HANALEI, Kaua'i — Lucky number seven may be the most memorable of them all for the Hawaiian Canoe Club.

Hawaiian won its seventh consecutive Hawaiian Canoe Racing Association State Championship Regatta yesterday at Hanalei Bay, stunning O'ahu powers Lanikai and Kailua.

"This has to be the sweetest one," Hawaiian assistant coach Paul Lu'uwai said. "It shows that it's not just about quantity, but quality. I feel like we truly came in as an underdog in this one and we pulled it off somehow."

More than 3,000 paddlers representing nearly 60 clubs from around the state participated in the day-long regatta.

Hawaiian's seven consecutive titles is the second-longest streak in state regatta history, behind only Outrigger's nine in a row from 1984-92.

The club based at Kahului Harbor, Maui, scored 359 points in the 39-race regatta. Lanikai placed second with 328, and Kailua was third with 273.

Lanikai, the O'ahu Hawaiian Canoe Racing Association champion, entered yesterday's regatta with a state-high 38 crews (out of a maximum 39). Kailua had 36, and Hawaiian 31.

"It just wasn't our day and it was Hawaiian's day," Lanikai assistant coach Curtis Hawkins said. "We had an incredible OHCRA season and thought we were in a good position for this, but it obviously didn't go the way we wanted."

Hawaiian won a regatta-high seven races and placed second in nine others.

"All these years, we had the most crews, so we always had that hanging over us," Lu'uwai said. "This year, it gave us a different approach and we really had to work hard for it. A lot of people wrote us off, I think we even wrote ourselves off a little bit before this one."

Hawaiian's previous six state championships were built around its powerful youth paddlers.

Yesterday, the Hawaiian men took the spotlight for the club.

Hawaiian's men swept the freshman, sophomore, junior and senior races, and also won the novice A race.

"It's very unexpected," said Kai Bartlett, who paddled on the winning sophomore and senior crews, and coached the victorious novice A crew. "To be honest, we were hoping to win the senior race, and then maybe do well in all the others. To win all of them is unreal. With the competition that's out there ... I can't believe it."

The crew of Bartlett, Jacob Abeytia, Tyson Kubo, Peter Konohia, Felipe Gomes and Kekoa Cramer won both the sophomore and senior races.

They completed the 1 1/2-mile course for the prestigious senior race in 10 minutes, 31.35 seconds to beat Tui Tonga by 12 seconds. It is the first time in the history of the club that Hawaiian won the men's senior race at the state regatta. The senior races are considered the top races of the regatta.

"I still remember the last time states was at Hanalei (in 2001), I was racing in the 18 boys and Lanikai was just roping everybody in the men's races," said Cramer, who steered the winning Hawaiian senior crew. "I still look up to those guys, so to beat them really means something to me."

Bartlett was a long-time paddler for Lanikai before moving to Maui and joining Hawaiian a few years ago.

"It's a little weird and kind of a bummer that it seems to come down to Hawaiian and Lanikai every year," he said. "But I live on a different island now and we're friendly rivals as far as I'm concerned. I have so much respect for both clubs because I've been a part of both."

Hawaiian's victory was not all about the men. As usual, the youth did their part.

Hawaiian scored 110 points in the youth races — tops among all the youth programs yesterday — including victories in the girls 14 and girls 16 races.

It was the ninth time in 10 years that Hawaiian has finished as the top youth program in the state.

Making this one more impressive, Hawaiian qualified crews in only nine of the 13 youth races.

"I'm so proud of the kids," said Lu'uwai, who is the director of the Hawaiian youth program. "They gave us that lift we needed."

A key performance came from the crew of Lulu Kohl, Tiana Ka'auamo, Shalei DeFrancia, Jessie Burnett, Amie Kohl and Cory Kawaiaea. They won the girls 16 race, and then placed third in the girls 18 race.

"We came in after winning the 16s, and the whole club was psyched," Ka'auamo said. "Everybody was giving us leis and cheering. But then we had to take off all our leis and drink lots of water because we had to go right back out for the 18 race."

Burnett, who is in her first year with Hawaiian, said: "There's pressure that comes with paddling for this club, but that also helps you be competitive. We got a first and a third. I'd say that's a pretty good accomplishment."

The Hawaiian women also did their part, finishing in the top three of the freshman, sophomore, junior and senior races.

Lanikai won just two races — men novice B and boys 18. Kailua won just one, the men's 60 race.

"We started off slow with our kids and then never really got going after that," Lanikai's Hawkins said. "I think it's a credit to all the Neighbor Island clubs that did really well."

In the prestigious women's senior race, the Waikiki Beach Boys repeated their victory from last year, and this time, there was no doubt.

The crew of Kelsa Teeters, Andrea Messer, Dana Gorecki, Raye Powell, Jen Polcer and Sue Brown completed the 1 1/2-mile course in 12:11.83 to beat Hawaiian by an impressive 16 seconds.

"The margin was a big surprise," said Brown, who steered the crew to victory for the second consecutive year. "We were expecting it to be a nose-to-nose finish."

Last year, Waikiki Beach Boys won the women's senior race for the first time in club history. They are also the only crew from the Na 'Ohana O Na Hui Wa'a organization to win a senior race at the state regatta.

"Some people might have thought last year was a fluke, and I think we even had a little bit of a question ourselves," Brown said. "But that only made us work harder this year to do it again."

Reach Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com.