Canal to be cleared for annual canoe race

By James Gonser
Advertiser Urban Honolulu Writer

Sponsors of the annual Ala Wai Canal Challenge canoe race and Hawaiian celebration were worried that the event would have to be canceled this year because of the canal dredging project, but the community fund-raiser has been saved.

Huge machinery has been part of the Ala Wai Canal for the past several months as dredging has been under way. The contractor has agreed to move its equipment out of the way for the annual Ala Wai Canoe Challenge. Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser

Neil Williams, project manager for contractor American Marine Corp., said the company has agreed to move its equipment out of the way before the race.

"Our contract doesn't obligate us to do this, but because of the nature of this one particular event and the magnitude of it, we've chosen to go ahead," he said.

The Jan. 19 challenge, now in its 18th year, is a benefit for the Waikiki Community Center and includes a quarter-mile four-lane canoe race with up to 30 teams sponsored by local businesses and community groups.

Last year, about 1,500 people attended, which raised thousands of dollars to help the center feed the hungry, shelter the homeless and care for the elderly.

The program kicks off at 8:30 a.m. with a double-hulled canoe procession up the canal to Ala Wai Community Park followed by an oli (chant) and kahiko (ancient hula and songs) performed by the Kamehameha Schools Hawaiian Ensemble.

This year's honoree is the late Henry Ayau, the renowned Hawaiian ocean diver and canoe paddler who died in May.

Ayau, an experienced waterman and prominent figure in the local entertainment scene, was a paddler and coach for the Outrigger Canoe Club for almost 50 years.

The event also will include ancient Hawaiian makahiki land games and a huki kaula (tug-of-war), according to Jeff Apaka, of the Waikiki center.

"This has been the major fund-raiser for the Waikiki Community Center, and we are hoping to raise $20,000 this year," Apaka said. "The money will be used to fund our computer lab for the senior adult program."

Apaka said this is the first major event to be held in the two-mile-long canal since dredging began Aug. 22.

Only four canoes are available this year on loan from Iolani School because Kamehameha Schools, which usually provides the canoes, has moved its teams to Sand Island for the duration of the dredging.

Dickey Lee, with the state Department of Land and Natural Resources' land division, said that the only other group that has applied for a permit to use the canal before the expected completion of dredging in July is the annual Great Hawaiian Rubber Duckie Race & Festival, a benefit for United Cerebral Palsy Association of Hawai'i. That event takes place close to the harbor, which has already been dredged.

Williams said he plans to extend the work day beginning tomorrow to keep the project on schedule.

Work will begin at 6:30 a.m. and end at 10:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. The state Department of Health has already issued noise variance permit for those hours.

"We are going to move all the equipment downstream except the dredge, and we will keep that to one side of the canal," Williams said. "Then we will collect up the orange silt curtain, along with the anchors, and put it on the canal edge."

About 50,000 cubic yards of sediment along with old tires, rusted shopping carts and discarded automobile parts have been removed from the canal so far.

The dredging is in the second of four phases that ultimately will extend to the Kapahulu end of the canal and 400 feet up the Manoa-Palolo drainage canal to Date Street.

American Marine Corp. was awarded the $7.4 million contract in 2001 to remove 170,000 cubic yards of sediment and to dredge the canal to a depth of 6 to 12 feet.

Sediment is being removed from the Ala Wai using a barge-mounted crane with a hydraulic clam bucket that scoops up material and dump it into a scow. A push-boat, specially designed to fit under the low-profile Ala Wai bridges, is being used to move the dump scow to and from the Magic Island staging area.

The scows can hold 300 cubic yards of material each and are towed to an Environmental Protection Agency-approved dumping site 3.8 miles off the airport.