Neither wind nor chop nor lingering shiplag could keep Lauri Broad from notching a win yesterday in her first O'ahu Hawaiian Canoe Racing Association regatta event of the season.

Fresh from a humanitarian mission in the Philippines, the 51-year-old nurse practitioner steered Lanikai's Senior Women Masters 50 crew to its first victory of the season in the Waimanalo Canoe Club Regatta at Waimanalo Beach Park.

Unbeaten Lanikai scored 131 overall points to easily take first place in the AAA (large club) division. Kailua (76) placed second, followed by Outrigger (59).

Hui Lanakila took first in the AA (medium club) division with 34 points in just 12 events. Waimanalo (18) placed second, followed by Leeward Kai (11), which badly damaged the koa canoe loaned to it by Hui Nalu in a collision with another boat early in the day.

Anuenue won the A (small club) division with four points, followed by Pu'uloa Outrigger (2).

"We've been mixing it up, using different paddlers on different teams to give everybody a chance to race," said Lanakila head coach Tom Conner. "We're just barely into the middle of the season, so we still don't know what we've got."

Indeed, with some 400 active members at his disposal, Conner has enviable depth for each event. He estimates that between 10 and 25 quality paddlers are vying for each crew. That high level of competition for seats yesterday resulted in 19 wins in 39 events entered.

Until her return to Honolulu last Monday, Broad, who was preoccupied with an entirely different sort of boating experience, had been out of the mix on the women's side.

The Navy Reservist was a member of the joint military project Pacific Partnership 2008 crew that sailed about the USNS Mercy to provide medical service to the Philippines.

Broad spent about a month in rural areas of Mindanao, along with physicians, nurses, dentists, optometrists and other medical professionals from the U.S., Canada and Australia. She returned on Monday and was back in the canoe the next day for the first of just two preparatory training sessions for yesterday's regatta.

Still, Broad had been able to stay in shape by training in the pre-distance season, and by running aboard the Mercy whenever she could.

"Physically, I felt good," Broad said. "This is a new mix of people but I'm thrilled to do my first race with this crew. I just wanted to do whatever I could to take care of them."

The crew — Broad, Cathy Bender, Leslie Ann Murakami, Cindi Chess, Paula Harris and Kathleen McGovern-Hopkins — got off to a good start, made a clean turn, then took advantage of some fortuitous swells on the return.

Not everyone fared so well on a day when high winds and choppy conditions made turning and even paddling a straight line difficult. At least two canoes huli'd during events and several others nearly did the same going in and out of turns.

"We like these conditions," said Mike Willett, part of the first-place Kailua Senior Men Masters (50) crew. "It makes for an interesting race. We were in Lane 2 and there were swells in and out, and we were right in the trough. It was fairly easy to flip over."

Willett and his crewmates, many of whom paddled together in the club's Men's 40 crew, anticipated a hotly contested race and they responded with a furious burst out of the start. The strategy paid off as Kailua led coming out of the turn and held on with a sustained effort down the stretch.

"We knew we had to go out with a bang," Willett said. "It's a tough race, but we went out and kept firing."

The rest of the Kailua crew consisted of Rob Eheler, Michael McCue, Stephen Holbrook, Lance Anderson and Freddie Tauotaha.

Outrigger's Women Masters (40) crew of Mary Smolenski, Paula Crabb, Traci Phillips, Laurie Lawson, Kisi Haine and Kristine Reisdorf opted for their heavier Kaoloa canoe to battle the unruly conditions.

The crew got off to a quick start but couldn't shake Lanikai. The two crews were virtually neck and neck coming out of the turn but Outrigger eventually pulled away thanks to the vocal encouragement of Phillips, who called a series of "power 10s" on the return leg.

Steersperson Haine said the crew had to be vigilant about the wind, several times calling for their fifth-seat paddler to switch sides to keep the ama in the water.

It was the Outrigger Women Master crew's first win of the season.

NA 'OHANA O NA HUI WA'A

Kane'ohe rolled up 68 points to capture the AAA division yesterday at the Alapa Hoe Regatta at Ke'ehi Lagoon. Manu O Ke Kai finished second with 63 points.

Waikiki Beach Boys won the AA division while Ka Mamalahoe won the A division.