How team TaiMana came to be …
The prestige of Nā Wāhine O Ke Kai calls to us all. In 2024, driven by deep respect for the race and a vision to form a truly competitive crew, Nia Rudolph began assembling a team for the 2025 campaign. With a wealth of experience behind her, she set out with intention and ambition.
A call was sent across the South Pacific, and it was answered by some of the region’s most formidable water women—Olympians, world champions, and world record holders among them. Each wahine who joined the team made a wholehearted commitment to the demanding preparation required, united in purpose to honor the legacy and mana of Nā Wāhine O Ke Kai and to lay the foundation for a legacy team that will inspire, endure, and elevate the standard of wahine paddling in the region for years to come.
Like the diamond for which we are named, we are formed through time, intensity, and unyielding pressure. What begins as raw potential is transformed—refined by challenge, shaped by commitment, and hardened by adversity. We are resilient, brilliant, and sharp. Our strength lies not only in our endurance, but in our clarity of purpose and the unity that binds us. TaiMana is more than a name—it’s a testament to what’s possible when pressure meets perseverance.
