Outrigger canoe group: Hoe Pa’a!
Hoe Pa’a means “paddle strong” in the native Hawaiian language.
It is one of the rules that the New Hope Canoe Club Ministry Team Atlantic lives by.
The group is more than a canoe club. The members blend physical exercise with a spiritual experience to connect to the waters of Lewes.
David Schofield is the founder, head coach and an ordained chaplain.
“We try to live the aloha,” Schofield said.
The team carried one of its four 44-foot long, six-person traditional outrigger canoes to the public launch in Canalfront Park May 7. They were heading out for a 10-mile training run, up the Lewes-Rehoboth Canal, out Roosevelt Inlet and into the ocean.
The group can often be heard before they are seen, as the captain shouts “Ho!” to signal when the team shifts their paddles from the left to right side of the canoe.
Schofield said they have about 50 members and are always looking for more.
The New Hope Canoe Club Ministry Team Atlantic will be part of Lewes Maritime Day, which will be held from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday, May 17, at Canalfront Park.
Schofield said people can come out and get a taste of the outrigger life.
For more information on the canoe group, go to newhopeatlantic.org.
Bill Shull has been covering Lewes for the Cape Gazette since 2023. He comes to the world of print journalism after 40 years in TV news. Bill has worked in his hometown of Philadelphia, as well as Atlanta and Washington, D.C. He came to Lewes in 2014 to help launch WRDE-TV. Bill served as WRDE’s news director for more than eight years, working in Lewes and Milton. He is a 1986 graduate of Penn State University. Bill is an avid aviation and wildlife photographer, and a big Penn State football, Eagles, Phillies and PGA Tour golf fan. Bill, his wife Jill and their rescue cat, Lucky, live in Rehoboth Beach.
