Hawaiian Canoe Club wins E Lau Hoe women's race
By Dayton Morinaga
Advertiser Staff Writer
A rare practice was made perfect for the Hawaiian Canoe Club in yesterday's E Lau Hoe Women's Long Distance Canoe Race.
Hawaiian won the 31-mile race, completing the course from Magic Island to Poka'i Bay in 4 hours, 15 minutes, 5 seconds. Kailua was second in 4:16:03, and Lokahi was third at 4:16:14.
The race was the last "warm up" for women's teams before the Sept. 23 Bank of Hawai'i Na Wahine O Ke Kai.
Because Hawaiian's crew is comprised of paddlers from Kaua'i, O'ahu and Maui, it does not practice regularly.
"This is like our practice," said Noe Sawyer, who steered the crew. "The goal is the Moloka'i race, so it was nice to get a win leading up to that."
Actually, the crew has found success in recent years using a similar schedule. Two years ago, it won the Na Wahine O Ke Kai as Wailua Kayak & Canoe. This year, the crew is under a new sponsor, and will be called Team Eyecatcher at the Na Wahine O Ke Kai. However, yesterday's race required all entries to be affiliated with an existing club, and so the crew registered with Hawaiian since most of the paddlers are from Maui.
"We all have our own individual training schedules," said Mary Brewer, who is considered the team's organizer. "But this year we decided to try and get together for more races before Moloka'i."
The winning crew consisted of Sawyer, Brewer, Megan Harrington, Dane Ward, Jackie Carswell, Theresa Felgate, Margie Kawaiaea, Jenny Horner, Nicole Pedersen and Deborah Rosenblum.
"It was a good race for us to do," Sawyer said. "The conditions weren't that great, so we really had to work for everything. And four (teams) were up there the whole way, so we never let up."
Kailua led the first half of the race while taking a course closer to the shoreline, but Hawaiian, Lokahi and Hui Nalu were never far behind.
"We used the water," said Carleen Ornellas, who steered Kailua. "It was just little bumps, but we wanted to try and ride anything we could find."
When the water turned calm off Barbers Point, Hawaiian moved ahead of the pack and never relented. "We got a good combination in there and just started moving," Sawyer said.
Ornellas added: "It was a dog fight the whole way. But once it got to that last stretch, you could see their strength kind of take over."
Other division winners were Hui Lanakila (35-older), Kailua (45-older), Hui Lanakila (koa canoe). Defending Na Wahine O Ke Kai champion Kai 'Opua did not enter.
• Catalina winners: Quiksilver Hawai'i won the men's division of the Catalina Crossing yesterday at California.
The winning crew was comprised of three paddlers from New Zealand (Maui Kjeldsen, Rob Kaiwai and Andrew Penny) and six from Hawai'i (Jake Mizuno, Bill Pratt, Raven Aipa, Kea Paiaina, Chris Ball and Heath Hemmings).
Quiksilver completed the 32-mile course in 3 hours, 58 minutes, 7 seconds. Lanakila of California placed second, around one minute behind.
"It was real flat, a marathon paddle-fest the whole way," Pratt said. "We led right out of the hole, and pretty much held it. By mid-race, we had a pretty good lead."
Outrigger of Hawai'i placed second in the women's division behind an all-star crew from Canada .
• • •
SURFING
• Sweep for Kaua'i: Andy Irons and Sena Seramur, who are both from Hanalei, won their respective divisions in the Rip Curl Pro yesterday at Newport Beach, Calif.
Irons received $6,000 for winning the men's division. He scored a perfect 10 for a long barrel ride in the quarterfinals, then rode the momentum into the final, where he edged Australian Taj Burrow.
In the women's division, Seramur earned the first professional victory of her career by defeating Jodie Nelson of California.
Seramur, 17, earned $2,000 for the victory.
The contest did not count toward the world championship standings.
