Making Waves in S'pore

Outrigger canoeing fraternity stages 15th edition of race; will host 2026 world championships

- Hana Chen

When Xavier Marle Keutch competed in his first outrigger canoeing race 14 years ago, the Frenchman had no idea what he was getting himself into.

"We literally met on the beach, and we didn't even do the right course; we did an extra island, and we finished dead last, and it was fun!" the 42-year-old photographer recalled.

His love for the sport led him to co-found Va'a Team France – an outrigger paddling team of French nationals who train on Sentosa Island – in 2015, after he and his compatriots realised the community of French paddlers here had rapidly expanded.

The modern sport of outrigger canoeing utilises large canoes known as va'a originating from the Polynesian islands.

Once used as a method of transport, the va'a, which range from one-man to six-man boats, are now used in canoeing races that vary from short sprints of 250m to gruelling marathons of 65km.

What sparked Keutch's enthusiasm for va'a was the Country of Origin (COO) race in Singapore, which was established in 2010 as a way for Singapore's then-fledgling outrigger canoeing community to participate in friendly competition while representing their home nations.