LIHUE — Hanalei Canoe Club is still rebuilding and recovering from the April floods on Kauai’s North Shore, and one local photographer is finding a way to help with the effort.
“I’m putting together an art show to help raise money for the Hanalei Canoe Club since they lost their racing canoes,” said Kit Furderer, professional photographer who lives in Wailua.
The show, which started June 1, is being staged at the ITI Wine Bar next to Tahiti Nui in Hanalei and 10 percent of all proceeds are going to Hanalei Canoe Club for new canoes and other needed items.
April’s heavy flooding heavily damaged the canoe club’s hale and the things inside — the shower area, printers and paper products and appliances like fridges. The flooding also swept outrigger canoes out to sea and wrapped them around trees. Most of the club’s paddles were lost in the event.
In total, nine of the club’s 12 6-man canoes were lost, as well as nearly 30 personal 1-man canoes, rigging and equipment. Other island clubs, as well as local clubs, raced to lend Hanalei Canoe Club members enough equipment and canoes to resume training for the 2018 season.
Some of those club’s canoes are featured in Furderer’s photography and the culture around outrigger canoeing is the main theme of the art show.
A photographer since the late 1990s, Furderer got his start taking pictures for skateboarding magazines. He moved to Kauai in 2011 and now runs his own photography business, as well as advertising for Holo Holo Charters.
His photos will be up in the Wine Bar all month.
Now, more than a month after the flood event, canoe club members said they’re still working to find solid ground and are thrilled that community members are still coming up with ways to help those affected by the floods.
The group’s fundraiser, the Ha’ena to Hanalei Run, would have happened June 2, but was canceled because Kuhio Highway wasn’t open in time for the run.
“We can’t get to the canoe club yet, we’re at the pavilion,” said Julie Wallace, one of the founders of the club. “Things are coming along, but it’s going to be a while. It’s not going to happen for months and months.”
