Tinian inspired to paddle

The 8th Micronesian Cup had people lining the beach behind the Saipan World Resort for the past couple of days and one of the paddlers from Tinian is looking to bring the traditional sport across the channel as soon as possible.

Paddler Grafton Howard has been living and working on Tinian for the past year and plans to be there for at least another. While he enjoys getting out on the water, Howard wants to bring the team aspect of the sport to Tinian.

“I am one of the few that gets to enjoy open water sports on my one-man canoe. I am looking forward to the day when Tinian will be represented with teams in races. We’re trying to get some equipment over to Tinian and I’m sure the development of the sport will progress form there,” he said.

Howard said that he has been dealing with members of the Saipan Outrigger Canoe Club in laying the foundation for the Tinian program but said that there is still a long road ahead before the races get started across the channel.

“We’re going to work through the federation. SOCC said that there are going to be some upcoming meetings and they are going to make mention and emphasis that Tinian is growing and is ready to start forming teams and getting competitive. Saipan is going to be instrumental in the development of Tinian’s teams,” he said.

Based on the progress of the Saipan’s teams, Howard said that once the Tinian program gets started it will just be a matter of time before the CNMI can have two competitive islands entered in the international races.

“The level of sport on Saipan is increasing, as we see Guam teams no longer come here and dominate all events. It’s such a great feat because now Guam can expect Saipan to come there and watch as we place first, second, or third. Between Saipan, Guam, and Palau we have three teams jockeying for the top three places,” he said.

While Tinian didn’t enter a team in the Micronesian Cup, Howard was still able to participate by joining the newly formed Oleai Canoe Club—one that he hopes to keep open after the event.

“It’s a newly formed canoe club and I hope we keep it going. Rep. Ray Tebuteb was very instrumental in getting this club together for this event. We competed valiantly but we didn’t place. Most of our team members have not been very active in the sport and today for the distance, half of them didn’t show because of the aches and pains from all of the effort they put in from the sprints,” he said.

That wasn’t too much of a problem as Howard said that OCC was joining some of the members of Fatu’ul to form a mixed team for the final event.