Lokahi's unity, title run face challenge

By Dayton Morinaga
Advertiser Staff Writer

Lokahi's golden masters team practices at the Ala Wai for this weekend's Na 'Ohana O Na Hui Wa'a championships. From front are Carol Hetland, Meredith Miller, Lonnie Trimarche, Nina Brunski, Barbara Keenan and Darrah Lau. Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser

Lokahi — the Hawaiian word for "unity" — will need a united team effort if it is to win a third consecutive Na 'Ohana O Na Hui Wa'a Championship Regatta tomorrow at Ke'ehi Lagoon.

"Just about everybody in this club has experienced the feeling of winning," said Lokahi head coach Robert Viernes. "It's a tradition we're proud of and we want to keep it going."

Although it has won 14 of the last 15 Hui Wa'a titles, Lokahi could be considered a slight underdog this year. Kane'ohe Canoe Club has won four regular-season regattas this year to Lokahi's three. Kane'ohe was also responsible for the only glitch in Lokahi's championship run with the 1999 title.

"It's a different feeling for us this year," Viernes said. "Our numbers (of paddlers) are down, and we haven't been scoring as many points as we have in the past. We've got our work cut out for us."

The battle between Lokahi and Kane'ohe has been nail-biting close all year. Kane'ohe averaged 60.4 points per regatta this season; Lokahi averaged 60.1. Neither team beat the other by more than eight points all season.

"In a way, that's good," said Bill Tsuji, who has been paddling with Lokahi since the creation of the Ala Wai-based club in 1980. "It's good for us, it's good for Kane'ohe, and it's good for the whole Hui Wa'a. It's more exciting now. In the past, maybe we took it for granted. Now, the whole club sticks around and follows the points throughout the day."

Viernes knows that Lokahi is no longer the dominant force it was a decade ago. This year's team relies on "small points here and there from a bunch of different crews," he said.

Tsuji, who paddles in the men's 45-and-older crew and coaches the women's novice B crew, said: "Whether it's a 12-year-old race, or novice, or senior men, all the points are worth the same. Everybody is important."

The only "big points" for Lokahi are expected in the open women's division. The Lokahi women are the top seeds in the freshman, sophomore and senior races, and they have not lost the senior race — considered the top division for females in regattas — since 1997.

"There's a little bit of pressure when you consider that the club expects us to win all our races," said Kanesa Duncan, a member of the women's senior crew. "But it's something you try not to focus on. All we try to do is focus on our particular race."

Dy Valdez, another member of the crew, added: "When it's our turn to race, we intend to win no matter what goes on before or after us. We want to do our share for the club, and so the best way to do that is to win our race."

If tomorrow's regatta follows the regular-season pattern, Kane'ohe will jump to an early lead in the youth races. Because Lokahi has a relatively small youth contingent this season, Viernes will be relying on help from other clubs tomorrow during the youth races.

"We know we're only going to score a few points in the kids' races," he said. "But we're counting on some of the kids from the other clubs to do well and take some points away from Kane'ohe."

If Kane'ohe's youth crews score less than 40 points, Viernes believes Lokahi can chip away at the lead in the adult races.

"We seem to get a lot of seconds (place finishes) and thirds and fourths," said Mark McConnell, a paddler on the Lokahi men's 45-and-older crew and a coach of the men's novice A crew. "But in the bigger cause, all those points add up."

Even the novice paddlers have caught on to the Lokahi tradition. David Olsen, for example, said he had no idea that Lokahi had such a long streak of Hui Wa'a titles when he joined the club three years ago.

"When you're new, you're not really in tune to the whole scene," he said. "But as the season goes along, you find out how important you are to the rest of the club."

Perhaps because of that, the feeling of lokahi will remain in Lokahi regardless of tomorrow's outcome.

"People pointed me to join this club for two reasons," McConnell said. "One was the winning tradition. Two was the friendly, family atmosphere. Our goal is to keep both those things going for a long time."

OHCRA: The O'ahu Hawaiian Canoe Racing Association Championship Regatta will be held Sunday at Ke'ehi Lagoon.

Perennial power Outrigger Canoe Club is a slight favorite after winning the last three regattas of the regular season. However, four other clubs have stayed in a close pack near the top of the standings all season: Lanikai, Hui Nalu, Hui Lanakila and Kailua.

The Sunday regatta is also the last chance for crews to qualify for the Aug. 3 state championship regatta at Hilo Bay, and many clubs are expected to shuffle paddlers into different crews.

"It's hard to tell what's going to happen at this point of the season because all the clubs are making so many moves," Outrigger head coach Mike Mason said last week. "If you can make your moves and still win the regatta, all the better."