Albert “Toots” Minvielle joined the Outrigger Canoe Club in June 1917 when he was 14 years old. As a swimmer, he competed in the first Castle Swim in the boys 15 & under division, finishing second in the 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard breaststroke. He swam on Club relay teams for years. He was Outrigger’s stroke in the 1933 Kona canoe races which Outrigger won.
But Minvielle is probably best known as the founder of the Molokai Hoe canoe race for men from the island of Molokai to Waikiki Beach. He pitched the idea to the Outrigger Board of Directors in 1949 but they felt paddling in the Molokai Channel was too dangerous. So Minvielle talked a couple of crews into it and with the backing of the Waikiki Tourist Bureau he held the first race in 1952. By 1954 Outrigger decided the race was safe and Toots coached the Club’s 1954 and 1955 crews. The Molokai Hoe was the first long distance race and is now considered the world championship of distance canoe racing with crews competing from all over the world.
Minvielle was the first person to design and build a fiberglass canoe and his design mold was used for years.
Toots was inducted into the Hawaii Sports Hall of Fame in 1978 and is the only member of the Canoe Racing Hall of Fame.
Toots’ contributions to the Outrigger Canoe Club are many and he was named a Life Member in 1977.
Board of Directors
1960 Director
1961 Director
Canoe Committee
1946 Chair
Judges of Election
1955 Member
1956 Member
Surfing Committee
1945 Member
Swimming Committee
1952 Chair
Athletic Committee
1953 Member
1960 Chair
Beach Services Committee
1960 Member
Canoe & Sailing Committee
1947 Chair
Castle Swim Committee
1952 Chair
1955 Chair
Castle Swim
1917 2nd Boys 15 & Under 50 Freestyle
1919 2nd Boys 15 & Under 100 Breaststroke
1922 3rd Place, Overall
1923 2nd Place, Overall
1924 1st Place, Overall
1925 2nd Place, Overall
1929 2nd Place, Overall
1930 2nd Place, Overall
1932 1st Place, Overall
1933 1st Place, Overall
1934 2nd Place, Overall
1935 2nd Place, Overall
1954 1st Place, Open
Water Polo
1925 OCC Team, 1st Place
Swimming
1918 1st Place, Fall Swimming Meet, 600-yard relay
1919 1st Place, Senior Relay Team
Macfarlane Regatta
1947 1st Place, Senior Men 4 (steersman)
1948 1st Place, Junior Men 6 (steersman)
Molokai Hoe
1954 Coached OCC Team
1955 Coached OCC Team
Canoe Racing
1933 1st Place, Kona Races (stroke)