The Hawaiian Canoe Club can now celebrate with a six-pack.

Hawaiian won the Hawaiian Canoe Racing Association State Championship Regatta for the sixth consecutive year yesterday.

The club from Kahului Harbor, Maui, amassed 315 points to out-distance the rest of the field.

More than 3,000 paddlers representing 62 clubs from around the state participated in the 37-race regatta at Ke'ehi Lagoon.

"It was a lot more fun than I expected," Hawaiian head coach Diane Ho said. "It was very balanced, which is awesome because that means a lot of different people contributed to this."

Lanikai was a distant second with 269 points. Kailua was third with 247, followed by Hui Nalu (244) and Outrigger (200).

Hawaiian's six-year reign is the second-longest streak in state regatta history, behind Outrigger's nine consecutive titles from 1984-92.

"I think it's totally possible for other teams to catch us," Ho said. "But that also makes us realize that we can't lose sight of the things we're doing. There's a lot of different pieces to our puzzle, but we somehow make it fit."

The key piece for the past six years has been Hawaiian's youth program, and yesterday was no exception.

Hawaiian scored 111 points in the 13 youth races, including 15-point victories from the girls 15, girls 16 and girls 18 crews.

"The coaches always tell us that us teenagers are the strongest part of this club," girls 18 crew member Maria Leon said. "It puts pressure on us, but at the same time, it makes us want to go out and win for the club."

It was the eighth time in nine years that Hawaiian scored the most points in the youth races at the state regatta.

"This is actually a down year for our kids," Hawaiian youth director Paul Lu'uwai said. "Instead of 180 kids, we had about 120. The caliber of kids was still solid, but we were down in the numbers. That's why I'm so proud of them today. They really came through for us again."

But for the first time during its championship run, Hawaiian got a significant boost from its open men's program yesterday.

The Hawaiian men placed first in the freshman and sophomore races, and second in the junior and senior races.

"I think we turned some heads today," Hawaiian men's coach Rick Nu'u said. "We were aware the kids program wasn't as strong as in previous years, so we knew there was pressure on us to perform. And all-around, I think it went better than expected."

Hawaiian led the regatta with five race victories.

Lanikai won four races, and kept pace with Hawaiian early in the regatta. The Lanikai boys were especially effective, winning the boys 16 and boys 18 races by impressive margins.

"After our boys 16 won, we wanted to follow it up and keep it going," Lanikai boys 18 crew member Ben Creps said. "And we've been going back and forth with (Hawaiian's boys 18 crew) over the years, so we wanted it bad."

Lanikai head coach Kalani Irvine said Hawaiian's strength in numbers eventually played a significant role. Hawaiian entered 33 crews in the 37-race regatta; Lanikai had 30, and Kailua had 27.

"I thought our kids did OK — kept us in it," Irvine said. "I didn't know how strong (Hawaiian's) men would be, and they were real strong. And once you get behind, it's so hard to catch them."

Kailua head coach Kawai Mahoe joked that the two Windward O'ahu clubs may have to join forces next year to have a chance at catching Hawaiian.

"We can make Lanikailua," he said. "The numbers make so much of a difference at states. We just got overpowered. Like for us, our goal was to beat Lanikai because we knew it was impossible to catch Hawaiian."

SMALL CLUBS MAKE IT BIG IN SENIOR RACES

The women of the Waikiki Beach Boys made history and the men of Tui Tonga started some club history by winning the prestigious senior races yesterday.

The senior races are considered the top races in canoe regattas, and the 1 1/2-mile course is the longest distance of all the races.

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

The crew of Kelsa Teeters, Erin Offenhauser, Dana Gorecki, Amy Elmore, Andrea Messer and Susan Brown completed the course in 12 minutes, 40.25 seconds to edge Hui Lanakila by four seconds.

"We have been shooting for this for six years," said Gorecki, who is also the club's president. "We've been getting closer and closer every year and we finally got it today. Unbelievable."

Hui Lanakila was in the lead for most of the race, but Waikiki Beach Boys won it with a strong surge going against the wind in the final 1/4-mile.

"We decided we wanted it more and it was like we could hear the whole beach yelling for us," Gorecki said. "And going upwind is typically our strength."

Tui Tonga used a similar strategy in an exciting men's senior race. The crew of Nate Hendricks, Andrew Penny, Kafoa Halalatu, Lyle Palakiko, Nick Agorastos and Bruce Ayau completed the course in 11:04.55 to edge Hawaiian by .54 of a second.

"We wanted to have a nice, relaxed pace, and save something for the end," Ayau said.

Sure enough, Tui Tonga surged ahead in the last 1/4-mile of the course.

It was Tui Tonga's first men's senior win at the state regatta because this is its first year as an official club. Several of the crew members used to paddle with Kai 'Opua.

Interestingly, both the Waikiki Beach Boys women and Tui Tonga men borrowed Keauhou Canoe Club's koa canoe yesterday.

"Give credit to Keauhou," Ayau said. "That boat turns really well."

Reach Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com.