By George F. Lee, Star-Bulletin
Hui Nalu overtook Koa Kai coming around Flat Island
to win the women's race yesterday in Kailua Bay.
Hui Nalu,
Lanikai on top
Flat water slowed the pace,
By Cindy Luis
but the long-distance season opened
with plenty of action
Star-BulletinFor pure paddling, it didn't get any better than yesterday's Duke Kahanamoku Long Distance Races. It was flat.
It was malie.
It was "boring," said Michael Smith, one of three strokers Lanikai Canoe Club used to win its own men's event. "We all would have loved to have had raging tradewinds where we could have surfed all day. But it was a day for paddling."
And there was a lot of it, from the record 47 men's crews competing in the 22-mile event from Kailua Beach to Duke Kahanamoku Beach, to the 31 women's crews in the 8-mile iron race from Kailua Beach to Mokolea Rock (Birds--- Island) and back.
Lanikai, the two-time defending Molokai Hoe champion, finished the first long distance race of the season in a 2 hours, 41 minutes and 17 seconds. The top three crews were separated by two minutes with Outrigger second in 2:42:18 and Waikiki Surf Club third in 2:43:18.
Other division winners were Puna Masters (2:52:31), Kailua Senior Masters (3:05:45) and Anuenue Golden Masters (3:32:40).
Waikiki Beach Boys jumped out to a quick lead at the start off Alala Point with Lanikai, Outrigger and Surf Club in close pursuit. With the paddlers making open water crew changes, Lanikai made its move off Makapuu and began to pull away from the leading pack.
"It was frustrating because we always seemed to be less than a half-minute behind them but couldn't catch up to them," Outrigger's Marc Haine said. "We never let them get away from us but they held us off.
"The conditions were nice but the biggest waves we saw was the (escort) boat wakes."
And the wake left by Lanikai. Smith, Mike Pedersen and John Foti alternated at stroke, keeping the pace between 54 and 64 strokes a minute.
"We tried to keep the stroke as low as we could, keep it slow and easy," Smith said. "At Makapuu, we slowed the stroke down and put the hammer down, and started walking away from them."
The gauntlet has been thrown down, to be picked up next at Saturday's Kailua Bay Iron Challenge. The 8 a.m. men's race, with no water changes, is a figure-8 course from Kailua Beach to Mokolea Rock to Mokulua Island and return.
HUI NALU WINS: The curtain went up on the long distance season and it came down in the form of a curtain of rain yesterday morning on Kailua Bay. Two canoes emerged from the downpour of Mokolea Rock: Koa Kai and Hui Nalu.
The eight-mile race came down to the final 500 yards as Hui Nalu took the outside course around Popoia (Flat) Island and charged ahead for the victory, finishing in 44:08.70. Koa Kai, which had led most of the race, finished second 3.11 seconds later.
Koa Kai steersman Katie Bouthillier said when Hui Nalu began its move to the outside on the approach to Popoia, she got forced to the inside.
"It was too shallow to put our paddles all the way in and it was difficult to steer being that close in," Bouthillier said. "Our ama went on top of their boat right at the turn and we had a little hangup. But it was a great race."
"The best part of the race was when it started pouring" said Koa Kai's Deb Malia. "The water was just like crystal.
"Hui Nalu is tough. We were ahead the whole way then at the end they got tougher."
Hui Nalu steersman Denise Darval-Chang said they got lucky.
"If we hadn't locked up with them, forced them to back off a little, we would have come across together," Darval-Chang said.
The win was a nice "welcome back" present for Hui Nalu's Maile Chong, who took the regatta season off to study for her bar exam.
"After taking the time off, it was good to get back in the canoe," said Chong, who sat in seat 3 and called the changes. "Denise is so skilled. The way she brought us around the island was the difference."
Lanikai IV won the masters (35-over) in 46:58.16. Hui Nalu took the senior masters (45-over) in 53:43:47 and Outrigger the golden masters (51-plus) in 57:01.22.
