Ama_Nov_Dec_2024

OCC Member Profile ✺

“Everything that happens in the canoe, you can relate it to something in life.” —Coach Corlyn

of experience, she continues to hone her skills through Outrigger’s open women’s program, setting an example for both her family and the young girls she coaches as they find their place in the canoe. One of Orr’s early students was Cheyna Ekau. When she first took up paddling as a freshman in high school, Orr was among the first to teach her the basics, including how to hold a paddle. Now, years later, as a member of Out-

rigger’s open women’s program herself, Ekau recently had the chance to race alongside Orr in the 2024 Na Pali Challenge. She credits Orr with shaping her into the steersman she is today. “She was there from day one, literally, and now fast forward six years later—I’m in the boat with her, and I get to call her a teammate,” Ekau reflects. “She really inspired me to stand up for myself because I’m more soft-spoken, and especially as a steers- man, that’s your job—to be vocal.” The first time Orr paddled a race with one of her students in the open women’s program, she thought she was going to cry. “To see them come up and just step right into it…so talented, so capable. That is the ideal,” she says. “You see some girls as the years go by, and they're still paddling, and they're so successful. You just feel like, ‘I had a little part of that growth there.’” Despite her full-time career as a land use planner at HHF Planners, where she has worked for over 20 years, Orr continues to be remarkably generous with her time supporting Outrigger's

Corlyn and her husband Darren set out for a weekday sunset paddle.

NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2024 | AMA 17

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