By DAN ACKMAN

New York

The world's most important outrigger canoe race takes place just where you'd expect: in Hawaii. Called the Molokai, the course crosses the 41-mile channel between the islands of Oahu and Molokai. But perhaps the third most prestigious race took place on Saturday, where you'd least expect it, off the island of Manhattan, on a course that begins and ends by the U.S.S. Intrepid, and which circles the Brooklyn Bridge, Governor's and Ellis islands and the Statue of Liberty.

This Honolulu-on-the-Hudson event is the brainchild of Roger Meyer, executive director of the New York Outrigger club. The first race, in 1997, attracted 14 crews. This year, 60 navigated the 16.5-mile course, with competitors journeying from French Polynesia, England, Australia and, of course, Hawaii.

Most New Yorkers know Hawaiian outrigger canoes, if at all, from the title sequence to "Hawaii Five-0." This race, the Liberty World Challenge, is designed to change that. Mr. Meyer hopes to promote the sport and the waterfront, the latter until recently cut off from the rest of Manhattan island by the shipping trade, highways and decaying piers. Today, tugs and barges and other craft share the harbor -- two crews had to pause for the Staten Island ferry -- with a growing number of kayaks, fishermen, sailboats and the odd outrigger.

Hawaiian outrigger canoes are 45-foot-long, 18-inch-wide, six-man boats with rounded hulls and an outrigger that hangs six feet to the paddlers' left to steady the craft. The original boats, which plied Polynesian trade routes for thousands of years, were carved out of koa wood, a beautiful and durable native wood of the Hawaiian Islands. Today's competition boats, weighing a standard 400 pounds, are built of fiberglass.

Not surprisingly, for the past five years the race has been dominated by Team Hawaii, an all-star crew drawn from the 60 clubs that dot the islands. It is led by Walter Guild, 45, of Waikiki. Guild is a unique figure in sport: not only does he compete at a world-class level, but his company, Canoe Sports, builds most of the boats used in competition. It's as if Barry Bonds lathed the majority of the bats used in major league baseball.

The Hawaiians figured on stiff competition this year from Team New Zealand, another all-star squad that includes some Hawaiians. New Zealand won the Hamilton Island Cup in Australia, the sport's second most prestigious competition, just two weeks ago. Last year, it won the five-hour Molokai race over a crew from the Lanikai Canoe Club -- beating them by just two seconds. If New Zealand were to win in New York, it could claim the sport's unofficial triple crown.

But the showdown never happened; at the last minute, New Zealand decided not to make the trip, apparently because it couldn't gather the same athletes who won in Australia. Absent the Kiwis, the contest was essentially no contest. Within the first half-mile the Hawaiians had taken a three-length lead over the second-place crew, from the Newport Aquatic Center in Newport Beach, Calif. By the time Team Hawaii rounded the Battery, four miles into the race, the Californians were a dot in the distance.

And the Hawaiians never let up. They rowed as one muscle, gliding through the choppy tides at an astonishing 62 strokes per minute, cruising at speeds of up to 10 miles per hour and finishing in a course-record time of 1:57:25, eight minutes ahead of the Newporters.

The Offshore Canoe Club, also from Newport Beach, won the women's race in 2:16:05, beating the Lanakila Outrigger Club from Redondo Beach, Calif., by just under three minutes. A New York Outrigger crew featuring Mr. Meyer's co-organizer Claudia Terlizzi won the 11-mile mixed race, which is kept shorter to limit the disruption to harbor traffic.

For Kealii Paiaina, who served as the stroke (or lead) paddler for Hawaii, this was his second time in the New York race. Last year, he paddled in a middle seat and could sightsee along the way, he said. This year, as the pace-setter, he had to concentrate more. But once or twice he did look up and see where the World Trade Center used to be. The missing landmark had special resonance for Mr. Paiaina: Back home in Honolulu, he is a firefighter.

Many of the Californian and East Coast paddlers came to outrigger canoe racing fairly late, from other sports such as surfing, crew or traditional one- or two-man canoe racing. But outriggers are in Mr. Paiaina's blood. His grandfather founded the 200-member Healani club, then handed it over to his father, who in turn passed it on to him.

With two victories in the Liberty Challenge, Mr. Paiaina is already master of New York harbor. But on land, like many tourists, he's at sea -- and needs a subway map to find his way.

Mr. Ackman covers law, business and sports for Forbes.com.