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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Sunday, August 8, 2004

Hawaiian makes it four in row

 •  Kihei, Wailea make it clean sweep for Maui
 •  2004 HCRA State Regatta

By Dayton Morinaga
Advertiser Staff Writer

The Hawaiian monarchy continued its reign in the sport of outrigger canoe paddling.

Terry Davis is welcomed by members of the Hawaiian Canoe Club of Maui after a fifth-place finish in the masters 50 race at Ke'ehi Lagoon.

Photos by Andrew Shimabuku • The Honolulu Advertiser


HCRA STATE CHAMPIONSHIP REGATTA

1. Hawaiian 365
2. Kai 'Opua 330
3. Kailua 328
The Hawaiian Canoe Club of Maui won its fourth consecutive Hawaiian Canoe Racing Association State Championship Regatta in record fashion yesterday at Ke'ehi Lagoon.

Hawaiian got a dominating performance from its youth paddlers and amassed a state record 365 points in the 37-race regatta.

Kai 'Opua of the Big Island was second with 330, and Kailua from O'ahu was third with 328.

"It was a total, total club effort," Hawaiian head coach Diane Ho said. "You can see on the faces of everybody that this is special."

Hawaiian's four-year reign is the second-longest streak in state regatta history. Outrigger won nine consecutive state championships from 1984-92, and Healani also won four in a row from 1971-74.

Making it more impressive, Hawaiian's four titles have come away from Maui — O'ahu twice, Kaua'i once and the Big Island once. Next year's state regatta will be on Maui.

"That means a lot to us, too, coming to another island and representing our island," said Paul Lu'uwai, coach of the powerful Hawaiian youth program. "It was like a heavyweight fight. Thirty-seven rounds later, here we are, champions."

In truth, it was more like a technical knockout. Led by its youth paddlers, Hawaiian led yesterday's regatta from start to finish.

Hawaiian won five of the 13 youth races, and placed second in four others. In the 13 youth races, Hawaiian scored a whopping 163 points. It was the sixth time in seven years that Hawaiian scored the most points in the youth races.

"It went beyond my expectations," Lu'uwai said.

Noting that Hawaiian placed in the top three in 10 of the 13 youth races, Ho said: "That's huge at states."

"This year was probably the best kids we've had in the last 25 years," she added.

An especially meaningful victory came from Hawaiian's boys 15 crew. As 14-year-olds at last year's state regatta, they were disqualified for a false start.

"We came into this race all mad because of last year," said Woodbridge Brown, who steered the winning crew. "We wanted to prove everybody wrong."

By the end of the youth and novice races, Hawaiian was ahead by more than 50 points. With that advantage, Ho said the key was to "be cautious, be conservative," to avoid any disqualifications.

Hawaiian did not win any adult races, but it did not get disqualified, either. "Not making mistakes is what it was," Ho said.

Kai 'Opua and Kailua made charges in the adult races, but could never make up the difference.

Crews in the women's senior race are off and paddling at the Hawaiian Canoe Racing Association State Championship Regatta.
Kai 'Opua entered yesterday's regatta with the maximum 37 crews to Hawaiian's 35. However, Kai 'Opua won just one race — the men's sophomore.

"We have enough strength throughout the club," Kai 'Opua head coach Mike Atwood said. "Unfortunately, Hawaiian has got a little bit more than we do."

Lanikai won five races, including the prestigious senior men's race. The 1ý-mile senior men's race is considered the top division in regattas, and Lanikai has won it 12 times in the last 13 years.

"When I first started paddling senior men for Lanikai, we were getting 45-second gaps on the second-place team," Kai Bartlett said. "Now, there are so many good crews. We had a lot of butterflies coming into this."

Lanikai won yesterday's senior race by two seconds over Hui Lanakila. The winning crew consisted of Bartlett, Kekoa Bruhn, John Foti, Peter Binney, George Leslie and Jim Foti.

Jim Foti has been the steersman for all 12 Lanikai victories over the years.

"We just take it one year at a time," he said. "The senior race is the one everybody wants, so we're stoked to keep it going."

Lanikai placed fourth in the team standings with 261 points.

Hui Lanakila was fifth with 241, and got a stellar showing from its open women paddlers. Hui Lanakila won five races, including the women's sophomore and junior races.

Outrigger tied for sixth with 193 points, and surprised itself by winning the prestigious women's senior race.

Kai Bartlett, left, and Peter Binney celebrate after their Lanikai crew won the senior men's 1 1/2-mile race in 10 minutes, 57.81 seconds.
The crew of Mahea Batlik, Traci Phillips, Megan Clark, Jennifer Thayer, Malia Kamisugi and Kisi Haine beat Hui Lanakila by an impressive 11 seconds.

"We're a smaller crew, so we just tried to be efficient," Haine said. "We were hoping to finish in the top three, so when I saw we were out in front, I almost couldn't believe it."

Because Outrigger was not in contention for a team championship this year, Haine said her crew "just went out to have fun."

"We had a tough year over at Outrigger, and that wasn't fun," she said. "But it took away a lot of stress from us today and we were able to just go out and race without having to worry about scoring points or anything like that."

But starting now, it will be up to all the other teams in the state to worry about scoring more points than Hawaiian next year.

"We just have to train harder and get stronger," Kailua head coach Jimmy Bruhn said. "I feel like we did OK today and we still end up 30-something points behind. That tells you how tough (Hawaiian) is."

Kai 'Opua's Atwood added: "Their attitude is to win and it shows in how they perform from the very first event to the last. I'm glad to be able to get second to a club that good."

Reach Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-8101.