Practice
at Olango

Paddle Forward Cebu · June 2021

Scroll

Photo Story — 1 June 2021

Two weeks before the 227-kilometer Paddle Forward expedition, the crew trained in the waters off Olango Island — the reef-fringed island facing Mactan, and the Philippine Outrigger Canoe Club's open-water classroom. Budots Media was in the boat and in the air.

Paddle Forward Cebu practice at Olango Island, June 2021, by Budots Media

Practice days like this are where Island Buzz — Buzzy Budlong's paddling outfit, running Cebu's waters since 2002 — and the Philippine Outrigger Canoe Club (POCC) did the unglamorous work behind the expedition: crew rotations, stroke timing, docking drills, reading tide and wind across the Olango channel. Dragon boat paddlers, triathletes and a 16-year-old learning to move one OC6 as a single body.

OC6 crew in formation off Cebu, by Budots Media
"Two days to go — Paddle Forward Cebu. Here's some photos of their practice." — Budots Media, June 2021

Olango is fitting training water: a marine sanctuary and wetland reserve where POCC's advocacy — paddling as ocean stewardship, boats as heritage — is not abstract. Fourteen days later the same crew set off from SRP to circle Cebu.

Full album: PFC 2021-06-01 Practice Olango · Continue to Big Canoe, Bigger Dream.

← All stories