Tresnak Jr. dominates in 10-minute win

By Dayton Morinaga
Advertiser Staff Writer

One race was close and another wasn't in the Kanaka Ikaika Hurricane State Championships yesterday.

Karel Tresnak Jr. dominated the one-person canoe race, finishing nearly 10 minutes ahead of the rest of the field.

In the surfski race, Stuart Gaessner highlighted his comeback season with a one-second victory.

"Conditions were really good," Tresnak said. "There were some good (wave) bumps all the way."

More than 150 paddlers participated in the race.

Most of the entries were in the men's one-person canoe division, but nobody came close to Tresnak.

"I was surprised when I saw that a lot of the top guys didn't show up," Tresnak said. "But I just kind of went out and did my own thing."

Tresnak completed the 23-mile course from Makai Pier to Sand Island in 2 hours, 38 minutes, 11 seconds. Aaron Napoleon finished second in 2:47:50.

Jane McKee of Kane'ohe was the first female to finish on a one-person canoe with a time of 3:23:34. Arlene Holzman came in second, 26 seconds later.

"We were going back and forth, it was really fun," McKee said. "At the end, it came down to a tactical thing. She went way outside and I snuck inside near the reef and caught some really fun waves."

Gaessner won the men's surfski race by relying to two forms of inspiration.

For one, he started paddling again this year after taking nearly five years off because of shoulder surgery.

"I actually had two surgeries on my right shoulder, in 1998 and 2000," said Gaessner, 43. "I finally got back this year and I feel really lucky just to be back."

Second, Gaessner and several other paddlers dedicated the race to Ken Bailey, a fellow paddler who recently was diagnosed with "a health challenge."

"He's going to have to meet and conquer some difficult things in the coming weeks, so he was in our hearts," Gaessner said.

Gaessner led for most of the race, and then held off a late charge by Mark Sandvold. Gaessner's winning time of 2:35:43 edged Sandvold by one second.

"I made up a lot of ground at the end, but it was Stuart's day," Sandvold said. "I knew I was going for second."

Mary Smolenski was the first female to finish on a surfski with a time of 3:02:16.

The next big race for paddlers is the Starbucks Kaiwi Channel Relay, next Sunday. That race will travel from the Kaluako'i, Moloka'i, to Magic Island, O'ahu.

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