Maui canoe club building on success
By Christie Wilson
Neighbor Island Editor
KAHULUI, Maui — It's not as if Hawaiian Canoe Club needs any help getting pumped for Saturday's state championship.
Christie Wilson • The Honolulu Advertiser
The Maui-based club will be defending its first-ever state title, and has a solid chance to repeat after qualifying a record 35 crews out of a possible 37 for the Hawaiian Canoe Racing Association regatta.
Master canoe builder Leon "Fafa" Toofa, who has made three koa canoes for Maui clubs, stands next to his latest work, Pahili Kiu.
HCC leaders, who express as much pride in their cultural programs as they do in their 18 consecutive county titles and statewide success, are hoping to get an additional competitive and emotional boost when the club's new koa canoe, Pahili Kiu, slips into the waters of Hilo Bay for its first race.
The canoe, crafted from a Maui log by Tahitian master canoe builder Leon "Fafa" Toofa, was blessed in a sunrise ceremony just last weekend. It was designed for quick turning and will complement the club's venerable Kokololio koa canoe.
The 50-year-old Kokololio belongs to the family of HCC founder John M. Lake, and was rebuilt in the 1980s for modern racing. But it has since been eclipsed by a succession of more advanced canoe designs.
"We love the Kokololio. We won the state championships with her and we did so well in her in 1999 (when the state races in Lahaina were stopped because of darkness with Hawaiian leading the point total). She is part of the family," said head coach Diane Ho. "But she is smaller and older and has difficulty turning.
"Having the Pahili Kiu will give our men and the adults a psychological lift because they know she can handle the weight and turning."
Building a canoe
The Kokololio is named for the swift wind that barrels out of the West Maui Mountains in Waikapu. The Pahili Kui is named for the strong wind that whips around the eastern end of the island and blows past Maliko in the afternoon. Both canoes will be in Hilo.
While Kokololio is revered as a link to HCC's past, the Pahili Kiu could be seen as a symbol of its future. Children involved in the club's Hawaiian Kamali'i cultural program trekked into the Kipahulu forest to prepare the koa log for harvesting and to participate in a rarely performed Native Hawaiian protocol ceremony.
Christie Wilson • The Honolulu Advertiser
Later, 120 adult paddlers dragged the log down the mountainside using methods employed by ancient Hawaiians.
Hawaiian Canoe Club members carry Pahili Kiu to the water during a blessing ceremony at Kahului Harbor.
The youngsters followed the canoe's progress as it was crafted at the club's hale at Kahului Harbor and made paddles using scraps from the koa log.
"It took us eight months of hiking in the mud and forest to find the log itself," said keiki coach Paul "Ka'uhane" Lu'uwai. "To have found a log yourself, to bless it to keep akua (god) happy and remember our past, our genealogy, with all the work and protocol, it was a new experience for all of us.
"It's kind of chicken skin to see it go full circle and to see it race next Saturday."
Starting over again
In anticipation of that event, HCC members are meeting at their hale today to silk-screen pareaus in club colors of blue and white with a custom design by artist Pono Murray. A handful of men have vowed to get tattoos of the same design.
Paddlers also are learning a name chant for Pahili Kiu, composed by kumu hula John "Keola" Lake, son of the club founder, to recite as the canoe is launched in Hilo.
HCC leaders are hoping the day will only get better from there.
After winning the state title last year, Ho said that Hawaiian has built on its success. Regular coaches' meetings were held before and during the summer season to make sure everyone was on same page when it came to paddling technique, conditioning, workout schedules and priorities. Experts from outside the club were brought in for workshops on various aspects of paddling such as turns and starts, and coaching strategy.
"We took the state championship, but we went back to the drawing board like we'd never won," Ho said.
First-year men's coach and fitness expert Rick Nu'u, who came to Maui from Vancouver, also has enhanced Hawaiian's program. For one thing, he instituted a weight training program for keiki paddlers.
Nu'u worked with New Zealand's Olympic kayak team, is an elite paddler himself and is in demand throughout the state as a personal coach.
Ho said O'ahu Hawaiian Canoe Racing Association champion Outrigger Canoe Club, which qualified 28 crews, is the team to beat this year, and that Kai 'Opua of the Big Island could be a contender because it qualified 30 crews and will have the advantage of paddling in familiar waters.
Outrigger head coach Mike Mason predicted a Hawaiian win. "Our goal is to beat all the other OHCRA clubs," he said.
"(Hawaiian's) strength is in pulling the island together. When they race, it's obvious their crews are well-trained because they're very strong."
Regardless of the outcome, Ho said the club is going to Hilo to compete well and to represent the Valley Isle.
"Maui is going to the states. We're representing Maui in a Maui koa built on Maui," she said.
Notes: Hawaiian Canoe Club's 12-and-under boys crews have won gold in five of the past six state championships, and have not lost since 1998. The record is particularly impressive because the club did it each year with new paddlers. ... Tahitian master Leon "Fafa" Toofa also made koa canoes for Hana and Kihei canoe clubs, whose members participated in the blessing of Pahili Kiu. ... Fifty-two clubs will be participating in the HCRA championships in Hilo. Statewide, there are 8,364 registered paddlers. ... Moloka'i clubs will be entering a total of 22 crews this year. First-year club Wai'akapaemua qualified 13 crews for states, the most ever by a Moloka'i club.
