Starting a new season with a new coach and some new paddlers, the Lanikai Canoe Club got the same result it did all of last year — first place.

Lanikai won the Clement D. Pa'iaina Regatta yesterday at Ke'ehi Lagoon. It was the season-opening regatta of the O'ahu Hawaiian Canoe Racing Association.

Lanikai went undefeated in regattas last year en route to a state championship.

"It's going to be a challenge this year," new Lanikai head coach Jimmy Bruhn said. "We lost some good paddlers from last year. Members come, members go. That's part of the sport. You just race with what you have."

Yesterday, Lanikai had enough to score 82 points through the 39 races of the regatta.

Kailua finished a close second with 77 points.

Hui Lanakila — behind a strong performance from its women — won the AA division for medium-sized clubs and placed third overall with 63 points.

Waikiki Surf Club and Waimanalo tied for first in the A division for small clubs.

OHCRA is the state's largest paddling organization with more than 2,500 paddlers.

"You can see the competition is going to be good this year," Bruhn said. "It was a dogfight the whole day."

Indeed, the final outcome was not decided until the final race of the day. After 38 races, Kailua and Lanikai were tied with 77 points.

In the 39th race — the mixed open-6 division — Lanikai won for five points, and Kailua placed fifth (only the top four canoes in each race score points on a 5-3-2-1 basis).

"We had no idea that was the situation, which is probably a good thing because it would have put a lot of pressure on us," said Dave Smith, who stroked for the victorious Lanikai crew. "But it's good to know we made a difference. I think as a club we're focused on doing well at states again, so this is a good start."

Lanikai won 10 races, including four youth races.

"It seems like our kids are going to make their fair share of points this year, and we need it," Bruhn said.

Lanikai is traditionally strong in the open men's races, but Bruhn said several veteran paddlers are not with the club this year.

"We still have a great bunch of guys to work with, but if we can have some of those other guys to come back, better yet," he said.

Kailua won just four races, but placed second in eight races.

"I'm pleasantly surprised, actually," Kailua head coach Kathy Erwin said. "Lanikai is a huge force."

Erwin noted that Lanikai won last year's season-opening regatta by 30 points.

"One of our goals is to get closer to them this year, and we did that today," she said.

Hui Lanakila won 10 races, including a sweep of the women's freshman, sophomore, junior and senior races.

Raven Aipa, coach of the Hui Lanakila women's program, said he will use the regatta season as a form of training for the long-distance season later this year.

"We have over really strong 20 girls trying out for 10 spots," he said. "We'll change things around every week and see what we come up with."

The crew of Deborah Rosenblum, Madison Minkle, Arlene Holzman, Claire Townsend, Sarah Jane Larkin and Lori Nakamura won the prestigious women's senior race, beating Kailua by 22 seconds.

"It compels everybody to come to the time trials and work hard in practice," Rosenblum said of the intra-club competition. "We have a lot of depth, so we're all pushing each other."

Outrigger won four races, including the coveted men's senior race. The crew of Scott Gamble, Craig Gamble, Mike Kane, Kapono Brown, Simeon Ke-Paloma and Jimmy Austin beat Lanikai by 13 seconds.

"First regatta, you have no clue what to expect," Austin said. "Lanikai was clearly the dominant competition last year. We know they lost a lot of guys, but they're still no slouches. So to do what we did today, we're stoked."

KANE'OHE CONTINUES WINNING IN HUI WA'A

Kane'ohe Canoe Club won its third consecutive regatta in the Na 'Ohana O Na Hui Wa'a organization yesterday.

Kane'ohe scored 70 points to win the Windward Kai Regatta at Waimanalo Beach.

Kane'ohe won nine races, including seven youth races.

Waikiki Beach Boys placed second with 62 points. It won a regatta-high 10 races, including the men's and women's senior races.

Kane'ohe and Waikiki Beach Boys both entered the AA division for medium-sized clubs.

Koa Kai won the AAA division for big clubs with 60 points.