HCRA President's message,

September 10, 2020

Aloha

Our HCRA and our worldwide ohana wa'a continue to deal with a very strong, very dangerous opponent. We know as an ohana we are strong and we are healthy, but unfortunately that in itself is not enough to prevent the pandemic from affecting us, our families, and our friends.

It is encouraging to know that many of our members are taking the opportunity to get out on the water in oc1, oc2, oc6, and oc12 canoes and are able to work with each islands' different rules and regulations to gather and to access the ocean.

Although paddling is our main exercise, and our love, the rules and regulations we all must follow deal with the overall approach our communities, and our state must take to "flatten the curve". We all know we want to return to our normal ways of doing things, but ever changing conditions make for difficult decisions by our government and health department officials to try to protect us. We may not always agree with the directives, but we must recognize and follow them. Because each island has similar but also different policies, it is important to communicate with your club and your association leaders and let them know your issues and your ideas. If you need something from HCRA, or one of our government or health departments, please let me know, and I will do my best to help you, or lead you in the right direction.

The HCRA board of directors, with your kokua, continues to plan for the future of our sport, our culture, and our state championships. We are working with each other to lokahi holomua, move forward together. We can do this.

Mahalo,