08/26/2026
SAILING INTO THE NEW YEAR!
What do you get when 35 Hood River Middle School teachers and staff are told to show up in cruise attire to celebrate and plan for the beginning of a new school year?
Apparently… a very confused group of cruise passengers.
They dressed for the occasion.
They were ready to cruise.
They just weren’t told that the cruise ship was actually an outrigger canoe.
Welcome aboard the HROCC Cruise Line!
The surprise paddling adventure had everything you’d expect from a luxury cruise:
🏝️ Gilligan’s Island showed up ready for castaway duty.
💎 Goldie Hawn from Overboard brought serious rich-lady-on-the-yacht energy.
🌺 Moana apparently knew exactly where the ocean was calling her.
🕺 And a number of unsuspecting educators arrived dressed like they were headed for the buffet—not the bilge!
Then came the big reveal:
“Welcome aboard! Your cruise ship has six seats, no buffet, and YOU are the engine.”
This past Monday morning, HROCC welcomed the HRMS crew to the water for a couple of hours of paddling, laughing, racing and questionable sea legs.
They traded the staff room for the crew room, lesson plans for paddle plans, and land legs for sea legs.
There were cruise outfits.
There were big smiles.
There were a few “Wait…we’re doing WHAT?!” moments.
And yes… there was canoe racing.
Because apparently, once you put middle school teachers in outrigger canoes, the next logical step is to give them paddles and see who can beat the other boat.
The mission was simple:
Sail Into the New Year with a little adventure, a lot of laughter, and a whole new appreciation for what happens when you put 35 educators in canoes and hand them paddles.
And somehow, everyone survived without assigning detention.
A HUGE MAHALO to the amazing teachers and staff of Hood River Middle School for being such great sports and jumping into the adventure!
And an equally huge MAHALO to our HROCC volunteers—John, Jon, Kass, Lars, Terese, Jan, Joni, Jordan and Sky—for making the morning possible and bringing the aloha to the water.
We hope they enjoyed their Sailing Into the New Year cruise with HROCC!
No fancy casino.
No midnight buffet.
No towel animals.
Just paddles, smiles, teamwork, racing, questionable arm strength and a whole lot of aloha.
And remember:
What happens on the canoe… probably ends up on Facebook.
HROCC -- Where sometimes “cruise attire” means you’re going paddling.
