Unko Bu tows Kīkaha’s canoes for the ‘ohana he loves
If you’ve raced for Kīkaha, your coaches got you to the finish line. But the person who got you to the starting line was Unko Bu.
He’s the one who has towed the club’s canoes behind his 2006 ¾-ton Chevy Silverado (180,000 miles and counting) to every long distance race and regatta since 2016.
Sure, Clifford “Unko Bu” Daniels does it because he loves the sport and the culture it represents. He grew up in Hau’ula in Hawaii and paddled canoes as a teenager. Paddling is a part of him. But the 65-year-old Daniels likes to point out that the people he’s met along the way are the best part – his Kīkaha ‘ohana as well as the sport’s champions, legends and storied boat designers that he’s encountered.
“Doing this whole thing is to be around the people I love,” he said.
Daniels didn’t come to Kīkaha as a paddler. A work injury in 2010 made it impossible to get into and out of a canoe. Instead, Daniels got involved with the club when his cousin, Kīkaha head coach Gordon Martinez, asked him to tow a few canoes to a race.
“Gordon knew that I had driven a tractor trailer when I was a delivery driver for DHL and he knew that canoes would not be a problem for me,” Daniels said. “Plus, they could not or did not have anyone to tow the canoes. Then a couple of weeks later cousin Gordon called me again and said ‘Hey cuz would you tow for us again? But this time we need you to tow six canoes this weekend to a race in Seattle.’”
His response was automatic.
“I said to cousin Gordon, shoots cuz, I got you,” Daniels recalled.
Brian Martin, a Kīkaha assistant head coach, praised Daniels’ reliability: “If you say 7, he’s there at 6:45, waiting.”
But the trait Martin likes most about Daniels is his ability to connect with others. Anyone, everyone, gets the driver’s full attention, Martin said.
“People he rarely sees, he remembers,” Martin said. “He will ask how they are. He will remember a family’s name. He genuinely cares. That’s rare.”
Kīkaha hopes to set an example for environmental stewardship
A few years ago, Kīkaha member Kari Fadler was discussing the need for recycling with a friend who has a background in environmental science. The conversation blew her mind.
Fadler is passionate about recycling. She’s pondered excess plastics, like used toothbrush components and empty plastic floss containers, and the way bottled water is packaged. She and her husband, Kīkaha paddler Ed Fadler, take extra care to recycle items in their home and subscribe to a service called Ridwell, which helps to dispose of items that are not easily recycled.
But her friend told her the efforts wouldn’t do much. To make an impact, she would need volume.
That got the Fadlers to ask: How could Kīkaha be an eco-friendly example for paddlers throughout the Pacific Northwest? The answer is a new Kīkaha initiative to reduce the club’s plastic waste.
“The individual can only do so much,” Kari Fadler said. “Ed and I got to thinking we try very hard in our household but we are part of a larger organization that can do something. The idea was that we couldn’t put the responsibility on individuals. We have to work together.”
In January, the Fadlers offered a plan to the Kīkaha board, which wholeheartedly supported the idea.
“As a canoe club, we are dependent upon access to clean water,” the Fadlers wrote in a presentation. “In return, we must take responsibility to protect and preserve the natural beauty and health of our waterways. One of the easiest ways that we can care for the water is to reduce our club’s single-use plastic waste.”
Promoting a culture of environmental stewardship will help preserve the health of the water we cherish, they said.
“By making sustainable practices the norm within our club, we hope to lead by example, inspiring others in the paddling community to join us in minimizing our collective impact on the water,” the Fadlers wrote. “We can only make substantial changes by working together.”
Kīkaha’s sustainability effort will have a variety of goals, the Fadlers said. In the short term, it proposes:
- Replacing the use of individual water bottles at events with 5-gallon water jugs.
- Condensing storage of existing styrofoam, plastic, and paper goods from multiple households to a single collection.
- Using existing styrofoam, plastic and paper supplies before purchasing replacements.
- Establishing a system for sorting recyclable waste at events that is easy to use.
The sustainability effort also wants to consider long-term goals as well:
- Adopting the use of biodegradable flatware and food storage containers for events, rather than plastic and styrofoam.
- Sharing Kīkaha’s success at limiting single-use plastic with the larger paddling community as a model for other clubs.
Kīkaha members are encouraged to help. If you want to volunteer, email the Fadlers at kikaha.info@gmail.com.
Da Kīkaha Korner
Who dat?
We caught up with elite paddler Brent Campbell on his way back from California after he qualified in the V-1 masters division for the IVF World Distance Championship in August in Brazil.
Paddler: Brent Campbell, assistant coach
Paddling division: Masters/Open
Years paddling: 20 years
Years with Kīkaha: 1.5 years
Favorite race: “The Gorge one-man race because it’s fun surfing and a time of the year when it’s good weather. It’s a good trip, too. And I can compete with my normal people. It’s hard to go down to California in February and battle. Our weather here makes it hard to paddle.”
Favorite paddling experience: “I like one-man races because I can see the results of my training but some of the more memorable races have been with a crew. The distance championships in Tahiti (with Newport Aquatic Center in 2017) we did really well as a team. We got second. On the second lap we caught Shell Va’a in the flat water and then they left us in the surf.”
Why paddle: “I like to push my limits. And it seems like something I can find a new approach to each year. And I have a knack for it.”
Aw’ryte!
Celebrate the lunar new year with your Kīkaha teammates at the annual Asia Pacific New Year Celebration from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Feb. 15 at the Tacoma Dome Exhibition Center. The free event is sponsored by the Asia Pacific Cultural Center, a longtime Kīkaha supporter. There will be ono food, entertainment and vendor booths. Boy Chun Fook will be there at the entrance with an OC1, so flash him a shaka and an aw’ryte…
Don’t forget (not that you could!) that Kīkaha’s 2025 season starts with canoe rigging and cleanup at the club’s Foss Waterway site at 9 a.m. March 9. The first weekday practices will be on Tuesday March 11 and Thursday March 13 (5 p.m. show, 5:30 p.m. go). The first Saturday practice will be on March 15 (8:30 a.m. show, 9 a.m. go)…
But wait! There’s more! After rigging the canoes on March 9, join your club members at the annual general meeting and potluck at 11:30 a.m. at 220 S 27th St. in Tacoma. Kīkaha leadership will provide updates on the club’s two new canoes. Why are they dubbed the twins? You’ll have to be there to find out…
Mahalo to Luke Hilger, manager at Katie Downs Waterfront Tavern & Eatery, for the $500 sponsorship. The tavern staff has seen Kīkaha crews paddling along Ruston Way many times and is excited to be part of our ohana. Whatcha say we all flash them a few shakas the next time we paddle by!
Aw’ryte!
Look, in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it’s a paddler!
This month we have another workout from Kīkaha kupuna paddler John Murillo, who has a master’s degree in exercise physiology from Temple University and was certified by the American College of Sports Medicine.
So you want to be a superman or superwoman paddler? Well, one of the muscle groups least thought about, but most felt when paddling, is your lower back.
The lower back is made up of erector spinae, iliocaostalis, psoas and lower latisamus muscles. Most land-based training for paddling may or may not include workouts for these muscle groups. But these are important because they are incorporated in the catch, power phase and recovery of your stroke.
A strong lower back will make for a stronger stroke.
Supermans are a great exercise to do at home or at the gym. Always be mindful of your body and listen to what it’s telling you so not to injure or aggravate any existing back issues. You can always add a twist to vary the exercise.
Happy paddling!
Supermans
Lay on the floor face down. Extend your arms forward, then lift arms and legs off the floor. Hold for 15 seconds per set. Do 5-10 sets.
If you have lower back issues these can be modified by using an exercise ball where you are face down and your stomach is on the exercise ball. Put your hands behind your head and lower and lift your torso while your stomach maintains contact with the ball.
Talk Story seeks to cultivate a strong, unified identity for Kīkaha O Ke Kai, reflecting the spirit of Hawaiian outrigger canoe paddling. It is dedicated to sharing club news and managing information promptly. It aims to provide members and supporters with a newsletter that enhances their connection to the club and represents our shared values on and off the water.