When it comes to paddling, the calm before the storm involves some heavy lifting.
When it comes to paddling, the calm before the storm involves some heavy lifting.
The Hawaiian Canoe Racing Association State Championships kick off this morning in Hilo Bay, with opening ceremonies at 7:30 a.m. The first race is at 8:15 a.m., and contests — all 41 of them — continue throughout the day.
The last time Hilo hosted the state championship was in 2009. On Friday morning, canoe crews and race vendors alike were setting up tents along Bayfront, with some paddlers already out testing the waters.
Hilo’s course stands out from other paddling locales largely because the Wailoa River empties into the bay. Depending on what the tide is doing at the time of a race, crews must compensate for the shifting currents at the river mouth.
“Hilo is a beautiful course,” race commissioner Larry “Uncle Bo” Campos said, standing in the shade of a small tent. “It’s large enough to host everybody. It’s a great venue.”
More than 5,000 paddlers were expected to compete; there are more than 1,800 paddlers on the Big Island alone.
Campos has been commissioner for the past seven years. He started to explain the beauty of the races and of the 14 koa canoes all waiting at the starting line, but broke off to watch his own club, Kai Opua of Kailua-Kona, lift their canoe, Hualalai, off a wheeled trailer and into the cradles of a small but deceptively strong scale.
Before any canoe can go on the water, it has to be weighed. By midmorning, lines of trailers stretched down Bayfront, all waiting their turn to check in. Some crews waited just off the road, on the grass beneath the palm tree shadows and safe from the heat.
“It’s like in weightlifting or boxing,” race secretary Samantha Moikeha said. Weigh-in ensures fairness when canoes from clubs across Hawaii compete, providing a set standard: Canoes must weigh a minimum of 400 pounds, and be no more than 45 feet long.
And weigh-in also lets paddlers check out the competition before race day.
“It gives everybody a chance to see the equipment, like (with) a game ball,” Moikeha said.
Campos said he expected about 40 canoes to weigh in over the course of the morning. Neighbor Island clubs’ canoes were shipped in, with most arriving well in advance of their paddlers.
New Hope Canoe Club, based out of Magic Island in Honolulu, brought just one canoe, Ho‘ola, for their four all-keiki crews (“They’re all going to win tomorrow,” coach Kalai Chung said).
“OK, gentle,” one New Hope paddler said, as the group lowered Ho‘ola onto the scale. “Down nice and easy.”
The numbers on the scale ticked up and down as the paddlers tried to balance Ho‘ola exactly in the center of the cradles. The canoe wobbled as some let go. The group readjusted, and the scale stopped at 438, well over the minimum.
A race official in a red shirt pulled a tape measure along to Ho‘ola’s prow: 44 feet, 11 inches. Just right.
Email Ivy Ashe at iashe@hawaiitribune-herald.com.