Petaluma Profile: ‘Uncle Sam’ Madeiros coaches Petaluma canoe paddlers

“Keiki” is the Hawaiian word for “children,” and retired drywall finisher Samuel Matthew Manual Madeiros - often known as Uncle Sam - has been teaching Petaluma keiki how to paddle outrigger canoes since 1977.

Growing up in the Papaklea Hawaiian Homestead on Oahu, Madeiros was drafted into the Navy in 1965 and served two years “working security” in San Diego. After mustering out, he returned home to his flock of racing pigeons, his canoe club and his ohana (family).

“When your family has lived in Hawaii for 1600 years,” Madeiros allows, “you have a natural bond to the place. We are sea-faring people, so I guess paddling was my destiny. As for the pigeons, my Hawaiian name, Manulani, has been in our family for generations, and means ‘bird of heaven,’ so outrigger canoes and pigeons have been important parts of my life ever since I was fourteen.”

In 1977, one of Madeiros’ friends became the head coach for the Waimnalo Canoe Club, and asked Sam to coach the keiki.

“I discovered I really liked working with the youngsters,” he says. “Adults over-think. Kids just do.”

When Madeiros turned 40, he and his family moved to Novato where his wife, Ku-ulei works in the Community Development Department.

“With three kids, we wanted to buy our own home, but even back in 1987, Marin County was too pricey,” he says. “So we looked for a place in Petaluma.”

Madeiros was one of the original core of Petalumans of Hawaiian descent who founded the Lokahi Outrigger Canoe Center back in 1992.

“Double-hulled outriggers are critical, and at first we had to borrow them from other clubs,” he says. “Now we own eight canoes, and each has a Hawaiian name. ‘Lanikali’ was named by my Hawaiian mother, who obviously has a knack for picking appropriate names. It means ‘triumphantly victorious,’ and is the canoe we used to win our first race.”

The club has a busy race schedule with long distance and sprint races in Alameda, Monterey, San Francisco, Berkeley, Sausalito, Folsom, Foster City, Santa Cruz and the round-trip races around Alcatraz and Angel Island.

“The City has been good to us,” Madeiros says. “We have a long-term lease at the Petaluma Marina and have classes and competitions for the under-tens to adults, boys and girls, men and women and coed. Safety is always rule number one.”

According to Madeiros, each crew has six people and every club has their own stroke patterns. Timing is critical. The stroker sits in front and sets the pace and rhythm for the race. Seat two calls switches (change-overs to paddling on the other side). Seats three, four and five are the power seats - the hard, deep-stroking that propels the canoe. Seat six is the steersman who usually serves as the team’s captain. All keiki must wear life-jackets, be strong swimmers, and be trained in how to respond whenever a huli [tip-over] occurs.

“Everyone is taught to respect themselves, parents, teachers, the environment, canoes and other people,” says Madeiros. “I learned the ‘stare-down’ from my grandfather, and that’s how I keep the kids in line. Since my own kids live in North Carolina, New York and Arizona, the canoe club rowers are kind of like my family. So when they graduate high school, I get plumeria leis from Hawaii for them to wear during the ceremony as a show of respect.”

In addition to the canoe club, for the past seven years, Madeiros has been the frosh football coach at Casa Grande High School. And then there is the Sonoma County Racing Pigeon Club. “Because the pigeons race distances over 200 miles, my racing stock is a real durable pigeon that I cultivate to be fast,” he says. “I’ve been breeding them so long, that everyone in Northern California, Nevada and Idaho can spot a Medeiros’ pigeon. They all look like brothers and sisters.”

(Contact Gil Mansergh at gilmansergh@comcast.net)