The Kane'ohe Canoe Club started 2007 where it left off in 2006 ... and 2005, and 2004 and 2003 — on top of the Na 'Ohana O Na Hui Wa'a standings.

Kane'ohe's quest for a fifth consecutive Hui Wa'a championship got off to a winning start at the Kane'ohe Regatta yesterday at Ke'ehi Lagoon.

It was the opening regatta of the Hui Wa'a organization. Around 1,500 paddlers representing 17 clubs from around O'ahu participated in the day-long regatta.

"I say the same thing every year, and it's true. Every week is a hard week for us," Kane'ohe head coach Clint Anderson said. "But I think this year, especially, is going to be a tough one. Our numbers are down. This is the smallest our club has been since 1999."

Kane'ohe amassed 77 points through the 39 races in the regatta. Na Keiki O Ka Mo'i placed second in the AAA division for big clubs with 40 points, and Lokahi was third with 29.

Despite its limited numbers, Kane'ohe relied on a familiar formula yesterday — youth.

Kane'ohe won seven of the 13 youth races and scored 44 points in the youth divisions.

"We don't have as many kids this year as we did in the past," Anderson said. "But they did OK today. It's a good bunch of kids. They train hard. Hopefully, we get more as the summer goes along."

Several Kane'ohe youth paddlers had to "double up" yesterday, paddling in more than one division. As an example, Nainoa Kahale paddled on both the boys 16 and boys 18 crews. Kane'ohe won both races.

"It's probably going to be like this the whole year," said Kahale, 16. "It's hard, but that's what we train every day for."

Kane'ohe won 10 of the 39 races overall.

A closer battle took place in the AA division for medium-sized clubs.

Manu O Ke Kai won the AA division with 63 points, which technically put them in second place overall.

"We were keeping track of our points against the other AA teams, so I didn't realize we came that close to Kane'ohe," Manu O Ke Kai head coach Randy Sanborn said.

Manu O Ke Kai won eight races, including the prestigious men's senior race. The crew of Pete Celebre, John Mack, Tomas Schlotman, Greg Wright, Glenn Williams and Moku Sanborn completed the 1 1/2-mile course in 11 minutes, 52.60 seconds to edge Koa Kai by three seconds.

"A lot of our men came out late, and they only started practicing together for one week," Sanborn said. "So they can get better."

Five of Manu O Ke Kai's race wins came from its masters crews.

"Our secret is the masters," Sanborn said. "We cannot keep up with Kane'ohe's kids. They're awesome. We don't have the kids, so we have to get our points in other places."

Sanborn said yesterday's results may prompt him to move the club up the AAA division later this season.

"It's hard to win that division, because we don't have the numbers (of paddlers) like some of those other clubs," he said. "But if we can find some more paddlers, we'll try it. Our goal is to win that division one day."

Waikiki Beach Boys placed second in the AA division with 42 points, Koa Kai was third with 40, and 'Alapa Hoe was fourth with 34.

Waikiki Beach Boys won seven races, including five victories from its women — novice B, novice A, freshman, sophomore and senior.

The senior crew of Dana Gorecki, Andrea Messer, Jen Polcer, Erin Offenhauser, Sue Brown and Rachel Orange completed the 1 1/2-mile course in 13:15.35, which was 23 seconds better than second-place Lokahi.

Waikiki Beach Boys won the women's senior race at the state championship regatta last year.

"We know there's a target on us," Orange said. "But this is a new year and you never know what's going to happen. We have a different crew and you don't know what the other clubs are going to bring. Lokahi was pretty close to us most of the way, so it shows us we have a lot of work to do."

Ka Mamalahoe won the A division for small clubs with 14 points. North Shore was second with 12.

The Hui Wa'a regatta season will continue Sunday with the Manu O Ke Kai Regatta at Hale'iwa Beach.

The O'ahu Hawaiian Canoe Racing Association is scheduled to open its regatta season Sunday at Ke'ehi Lagoon.

Reach Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com.