This oral history interview is a project of the Historical Committee of the Outrigger Canoe Club. The legal rights of this material remain with the Outrigger Canoe Club. Anyone wishing to reproduce it or quote at length from it should contact the Historical Committee of the Outrigger Canoe Club. The reader should be aware that an oral history document portrays information as recalled by the interviewee. Because of the spontaneous nature of this kind of document, it may contain statements and impressions that are not factual. A full transcript of the video may be found below.
An Interview by Marilyn Kali
March 2, 2017
MK: Today is Friday, March 2, 2018. We’re in the Board Room of the Outrigger Canoe Club. I’m Marilyn Kali (MK), a member of the Club’s Historical Committee. One of the Historical Committee’s projects is to do oral histories of longtime members. Today it’s my pleasure to be talking to one of our past presidents, Glenn Perry (GP). Good morning Glenn.
GP: Morning Marilyn, thank you very much.
MK: Before we start talking about your involvement at Outrigger, could you tell me a little bit about your background, when and where you were born, and did you grow up in Hawaii?
GP: I was born and raised in Hawaii, living in Lanikai. Interesting note is my father bought our house in 1932 for a little under $4,000.
MK: Today, wouldn’t you wish?
GP: Yeah. And then Lanikai was probably twenty percent vacant land, so it was a wonderful, magical place to grow up.
MK: There weren’t very many houses in Lanikai at that point?
GP: Well probably about seventy percent had houses, a lot of horses on empty lots. It was just totally beautiful.
MK: So, you grew up here?
GP: I grew up here.
MK: Do you have siblings?
GP: I have two. Tay, who is eight years older than me, and Colin, my brother. Colin’s six years older than me.
MK: So you’re the baby of the Perry boys?
GP: Yeah, the joke was I wasn’t planned but, I came along.
MK: Who were your parents?
GP: George and Kay Perry, both born and raised in Honolulu as well. And my father’s parents came here probably in the late 1870’s, early 1880’s as teenagers.
MK: Where did they come from?
GP: My father came from The Azores, just off of Portugal, and my mother’s family came from Boston. My grandmother grew up in Makawao, which is kind of interesting because that is the Pidgin English capital of Hawaii, and she ended up being an English teacher for forty years.
MK: Oh my goodness.
GP: And very strict, I was told.
MK: I haven’t heard you speak Pidgin.
GP: No, you got your hand slapped even at the Christmas parties.
MK: Now your dad joined the Club in the early 1920’s.
GP: Yes.
MK: Did he pass along any interesting stories of those years here?
GP: Just for him, it was magical too. He loved coming down here, playing volleyball, surfing, canoe surfing. I think he would take out tourists as well, had some dear friends, Johnny Weissmuller and Buster Crabbe, both Olympians, and of course the Kahanamoku Family and the other Beach Boys, it was a real tight-knit family.
MK: He surfed?
GP: Oh yeah, he was a very good surfer.
MK: Did he have any stories about surfing out there?
GP: No, I have pictures of his old boards, they’re very primitive. Old wooden boards.
MK: Redwood, or what did they make them out of?
GP: Yeah, I think they were redwood.
MK: Or koa, did they make boards out of koa?
GP: No, not koa, I think it was redwood, little bit lighter. No, he loved growing up here and being a member of the Outrigger.
MK: Did he play on any of the volleyball teams?
GP: Not that he told me. I don’t believe so, no.
MK: Yes, because we did have volleyball teams in those years.
GP: Yes, you did then.
MK: I’d seen pictures of him playing volleyball, so I didn’t know if he was on any teams.
GP: More recreational for him, I believe.
MK: Your dad got involved in building and repairing outrigger canoes. Was that his profession, or was that his avocation?
GP: Avocation, his passion. He was in the insurance business for over sixty years, but he had this passion about repairing and making canoes. His first one from scratch was the Kehukai, which was the family project for a while with my brothers Tay and Colin, and he’d had a carpenter work also. It was a Saturday morning obligation to spend two or three hours there without pay.
MK: Did he make it from a log or was it already-
GP: Yes. The log had been shaved so it was like rectangular when it came to the shop and just totally from scratch into these beautiful creations.
MK: And you were involved in helping him.
GP: In the Kehukai, yeah. After the pay situation, not really but it wasn’t as much fun as going out surfing or doing something else and Tay stayed with him the whole time and Tay learned the trade really well. But to be honest, I only did one canoe with my father.
MK: And what happened to that canoe?
GP: The Kahakai stayed with Lanakai Canoe Club when my father retired and then it moved to Molokai Canoe Club and I kind of lost contact from there, I think it’s somewhere on Molokai probably in disrepair unfortunately.
MK: I’m surprised Tay hasn’t tried to find it.
GP: Yeah, me too-
MK: Restore it. Maybe he will.
GP: Yeah, maybe he will, yeah.
MK: Your dad was commissioned to build the Paoa canoe for Outrigger Canoe Club, so you didn’t work on that at all.
GP: I had no contact with that project at all.
MK: You might have been gone by then.
GP: I could have been, yeah. I might of been off island, because I was off island from the late 1960’s to probably 1991.
MK: Yeah, well that was the years when he was doing that. So, you wouldn’t have any stories about the work he did on the Leilani or the Kakina because-
GP: No, except I was in the Leilani when we crashed, but I wasn’t involved in the repair.
MK: He dropped his membership in 1937, do you know why?
GP: I think it was around the time he got married, started to have a family, and living in Lanikai, his priorities changed a little bit. Outrigger was always big in his heart but he stayed more on the north side after that.
MK: He became involved with Lanikai Canoe Club.
GP: Yes, he and Herb Dowsett co-founded Lanikai I believe in 1953. And they made my brother Tay, at seventeen, the first president of Lanikai Canoe Club.
MK: Oh really?
GP: Yeah, which is kind of humorous. They borrowed the canoe out of the Bishop Museum called the A’a which I think had some royalty like Prince Kuhio connections, I’m not sure.
MK: That’s his canoe.
GP: That was our first racing canoe until the Kehukai was built and then, the A’a went back to the Bishop Museum. My father also had these practice canoes, that were all plywood. forty feet, but six hundred pounds. And really heavy. It was like pulling a tire all the time. But, it really got us in good shape, because when you switch from there to a racing canoe, it was like-very fast.
MK: I didn’t know they made canoes out of plywood.
GP: My father did.
MK: Are they thick enough? I mean-
GP: They’re about a half inch or a little bit more. Really heavy. What he did too was he put them together and he had a platform in the middle, so first month of the season he’d get on this platform and he’d critique your from as you were practicing.
MK: Oh, double-hulled.
GP: Yeah, and he had this stick that he’d poke you with, I wanted to get the stick and break it. Then we branched off to two separate canoes, but really, that equipment made us really tough in those days.
MK: Now is it Lanikai that named a Regatta for your dad?
GP: Lanikai, some old time members that, after my father retired, they just probably before he-no, he must of passed away. It’s the George Perry Memorial Race and it’s only for kids. It’s twelve and under to seventeen and under, and what’s neat about this race is all the canoe clubs that participated put their kids that didn’t make the crew, necessarily, so everybody got a chance to race. So that was really fun concept, that they created after.
MK: And there still holding them-
GP: Still doing them, bigger, better than ever. It’s true.
MK: Where did you go to high school?
GP: I went to Punahou. Graduated in…long time ago. 1963.
MK: And, did you participate in any sports while you were there?
GP: At Punahou? I was on the JV rowing team my sophomore year; on varsity my junior and senior year.
MK: So we’re talking about barges?
GP: Ah, sorry, no. Rowing, crewing. Not paddling, not barges, but just kind of like you see in the Olympics. The four mans that … really sleek.
MK: Because I remember when Punahou started, that they were using the old barges that they used to use in Honolulu Harbor, so they had regular-
GP: They had regular four mans, with thin skin. We only had four schools participating. Iolani, Farrington, and Kaimuki. And for sophomore, junior and senior year, we came in second to Iolani, the whole time. Beat two other crews. It was a lot of fun.
MK: Crewing is a lot of work.
GP: Yeah, it is.
MK: What about college? Where did you go to college?
GP: We were financially a little tight so I stayed and went to University of Hawaii and worked full time. I worked for Spencecliff Corporation as a host, at the … System Manager of the Queen’s Surf. And then Night Manager of the Tahitian Lanai for four years. The best job in the world for a college student because after … I’d do the schedules, table side flambeaus and, at 9:30 I could sit down and eat anything off the menu. Which was very good for a university student. Had a lot of fun doing that.
MK: And, what was your major in college?
GP: Got a degree in Business Administration TIM, Travel Industry Management or Hotel and Tourism.
MK: And, you graduated what year?
GP: Well with a break for a military service, I had a semester so I graduated doing once semester in 1970, when I came back from Vietnam.
MK: Were you drafted? Or were you-
GP: I joined the military, in the Reserve, in 1965. Went to OCS, Officer Candidate School, in 1967. The Reserves were called up in 1968, so I was assigned through the 25th Division in Schofield. And then transferred via Panama to the 4th Division in Vietnam. In two core on the Cambodian border as a Infantry Platoon Leader. Worst job in the Army, by the way.
MK: What was your job?
GP: Infantry Platoon Leader. Rifle, front lines.
MK: Oh my goodness. And you made it through unscathed.
GP: Made it through unscathed, had a great platoon. Got a chance to build a fighting team I wanted, and didn’t lose anybody. Which was really big.
MK: And you returned what year, 1970?
GP: 1970.
MK: And then you graduated?
GP: Graduated yeah, one semester. Graduated. And then went off into the hotel industry.
MK: And that’s where you spent your career?
GP: Thirty-five years, yes.
MK: Where did you work? What hotel … In Hawaii, or where did you-
GP: Hilton International in Management Training Program was set up by Bob Burns, who was a General Manager at the Hilton. So I was a manager in training in the Dusseldorf Hilton for a year and then took a Food and Beverage Cost Controller job there. From there, Food and Beverage Director at the Royal Lahaina for five years. From the Royal Lahaina I went, special job for Amfac in Saudi Arabia, Riyadh. Running an, in Arabic called Equestrian Club for the royal family. Two city blocks in Riyadh, it was awesome. Little difficult working in that environment but, I ended up there three and a half years, and then off to Napa, California. I was Resident Manager at Silverado Country Club. Back to Hawaii. General Manager of Kaanapali Beach Hotel. Kauai, General Manager of the Waiohai Beach Hotels for five years. Back to Maui at Kealani. And then went and got our kids back in school and moved back here as General Manager at the Doubletree Alana, Waikiki. But that’s probably, you see, why I couldn’t paddle because between military service and working out of the state I couldn’t paddle.
MK: When did you move back to Oahu, what year?
GP: I moved back in 1991. It’s when I took up the position at the Alana, Waikiki.
MK: Are you retired now, or are you still working?
GP: Well I’m still working, but I crossed over into real estate. Helping my wife at Coldwell Banker. My son recently joined too so we got a … a family team in Coldwell Banker Real Estate.
MK: That’s a good business right now, I assume.
GP: Yeah, it’s a lot of fun and it’s like the hotel industry, you take people with problems and you fix it for them. You know, it’s so rewarding, even just helping people go through the processes.
MK: Are you in residential or commercial?
GP: Residential.
MK: It must be satisfying to see people get a house that they’ve-
GP: Their dream house, yeah.
MK: Their dream house that they’ve-
GP: Or get the price they wanted when they come to sell it. Helping them stage it and market it and sell it.
MK: Now this is a canoe club and I know your father was involved in canoe racing. Did you paddle, growing up?
GP: I did, I started, probably age twelve, paddling thirteen and under for Lanikai. Didn’t have a very remarkable crew but I have one memory that I’ll never forget is July 4th, Macfarlane Race. The surf was up, so was open steersman. My father said “You’re steering.” I said “Are you serious?” And he goes “Yes. You can do it can’t you?” And I said “Well, yes.” I mean I grew up surfing, canoe surfing out in the Mokulua Islands. And I can tell you it’s the most awesome sight, because when you catch a wave, and you’re twelve-thirteen years old and you look down at that canoe and it’s pointed in a downward position, pretty scary, but we caught a wave and we won. So it was exhilarating, only race we won that year.
MK: That’s the best one to win.
GP: It was an unforgettable moment.
MK: So you were a steersman?
GP: I was steersman for Lanikai. In the fifteen and under, I think we came in first, In Oahu. Seventeen and under, we won the state championship, we beat Outrigger. Those are all very significant memories for me. Then, 1962 Molokai race, my father talked three of the seventeen and under, and they were paddling for Lanikai, into the race. And it was grueling practice. But the race day came and it was interesting because we were really in good shape. We came, probably in the back third of the pack, and we just walked by canoes, all the way across the channel. We passed the third crew probably five miles outside of Koko Head, and my father said “Okay, go for second.” And we looked ahead and it was Healani, and it was just a little bump on the horizon, we said “Never gonna get there.” But, going around Diamond Head all of a sudden they’re right in front of us. So, we passed them, they started paddling as soon as we passed because there was nobody behind them, and came in second. So, it was a totally awesome experience.
MK: Was that the year your brothers were in the crew with you?
GP: No, 1964 … I think Tay might of been, but not Colin. In 1964, we were together.
MK: So that was your first Molokai race.
GP: Yes. Well I had one other one, when I slipped in, in 1963. I did a Catalina Island/Newport Pier race as part of an all Hawaii crew. I was the only non-Hawaiian on the crew. So we did a couple short sprint races in Newport and Marina Del Ray. Then did the channel crossing. And half way through the crossing I was in four seat, and it was time to change so, I ejected and got on the boat and Blue Makua Junior, was sitting next to me on the escort boat and he said “Hey, you see that big shark following us on the right side.” And there was, about three feet away from the canoe was this shark and he was cruising right alongside the canoe, so I must of jumped on it. I didn’t feel it, but, must of jumped on it. That was awesome. We won the race.
And on the beach it was … they had Miss California there giving lei. So she had nine leis for nine paddlers. Getting the local boys, sweaty local boys was easy, but she couldn’t figure out who the last lei went to. So she looked at me and smiled a couple times, kept looking for another Hawaiian. And Blue Makua Junior says to her “Hey Sister! Here is our last paddler.” “Oh I’m so sorry!” She came up and gave it to me. So, those were funny moments.
MK: Was John Rader there at that time?
GP: He could of been but I didn’t know him then, so I don’t remember him actually saying he was manager here.
MK: Because I thought he was the one that started that race, so…
GP: I didn’t know that, but could be possible. Great, great guy he was.
MK: That was interesting. So tell me about the year that all, the three Perry boys were in the same Molokai crew.
GP: It was just fun to be paddling with your family and we did really well. But we didn’t come in first, second, or third, so that kind of goes out of your memory. I just remember it was a lot of fun practicing and racing with brothers, and we had a great crew in Lanikai.
MK: So, Tay steered? Who steered?
GP: Tay … I don’t believe Tay steered, I think we had another person. I didn’t steer either, at the Molokai race, that year.
MK: What’s it like, paddling for your father? Having him coach you.
GP: It was tough, because he expected a little bit more out of you than he did everybody else. He kind of tweaked us to do our best. And it worked.
MK: From Tay’s oral history, I understand that your father was accused of nepotism on his crews and therefore he wanted all of you guys to join Outrigger?
GP: Tay and Colin went right away, because they’re probably more exposed to that then I was. I would hear cracks like “Oh, you’re the only one that doesn’t really have to work for a seat, because your father’s the founder.” I said “We just won in the state championship, seventeen and under. We just won the state championship, what do you want?” I said “You’re making me wanna join my Punahou friends at Outrigger, keep it up.” And a few years later, I did move over to the Outrigger.
MK: And then you made the first crew at Outrigger in 1966.
GP: That was interesting because I’d only steered at Lanikai, and when I came to Outrigger they had me stroking. So I went from six (seat) to one (seat) for the junior men. And we had a fantastic crew. Hal Burchard, Fred Lowery, Mike Clifford, Benny Lee, Mike Lemes. and in a mile and a half race we won by probably an eighth of a mile, I mean we were really hot. And of course when you’re really hot you get cocky, especially if you’re Outrigger. We had red palaka crew shorts, and we had a white jumpsuit with a big Outrigger logo on the back. And our names in front. And I remember a couple of the races, they’d call our crew, we get up on line, we’d unzip, we’d take it off and just step out of it and get in the canoe. And we always sprinted from the beach, two sides. So, we took off and we were really cocky, because we had a great crew.
MK: How did you do-Oh, that was…
GP: We won every race in 1966.
MK: In Regatta.
GP: Yeah.
MK: And then, you went to Molokai.
GP: Then, did Molokai race, after that.
MK: And that was a very eventful year?
GP: We had a great crew, we worked really hard. I think we had two crews and Outrigger really pampered their crews. We had a captain’s table after practice in the Duke room. So, after practice, you’d shower and go up there and we’d get steak, or prime rib dinners. Just the whole event. Coming from Lanikai where you hose off with a … You’d shower off with a hose, then Outrigger with the showers, the bar, the restaurants, and the captain’s table. It was like, amazing.
MK: Was that captain’s table every night, or once a week?
GP: Every practice night.
MK: Every practice night. And who was your coach, then?
GP: You know, I don’t remember who it was, I think it was Rabbit (Kekai). Might of been George Downing, (coach was Mike Lemes) but really good coaching staff. Kept us all together, one big family. There was no, no discussions. Nobody making any bad comments. It was really fun.
MK: Were you in the boat the year of the, the Leilani. . .
GP: Yes I was. It was an exciting race, we were doing really well, we were probably first, second or third. The waves were huge, and I was paddling one and two, and you get over the top of the wave, you reach out there’s no water. And then you go off the other side, and you plow into the next wave. Seat one and two had water up to their chest. So you’re still trying to keep the pace, under water and out of water. A lot of fun. And then we had unfortunate … half way across, one of the guys got so excited he jumped out of the canoe without undoing his zipper. So we were taking a lot of water, so maybe every ten minutes we had to bail. But still, way up in front of the pack.
And just outside the Kahala Hilton. Same guy did it again on another seat. And then the water just kept pouring in, we had somebody bailing full time, and we just swamped. So we tried to get it refloated, a couple paddlers, after about ten to fifteen minutes were getting sea sick in the water. So we threw up the white flag, and decided we would tow the canoe. They loop around the front manu, around the front pepeiao. Sherry Dowsett’s boat, best escort boat ever, it looked like the Lurline among all the other escort boats. He (Sherry) gunned it a little too fast and it pulled off the front manu. So the manu is in the air, I said “Stop, stop, stop…” So we stopped. I said “Look, his boat is so big, let’s just pull it on board.”
So, scary moment. He starts coming in back, and I’m on the right side of number two seat, holding onto the outrigger. And I look up and this propeller is coming right down at me, spinning really fast. I dove down and away as far as I could go and came up, and the propeller had cut off the front end of the canoe between one and two seat. So we gathered the pieces, turned it around and pulled the canoe on the boat, backwards, and went ashore. The changes were amazing, you’re in a change and the boat catches a wave. So you’re there and the canoe’s coming at you like twenty to twenty-five miles per hour and you have to grab hold of it and pull yourself in the canoe. I didn’t see anybody mess up, it was totally amazing. It was such an exciting race, only a bad ending.
MK: There’s a video of that race, and it shows the rough seas and all of that. And then it shows this wave, the waves of course are very big and rough and so, in one picture you have the canoe going ahead and then you see this wave coming in, and the next thing you see is everybody in the water. The canoe’s a couple feet under water, and everybody is-
GP: That’s after we swamped, yeah. That’s what happened. It was so big you couldn’t even see the top of the boat sometimes if you’re in the water waiting for a change, you look over, you can’t see your escort boat because it was behind this huge swells. Really exciting race.
MK: Do you remember the exact moment when the wave swamped you? Is that something that’s in your memory-
GP: No, because it was gradual, because it kept coming in, but, it was such an awesome crew. Fred Hemmings, Mark Buck, Tommy Holmes, Robby Holmes, Mike Holmes, Henry Ayau. I mean we were … we were destined to win that race. It didn’t happen.
MK: What flashes through your mind when you see or hear a thirty-foot wave, bearing down on you in the middle of the channel?
GP: Just, say “Oh shoot.” Hold on because it might roll right over-a lot of waves just broke right over the canoe. Everybody leans right so you don’t flip, and you keep going.
MK: Did you paddle the Molokai race after that?
GP: I did a couple times. I paddled for the Lahaina Club, in 1984. That was kind of interesting because I was coming into six seat, number five, my best friend, decided to take an extra stroke and he hit me in the mouth and knocked out one of my teeth. “You okay?” I said “Yes, but you just knocked out a tooth.” And he goes “Stop, Glenn’s hurt!” And I said “No. We have to finish.” As long as I kept my mouth closed I could do it. I finished the race. Probably did around fifth or sixth, but we had a good crew and Lahaina crew too.
MK: That was for Lahaina Canoe Club?
GP: Lahaina Canoe Club.
MK: And that’s when you were the manager of the …
GP: Kaanapali Beach Hotel.
MK: Do you have a favorite memory of Molokai?
GP: 1962. I mean …
MK: Your first?
GP: The first race in 1962. And 1966. 1962 was magical because we finished second, we did really well. 1962 was interesting because we were at the beach, in Molokai. This big guy from Balboa Canoe Club came by and said “Oh, what canoe club is taking you little boys across?” I said “We’ll see you on the beach.” And we waited when he came in, he probably came in, probably 20th. “Glad you made it. Nice race.” So, we got revenge.
MK: And 1966 was another favorite-
GP: It was exciting, it didn’t have the ending we wanted, because that’s the year we swamped. But, it was so much fun practicing with that crew, and doing so well until unfortunately we had the equipment malfunctions. But, it was fun.
MK: That’s an interesting word, an equipment malfunction. I think it was more of a disaster, a near … could of been much more serious.
GP: Should of heard Fred Hemmings talking to him after he did it the first time, and after he did it the second time, Fred became unglued.
MK: Because, that was one of his first Molokai races-
GP: One of his earlier ones, yeah.
MK: What do you enjoy about paddling?
GP: Just everything, mentally it’s so nice to just get out on the ocean, everything’s so peaceful and calm out there. Paddling as a one-man, but paddling with a crew is great, you really get bonding with the crew. And usually the crew is right below you and right above you, it’s just a neat comradery feeling.
MK: Did you ever coach?
GP: I coached in Lahaina, one of my wife’s crew. She paddled for the Lahaina Senior Women, during Regatta season, which they won. And Molokai race, they came in second in their division. That’s the only time I’ve coached.
MK: Have you been involved in any other sports at the Club?
GP: No. Actually, just paddling.
MK: Just paddling, that’s enough. When did you start doing triathlons?
GP: I started probably, think it was … My wife started before me and she lost weight and went to the parties, really nice group of people and I think it had to be, probably, in the mid 1990s. 1990’s. I joined, which is kind of spooky, I think I was 58 years old, and got on a racing bike, at 58, was exciting. Did three or four events during the season, Honolulu Triathlon, Tin Man, Lanikai triathlon. Ko Olina triathlon. And, about four years later I tried the Half Iron Man which was fun, and great feelings of accomplishment, but very difficult and decided the last one I would do was the Half Iron. Continued doing regular triathlons, which were a quarter. Just to stay in shape again, nice group of people. And fun.
MK: What’s your best event in the triathlon?
GP: Probably biking. I like biking. Swimming was okay. Biking, I was good, I usually passed people. Running, I hold my own or lose a little ground. But, just finishing was-
MK: That’s the … true accomplishment.
GP: Especially in your late 50’s.
MK: How did you get involved in serving on Club committees?
GP: Well it’s funny I just, basically being a Rotarian, I like to give back to the community. With the foster kids program, helping out foster kids and, the Outrigger has been so wonderful to me and my family, I wanted to see how I could give back, especially with my management and hotel background. I thought by serving on a committee might be helpful.
MK: What was the first committee you served on?
GP: Probably House. I was on the House Committee for a number of years, I think I was Chair of it for three or four years. And what I did when I was Chair, I would bring people into the House Committee that had backgrounds in management or … Al Serafin was working with Brenda (Colbert) in retail. So I brought him in to do that, had some other hotel people, and that expertise really helped management. Committees don’t tell management what to do, they advise them. Management can or cannot … I mean if they choose not to, they don’t have to. But I thought it was really funny because I thought the managers really appreciated the support and the guidance. Non-binding guidance. I just felt that it was very rewarding to see things happen, and improve.
MK: What was the big challenge for the House Committee at that time?
GP: Probably like it is today. Food and beverage service, food and beverage quality, pricing, value. I think we did a lot to improve service just for suggestions and coaching the staff a little bit. I think today our service is excellent, it’s very good. I think our food quality is very good. Overall with Dave Robinson as manager I think the Club is in a good place right now.
MK: At the annual meeting this year there were complaints about the pricing. Members felt that the prices in the dining room were just too high, and it was keeping them from coming and enjoying the Club. Is there a sweet point somewhere in there that-
GP: I wasn’t at the annual meeting, but I would have been with that group too, because I think there’s no variety in pricing, there’s not enough value. I tried to urge the previous manager, and talking with Davis, to put some value in their menus. Offer something including super salad, for like $16, or a special of the day. Something that will draw members here. So right now the quality of the food is great, me personally I come less often because of the pricing. The quality is excellent, service has been really good, probably the last year it’s been really good. So, I think we need to inject some more value into our menus, to get more people.
MK: Is that hard to do, or is that …
GP: I don’t think so. But …
MK: You come from the food and beverage background, so you, you understand that. Yeah I’ve heard that a number of times from people and I just … I don’t know how you go about doing that.
GP: It’s just, basically you take an item that doesn’t cost you a whole lot of money. You make it really nice, through your preparation, and you include something with it, like a salad, or a salad and a desert. And that kind of helps people feel that they really got good value. The prices have gone up, so your average check probably used to be around $10-$12, and now it’s probably $20-$25. It should be, I think for some of the menu items around $18-$20. Overall maybe not because, I mean we have guest members that keep the Club floating too, because they really don’t pay attention to the price. They like the parking, the ambiance, and the quality of the food. So, I think guest members, reciprocal members are totally happy with our operation. It’s only members here would like a little more value so they can come more often.
MK: I think that’s the bottom line, they want to come, they just can’t afford it, with the prices they’re charging.
GP: Also, I did an interesting thing when I was on the House Committee. I got special bowls for paddlers. A chicken bowl, a beef stew, where it’s like $7.50, it’s a smaller portion, but it’s that on rice, for paddlers. And, word of mouth advertised that and we got a lot more paddlers coming after practice, sitting around having a couple beers, and having that and going home.
MK: I remember that, and people did like it because they didn’t have to go home and cook. Especially the women.
GP: No, exactly. That’s actually still going on today.
MK: You don’t hear about it if it is-
GP: Well our deal with them is you didn’t advertise it, you didn’t put it in menu. It’s word of mouth paddlers. People with the tight budgets.
MK: People who know-
GP: Yeah, and I mean anybody can order it. It’s not a question of only paddlers, It was focused towards paddlers. You get more young people there, younger people there. They do more entertaining with their family, their kids.
MK: That’s wonderful, that’s what we need more of I think.
GP: Yeah. It is a family club.
MK: So, being on the House Committee led to your running for the Board?
GP: Yes.
MK: Did they ask you to run?
GP: I had several people asking me to run, said “If you’re interested in this.” Didn’t really know if I was interested or had the time to do it. So I said “You know what? I can maybe make a difference at that level.” So I said “Okay.” Joined the Board and we served with some great Board members. Hal Henderson, Chris McKenzie, Karl Heyer IV, Mary Philpotts. Just to name a few. A really good Board.
MK: What were some of the big issues facing the Board at that time?
GP: The biggest issue was the ground lease with the Elks Club, which was out of our hands, it was in attorney’s hands to negotiate. Menus …
MK: We had a large turn over of personnel, of staff at that point as I recall.
GP: We had a pretty sudden turnover from general manager on down. But you know it’s funny because you look at turnover sometimes as being terrible. We’re not going to be able to operate, and very often, replacements come in and they just take another notch or two up. I don’t think people should really fear turnover. We had some great managers and we’ve had some good managers, and we’ve had a couple not so good, but they weren’t here very long.
MK: Do you remember the OCC 2C Master Plan? Was that during your years?
GP: It started a couple years before me. Chris … I inherited that from Chris McKenzie and I think he inherited it from somebody else. The idea is, let’s come up with a plan in case we get a lease, how to update the Club because it was kind of getting out of date. And we were kind of … because, the lease wasn’t definite, people didn’t want to spend money. So we said okay, let’s spend money on a plan in case we get the lease, in case we come on some money, so let’s have a plan, but a lot of people got really upset at some of the plans that came up. I said “Look, it’s only a plan.” Somebody proposed putting the Fitness Center above the Hau Terrace. It was a suggestion that quickly went in the garbage can but people heard that and they just got enraged. It was a suggestion.
So I still think having a plan is not a bad idea, and some of the plans I think for the Fitness Center could be, maybe implemented here, because they were very detailed. It was underneath the Portacherre as you come in, it was underneath there. It was like 4,000 or 5,000 square feet, air conditioned. It wasn’t a bad idea, so those are on the shelf someplace, but hopefully they’ll be used.
MK: Some day they’ll drag them out and think “Oh!”
GP: Brush them off and update them a little bit.
MK: Some of the other issues that I think were covered while you were on the Board were the dues increases, which are always a big deal.
GP: Painful, yeah. The dues increases, they hadn’t been increased for, four or five years. Maybe longer than that. We tweaked it up, not painfully, just a little bit, because we needed the money, operations-wise. The Club needed to invest in the facility. Other ideas we had as well, let’s make it less painful, let’s increase the initiation fee for Nonresidents, who really don’t care. So we did that, and we still had heavy demand for nonresidents, who don’t use the Club generally, but two to three weeks a year. So, getting a nice initiation fee that you put into the Building Fund worked out really well. I think they’re still doing that today, creeping up on the initiation fee.
MK: I was looking back over the Board minutes of when you were President, and they were talking about a wave deflector back in those days, and now they’re talking about doing one again out on the seawall, out in front. Do you remember what happened to all those plans?
GP: Those discussions were during heavy surf, you couldn’t even use the Hau Terrace some nights, because waves came pouring over the wall. So I thought the best idea was a fiberglass deflector that we could install there during that season. And take it away. A couple members brought up some, probably valid points, that we’d have to get DLNR permission. And there was some discussion that our sea wall, might be encroaching a little bit beyond the survey, and if we brought that up, we might bring DLNR down on our case and take out your sea wall, and put it back ten feet or something like that, so I said “You know what? It’s probably better to deal with the splash then possibly opening a can of worms.”
MK: Now I guess they’ve gotten DLNR to say that “Yes, it is encroaching but we’re grandfathering it in.”
GP: Oh that’s great.
MK: So, that’s the newest, yeah.
GP: That’s terrific. The idea of installing some kind of, nice looking fiberglass thing that you can put there for maybe two to three months, on top of the wall to keep the splash from coming in would be perfect.
MK: How would it protect the view then?
GP: It would only be. Say if the wall was ‘here’, it would only be like up to ‘here’. It would be a curl-like thing. And so the splash, I mean, you still might get some splash over but, it would keep it from rolling in way it does now sometimes. High tides and high surf.
MK: Yeah, the first row of seats are usually wet.
GP: First two rows, yeah.
MK: Now the Logo Shop is one of our best kept secrets. We know that it has historically out performed most of the retail shops in Waikiki on a square foot basis, how have we become so successful with it?
GP: Per square foot revenue, it is tops in Waikiki. Probably because it’s really small. We should have a larger space. Brenda (Colbert) who was at the helm, most of the time was really good at buying the right stuff, advice by Vik Watumull and later on, when I was in the House Committee, I had Al Serafin, with also retail experience, work with her. How to merchandise a little bit better, how to rotate it with the sales, that kind of stuff. Basically it was buying better merchandise, more quality merchandise and have a variety, high end for people who want to pay high end, but keeping the tee shirts at $10-$12, whatever it was. I give ninety-five percent of the credit of that growth to Brenda, she was excellent.
MK: And she’s now retired?
GP: Yes, and she’s now retired, and seems to be running really well now, I love the new entrance there with the … Not entrance, but the coral wood, the glass where you can see there when they’re not open. It will continue to be a top producer per square foot for sure.
MK: I notice people have been complaining about the price of tee shirts, which are now, something like $20. Is that a reasonable price do you think for our-
GP: Personally I think it’s over-priced. I think it’s better to keep some things like that, especially we buy them in bulk, we’re getting some pretty good pricing. So yeah, I think the tee shirts are a little over priced myself.
MK: Food and beverage and the Logo Shop have gotten pretty pricey, in recent years.
GP: Because in the restaurant business, or that business, you’re looking at per check average, versus revenue. And I think you’re building your average check, but less people are coming, so you’re getting less revenue. It’s kind of my message, I tried doing the House Committee, and even today a little bit, talking to them. I said “We need some value stuff there. It might drop your average check, but it will increase your revenue.”
MK: Are you still on House Committee?
GP: No. I signed up for it last year but didn’t get called. But, I enjoyed that Committee, I think it really helps.
MK: What did you enjoy most about your service to the Club?
GP: Looking around just, helping improve the facilities. Seeing other people enjoy them as much as I do. Being able to raise our kids in the sand here and … our daughter brought our two grandchildren over last week, and seeing them out on the sand, it just brings back memories.
MK: Another generation.
GP: Another generation, yeah. It’s a magical place, we’re so lucky to have it.
MK: Do you use the Club a lot?
GP: I use the Club more doing paddling season, then I do, but probably two to three times a month, off paddling season, and probably five to six days a week, during paddling season.
MK: Are you still paddling?
GP: Yes, my brother and I paddled year before last year for Keakaakahoe because we didn’t have enough seventy’s here. They have a new category, seventy’s. John Finny organized the seventy’s to come here, so we came back last year. So we had a great season, we won all the races and we won the Oahu championship. My brother was stroking and I was steering. It was so neat to see the look on his face after we won and hit the beach. I said “Tay, it should be illegal to be having this much fun, at our age.” And he goes, “You’re right, that was a blast!” So yeah, still having fun paddling.
MK: With hindsight as a past president, do you … how do you feel about the Club now?
GP: I feel the Club is in really good hands. I think the committee’s … we’ve always had quality committees here, it’s funny to think sometimes a President’s been a little less than the previous, but we’ve had basically good leadership from the top and from the Board. The present management team is excellent. I think the grounds really … you can’t remember back maybe twenty years ago, but the grounds now look so much better than they did then. So the total facility is looking great.
MK: What’s it like serving as President?
GP: It has its ups and its downs. First of all, your complaint central in the locker room or wherever, on the beach or in the bar, people come up tell you their favorite problem. Very rewarding bottom line. Just got to push through that to the people that were enjoying it and appreciating it.
MK: I had one past President tell me that he didn’t answer his phone for a year after he was president, because he was tired of still listening to complaints.
GP: Yeah. I know even after you step down, for maybe three or four months, they still call you like you still have some say.
MK: Our membership has been pretty steady at about 4,800 members for a number of years now. What do you think about this number? Is this a good number, can the Club support this many people?
GP: We kind of looked at it as, when I was on the Board and before that, it’s really good mix, especially if you tweak the kids and the Nonresidents. Because, you can get the income from the Nonresidents especially, and they don’t necessarily use it. There’s times like July 4th, or holidays, that the place is packed. We’re supposed to be restricting guest members during that time, but it’s come to be, everyone figures at about probably 1,800, up to 2,000 people using it regularly, once, twice a week, or more. The Club can handle that. We’re afraid to go any higher on the Regular members, but not Nonresidents, that’s a good number.
MK: Now, moving on, you’re married. And your wife is Anne Hogan Perry.
GP: Correct.
MK: Is she also a member?
GP: She is and, the funny thing about that is, we both didn’t know it. We both became members on the same month, same year, 1966. Later on, we started dating, she was twenty-five at that time, she was of course ten or twelve (when she became a member). So we both went to Punahou so people say “Oh, you both went to Punahou, did you know each other?” I said “No, she was in the second grade when I graduated.” But we didn’t start dating till she was twenty-five. Went on a double date with Mark Buck and we clicked, and we dated for a couple of years, got married. Going on thirty-four years now.
MK: Do you have children?
GP: We have two. Brooke, 34, with two kids, married. Great guy. And our son Robert, 30, he’s just turned out really well too. So we’re very blessed.
MK: Well I remember Brooke paddling. What is she doing now?
GP: She works for Maui Jim as sales rep. Group market for State of Hawaii, for Maui Jim. Excellent job.
MK: So she’s living in Honolulu
GP: Maui. Maui Jim is headquartered out of Maui, for the state, and out of Peoria, Illinois, as a company. But she’s been there ever since she graduated from college, and just keeps going up.
MK: And so her kids are growing up on Maui.
GP: On Maui and, we’re hoping maybe when he retires, he’s a fireman and also selling real estate, they might consider moving over here and getting the kids into Punahou or Kamehameha, his kids are part Hawaiian so it’s either Kamehameha, Punahou, or Midpac. But, wherever they are, I’m sure they’ll grow up to be great kids too.
MK: Is Brooke still a member?
GP: She is.
MK: And, what about your son?
GP: Robert is still a member too.
MK: And where does he live?
GP: Very close, he lives with us. He just got into real estate and he’s starting to take off, so we figure once he gets going, and gets his feet on the ground, he will move out, find his own place and stuff, but right now he’s very comfortable, having him there he’s very helpful around the house. It’s nice having him there.
MK: How old is he now?
GP: He’s 30.
MK: And, so in real estate. And he’s still a member.
GP: He’s still a member.
MK: Not married?
GP: Not married. He got a degree in marketing, so he’s perfect for real estate, he’s done marketing of concerts. Worked as Uber in the local office for marketing Uber. So he’s had some good experience already and he’s making it pay off in real estate.
MK: That’s wonderful. What do you like best about the Outrigger Canoe Club?
GP: Well, it’s close. Let’s say, everything. Parking, location, ambiance, and the membership. Probably the membership more. Because, you come here, you’re meeting friends all the time. Some you haven’t seen for a while. It’s so hard sometimes to call, ring somebody to come over, or go over to their house, where, here it’s just so easy to drive, park and meet.
MK: I’ve heard that from a lot of people. That the people are the best part of the Club.
GP: Yeah, absolutely. There’s a joke growing up, if you couldn’t afford a country house, at least the Outrigger Canoe Club gives you the feel.
MK: What’s your favorite memory of the Club?
GP: Just probably the canoe racing. I don’t have one specific. I mean, July 4th races are so much fun here. We had an interesting experience in July 4th, 1966. We’d won the race, we were really cocky, come back to the Club in our white coveralls. We had a long table with pitchers of beer there. And members are great those days, you never bought a drink, members always bought it for you, if you won.
MK: Cline Mann.
GP: Yeah. What a jewel Cline Mann is and was. But, I’d probably had a little too much to drink and I went to the restroom and, I didn’t realize they’d set up a table at the base of the stairs. Tablecloth, candle, red wine and white wine, champagne flute, three forks, two knives. I mean for a really fancy dinner. So I was coming down and somebody yelled “Hey, Perry!” And I forgot what they said, but it caught my attention. I got distracted and I turned around and I didn’t realize the step was right there. So I stepped off thinking I was on level ground, and all of a sudden my foot is in the air. I start leaning forward, so I said ‘I better step forward and get my weight balanced.’ But before I could do that I went headfirst, right on the table. And the table went over, breaking glass. And the whole place stood up and gave me a standing ovation.
MK: Your most embarrassing moment, and they’re giving a standing O for it.
GP: My father happened to be at the bar, and he goes “I’m so embarrassed.” I said “Why are you embarrassed. I do that once in a lifetime.” It was an accident, but yeah. That’s one memory I will always have too.
MK: I was going to ask you about Cline. Was he real involved in canoe racing back in those days when you were first paddling here.
GP: Cline was our number one supporter in canoe racing regatta and distance. He was always there. And he always, you walked in, he’d always buy you a Budweiser. So you’d buy one back but, Molokai race is kind of interesting because he would track the race going back ten to fifteen years, by different colors, to see what course they took. He’s a surveyor, by trade, so that was really interesting to have that expertise on the boat. This is where we are, this is where we were when we won, this is where we were when we lost. Of course, the currents change so that’s never . . . He’s such a great guy. I mean, he had a heart of gold.
MK: Well, in those days we kind of used landmarks and, now they have GPS to chart their courses. Which is better do you think?
GP: Oh, GPS for sure. His business, his surveying background, he’d shoot reverse [inaudible 00:51:53] off of peaks off of Molokai and Oahu so we knew exactly where we were.
MK: Did he do the change charts, the years you were paddling?
GP: No. He didn’t do the change charts, he just tracked…his job was to track where we are, where we were, in previous races and, do the comparisons. Make adjustments if we had to.
MK: He was always so involved and always the biggest supporter of all the teams and-
GP: He totally was.
MK: Wonderful man. I want to bring this to a close by asking you one more question, and that’s, what has been, being a member of the Outrigger Canoe Club, meant to you?
GP: It’s really meant the world to me. I think, it kind of would of been a void, if I hadn’t been a member. Lived her, without having this recreational opportunities for family. Or living somewhere on the mainland. I mean, there’s a lot of great places to live but living her, and I live about five minutes away now. It’s been a whirl, it’s been really wonderful.
MK: Any advice to future Boards of how to keep it like this?
GP: Well, you know, every Board member does what they think is best for the Club. Some of them don’t work, the ideas don’t work. But, I think everybody’s heart’s in the right place, support your Boards, support your committees, and the Cub will stay in a good place.
MK: Well, thank you so much for-
GP: Thank you for having me-
MK: Being here today. It’s been some wonderful stories that you’ve told, and some that I haven’t heard before, so that-
GP: Thank you for giving me the opportunity.
MK: Thank you so much.
GP: Thank you Marilyn.
SERVICE TO THE OUTRIGGER CANOE CLUB
Board of Directors
1998 Coordinating Director, Entertainment
1999 Coordinating Director, Long Range Planning
2000 Coordinating Director, Building & Brounds
2001 Vice President
2002 Vice President
2003 President
House Committee
1996 Member
1997 Member
2004 Chair
2005 Chair
2006 Chair
2011 Member
2012 Member
2013 Member
Long Range Planning
2006 Member
2007 Member
Entertainment Committee
2014 Member
Athletic Achievements
Molokai to Oahu Race
1962 2nd Place (Lanikai)
1964 2nd Place (Lanikai)
1966 DNF Leilani damaged by huge waves
1969 2nd Place Overall, 2nd Koa
2001 4th Place, Masters 45
2002 5th Place Masters 45
2008 4th Place Masters 55
2009 2nd Place Masters 60
Hawaii Canoe Racing Association Championships
1961 Boys 17 & Under (Lanikai)
1966 Junior Men
2008 Masters 60
Macfarlane Regatta Championships
1966 Junior Men
1968 Senior Men
2001 Masters 55
2011 Masters 65
2012 Masters 65
2013 Masters 65
2014 Masters 65