS… BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT
Oceanographer Helen Czerski was writing her new book, which she describes as a ‘love letter to the ocean’, when she decided to give outrigger canoeing a try.
But if you’re imaging a plastic canoe you might spot in a canal on a sunny day, think again.
An outrigger canoes is a six-person boat, most commonly used in Hawaii and the South Pacific. They’re traditional, long, wooden vessels, with an extra float on the side.
For Helen, who is also a physicist and BBC TV science presenter, outrigger canoeing not only brought her happiness, but deepened her love for the ocean.