For the first time in its history, Hui Lanakila is considered a legitimate contender in the Hawaiian Canoe Racing Association State Championship Regatta on Saturday.

More than 50 clubs are scheduled to participate in the day-long regatta at Ke'ehi Lagoon.

Three-time defending champion Hawaiian Canoe Club of Maui, Big Island champion Kai 'Opua, and O'ahu champ Kailua are considered the top contenders. Hui Lanakila is expected to finish among the top five — a place that seemed almost impossible just a few years ago.

"It's like we're finally seeing our dreams come true," said Michelle Arnold, who is in her seventh year of paddling with the Hui Lanakila women. "We've talked about it for a long time, but it seemed like we could never get there."

Until this year, Hui Lanakila was a club known mostly for producing solid men's crews.

"For the last few years, it was the men carrying the club, but we could never break through," said Raven Aipa, who coaches the Hui Lanakila women and paddles with the Hui Lanakila men. "This year, we broke through because the women stepped it up."

Hui Lanakila, which was formed in 1977, won an O'ahu Hawaiian Canoe Racing Association (OHCRA) regatta for the first time in its history this year.

The women did their part, finishing the regular season as the No. 1 seed among OHCRA clubs in the sophomore, junior, senior and open-4 divisions.

The senior division is considered the top division for females in regatta racing, and Hui Lanakila won that race five out of seven times this season (and placed second the other two times).

"I saw the potential they had last year," Aipa said. "I think they just needed that little something to get to the next level."

Many of the Hui Lanakila women credit Aipa for the recent success. He is a two-time Moloka'i Hoe champion with Team New Zealand/Hawai'i, and helped coach many successful Hui Lanakila men's teams in the past. This is his first year coaching female paddlers.

"He has all that winning experience and he's such a good paddler himself," Arnold said. "What ever he says seems to work."

Aipa said he does not apply the same coaching techniques with the women that he used on the men.

"I do more mental training with the women," he said. "I try to teach them that every paddler has the potential to be good. They seem to respond better to the motivation."

But it also helps to have strong paddlers. In recent years, several women transferred to Hui Lanakila from other clubs for various reasons.

As Aipa put it: "Three girls came in this year who I would consider impact paddlers. And as they came in, it raised the level of the other girls."

"I had no idea this team would be that good," Eames said. "I just wanted to paddle. It kind of happened by chance that all these girls came together, but I get chicken skin thinking about how we're making it work out."

Gail Grabowsky transferred to Hui Lanakila this year to "paddle with friends" and be closer to town (Hui Lanakila is based at the Ala Wai Canal). Now, she is part of the excitement surrounding the club.

"It was really neat to see how happy everybody in the club was when we won that first regatta," Grabowsky said. "It really makes you want to work hard to keep it going."

The Hui Lanakila women practice three times a week. There is a competition every day at practice to paddle in the "first crew."

"We have 17 girls that we can use," Aipa said. "We've been using different combinations the whole year and still been successful, so that's a good sign."

The success has been especially satisfying for veteran paddlers of the club like Arnold and Pauahi Ioane.

"Only a couple years ago, we weren't that good," Arnold said. "That's why we're excited and we're nervous at the same time. We want to see if we can stand against the other big clubs."