Water Sports: The Peruvian Va'a or Outrigger National Team

Our country has more than 3000km of coastline bathed by the waters of the Pacific Ocean, making it an incredible spot for practicing water sports. Sports that have achieved great accomplishments, such as world and South American championships in Surfing, Stand Up Paddle, Bodyboarding, Longboarding, and now Outrigger, which is starting to collect its first medals.

Let's learn more about Va'a or Outrigger in Peru

Va'a, Polynesian Canoes or Outrigger, is one of the many water sports that has been developing at a good pace in our country for the past 5 years, thanks to the dedication and passion towards this sport by Rafael Belmont and Flavia Chavez-Tafur, who demonstrated their real interest with the construction of the first canoe made in Peru. To all this, we add the work of Carlos León and instructors, in promoting the practice of this water sport among young people, who are starting to achieve their first accomplishments and are the future of this sport.

South American Va'a Championship Peru 2013

It is worth mentioning that Peru hosted the South American Va'a Championship in 2013, showing a great image in terms of organization, and at a sports level some Peruvian athletes won medals in their respective disciplines. This made the Peruvian National Team start gaining more consideration when competing, in addition to arousing the interest of the IPD and starting the path to consolidate a Federation.

Peruvian Va'a Team in Santos, Brazil

The last edition of the South American championship took place in Santos, Brazil. The Peruvian Team formed a delegation of more than 30 athletes distributed in the Junior, Master, and Open categories. As they themselves express, it has been a very rewarding experience because they have managed to develop their technique and ability to paddle in other waters. [caption id="attachment_2806" align="aligncenter" width="960"] Santiago Murrugarra - Peruvian Va'a Team The sea of Brazil has not been a major obstacle, besides having a very pleasant temperature, they affirm that its waters are calm when they enter with their canoes, however, when they have paddled more kilometers out to sea, the difficulty increases slightly. [caption id="attachment_2804" align="aligncenter" width="960"] Renzo Landa, Yair Correa, Manuel Inga This championship has been very encouraging for all the athletes of the team to continue growing and sacrificing to reach a sports level in line with other countries in the region, such as Brazil, which has a greater number of boats and years of experience. So the young members of the Peruvian Va'a Team have returned with all the enthusiasm to do things right and grow little by little. We must highlight the work done by the clubs InkaNoa, Naylamp, and Kamoho to promote the practice of new water sports for all ages. It is important to mention the development of the Junior category, which is starting to add new talents and medals. [caption id="attachment_2805" align="aligncenter" width="960"] Santiago Murrugarra - Bronze Medal

Interested in practicing Va'a?

We leave you with the video of our visit to the activities carried out by the aforementioned clubs every Saturday. Remember that if you are interested in practicing these water sports, you can approach on Saturdays from 9:30 am to 12:30 pm to Playa Yuyos in Barranco. You just need to have the desire to try new activities.

Practice more adventure sports!