Growth in popularity of outrigger canoe paddling has certainly not been hampered by having canoe weight regulated to that based on traditional wooden craft. In fact the growth of the sport based on the original model, has created a market where supply is pressed to meet demand .
Meeting the demand requires mass production, but a problem with the traditional build procedure is that it is very labour intensive and time consuming. As a result, production engineering facilities have been challenged in finding ways to overcome this problem. A 'solution' has been found by production orientated thinkers (in overcoming the labour intensive process which comprises a traditionally developed build procedure seen in traditional canoes va'a ,wa, waka and vaka) by copying a surfski.
In order to understand the difference between a traditional canoe and other floating forms or 'boats', the obvious test is to compare it with a Tahitian va'a. The Va'a is built up from a hull, which is derived from a dugout, and when laminated hulls replace a dugout (whether of laminated wood or a man made fibre matrix composite), nothing changes in the actual structural composition of the craft. Such craft have open cockpits, and need a fabric cover if paddled in rough water. This open cockpit has never meant that a canoe is not suitable for open water. A HAWAIIAN CANOE IS NOT REGARDED AS A FLAT WATER CRAFT BECAUSE IT HAS AN OPEN COCKPIT. Despite the above facts, clever marketing has resulted in a general belief that the distinction between 'open' and 'flat' water craft is based on cockpit configuration - to the point that sit-ons are even talked about as having 'cockpits' better suited to rough water conditions.
A boat shaped carbon fibre air container with holes through it where the feet are placed, does not have a cockpit, and is not technically a waka, or va'a, because it cannot hold any water in the manner of a receptacle. It cannot be bailed by the paddler because it is a watertight air container, and could just as well be a solid form in foam material, like a surfboard.
Making a boat shaped, tube-like structure is the quickest and cheapest way to mass produce a commodity classed as a watercraft, since the part count is reduced to two components, creating a unit float, while being the lightest possible floating thing if made from space age materials. However, it belongs to the surfski family, rather than being a va'a.
Surfski type craft have an inherent weight advantage in their design, besides their modern structural simplicity, and this feature (lightweight) is an obvious advantage that clever sales promotion has used, stressing the point and persuading people to believe that it is the single most important factor in outrigger canoe characteristics. This hype discounts any cost penalty, even short life or durability.
The OC reps are right about modern design and technology having speed advantage over traditional design and materials technology. However, by the same reckoning, technology to build lightweight tubes instead of wakas, offers an even greater advantage when paddled as a surfski (which such a craft technically is anyway).
If paddling speed is the only object, then surely the fastest configuration is the best, and there is no doubt that a surfski without an outrigger is therefore the sensible thing to promote. Instead, cashing in on demand for a craft that is easier to paddle than a surfski, a hybrid has been produced which has gate-crashed the outrigger class.
Competition between surfskis with/without outriggers is unequal with regard to regulation for fair competition, which has resulted in outriggers being placed in a different category to surfskis. This is of course a sensible thing, so likewise, making the distinction between a waka and a surfski with an outrigger is relevant too.
A recent race in NZ clearly demonstrated the competitive disparity between a surfski type outrigger and a va'a, when the race lead was being contested by a genuine Tahitian va'a and an American type OC (NZ has a 'mixed bag' classification system, where a division exists for those that prefer Tahitian style paddling, alongside American type OC's as well). Using rudder control, the sit-on OC was paddled with it's ama flying, whereby drag was reduced to give a performance advantage and allow it to gain a slight lead over the va'a. The va'a was of course paddled using the ama for stability, and thus suffering drag that unavoidably comes with it.
Now, given that the ama stability is a necessary part of the system when paddle steering using a single bladed paddle, it is understandable why an outrigger is there in the first place. On the other hand, since this competition demonstrates the advantage in paddling without ama drag when rudder steered, we can see that a different discipline is being followed - in such case the sit-on with ama flying is not in the same paddling mode, even though a single bladed paddle is used. A combination of factors determines the paddling discipline rather than the simple fact of having an outrigger - which is possibly not even in the water.
When the importance of the combination of factors is taken into account, regulation is possible to create a fair level of competition. Creating rules for fair competition usually involves a minimum weight restriction and when the spin-off is cost effective as well as fairness, then it is a good thing, so when removal of weight restriction alone is advocated, the motive is ambiguous. When the weight factor becomes so very important, then losing the ama is a logical option , since it only weighs and slows the craft down. There is no other reason for having it other than to make it easier to maintain stability when paddle steering is eliminated -the ama on a surfski is nothing but a 'trainer float which in turn causes drag to slow the craft down.
Surfski paddlers invariably see no benefit in avoidable weight, drag, and limitation in stroke-rating resulting from the two things that we are supposed to believe are differentiating factors between OC's and skis. For skis, light craft weight contributes to acceleration while optimum drive resulting from efficient stroke rating related to paddle design (double bladed paddles).
Since fitting an outrigger to a surfski offers no advantage in weight or speed, promotional hype for sit-on outriggers is a bit like trying to justify ballast keels as speed enhancing devices on Americas Cup racers. We know that lighter sailing craft without keels, like skiffs for example, are faster than America's cup yachts, just like surfskis without outriggers are faster than those which have them - besides the fact that they cost can be reduced as well.
However, like Americas Cup keelboat sailing competition, practiced within the framework of it's regulations, va'a paddlers take the effect of outriggers and single bladed paddles into account in determining their skills level within the discipline.
Now, having capitalized on a largely ignorant market, it seems that acceptance of rudder controled sit-ons as a so called 'better', more advanced form of outrigger canoeing, has led to sights being set on 'improving' the six man craft. Web sites, e-zines etc, set up as marketing tools, are opening forums along the lines that canoe builders of old used only the very best in materials for lightness and speed, so are intimating that we should do the same with canoe design using modern materials. Pointing the way for so called 'progress' to be made - this is purely gabbing.
Changing the basic tenet of design to mass produce a new class of paddling craft is one thing, but claiming that the traditional model is inferior or obsolete, is nothing but agressive marketing in extreme.
Whether a canoe consists of cellulose fibres bonded by nature itself to create wood, or else some other man made fibre which is laminate to create a canoe, is not the issue. What is important is that skilled hands along with capable paddler mentality are employed to build a craft that is paddled by hands with paddling skills. Paddling skills of a high order, rather than just stroking a paddle to create drive on a floating object, while a rudder eliminates most of the fine points of control.
On the subject of surfskis with outriggers - an open class is not a bad idea, one where all restriction is removed. If a high-tech lightweight craft with low drag is most important, then why on earth regulate to specify use of outriggers and single blade paddles. Surfskis without outriggers will always beat those that have them, and a double bladed paddle will propel a lightweight craft better than a single blade ever will. Rather than regulating for outriggers and single blade paddles in contradiction to the quest for paddling efficiency on the lightest possible craft, it makes sense for the so called progressive minds to call for removal of restrictions altogether. OC therefore can mean OPEN CLASS! where anything goes, without weight or any other restrictions.
Contrary to the above, Waka ama within the framework of regulation allied to the Tahitian discipline, can still be practiced without copying the American hybrid and still have the same open water advantage. SoutherOutriggers foot-bailer cockpit waka have been designed and produced to show that this is possible.