By RICK WINTERS
West Hawaii Today
Keauhou Canoe Club was already dealing with the stress of hosting a Moku O Hawaii regatta with paddler numbers that have dropped the club to the smaller B division this season, but Mother Nature decided to through another wrench into the equation with King Tides, which set up unusual challenges not only for those in the water, but those standing on Kailua Pier, as well.
In a rare sight, waves rolled over part of the pier throughout the day, sometimes reaching knee-high heights to the shock of the onlookers looking to catch a glimpse of the action.
In the water, the first lane was shut down due to the surf, and even holding the canoes at the starting line was not an easy task.
“If the paddlers are inside the surfers you know it is going to be a tough day,” said Bill Armer, a former Keauhou Club president. “Looking at the bombing waves out there and the overall conditions, all the clubs performed exceptionally well.”
For Keauhou, the club managed to not only fulfill its hosting duties, but also managed its first win of the season, earning 74 points in the B division, competing in 14 races. Keauhou edged Paddlers of Laka (47 points), which had claimed first in the Kai Ehitu regatta season-opener last weekend.
“We may be smaller, but we are united to support each other,” said Keauhou club president Carolyn Carter. “We are able to put out crews of quality, and are able to provide more individual practice time.”
Carter was also a paddler on Saturday. She helped a women’s 40 crew finish second in a very close race.
“The ocean really made us work for it today,” Carter said. “You had to earn it but it was great though.”
Keauhou garnered a taste of gold when both its men’s 40 and 65 crews navigated the rough waters at the front of the pack. The club had four first-place finishes total.
Theron Ogata competed in the men’s 40 and summed up the experience as “being bucked off a horse.”
“I have never seen conditions like this before,” Ogata added. “But we did not let it bother us. We held our composure, kept in rhythm and came through as a team.”
Ogata, who has been with the club for three years, credited part of his crews success with the close attention the team gets in practice thanks to the smaller numbers.
“We get more individualized coaching and the club feels more like an ohana,” Ogata said. “Everyone knows each other and there’s less paddle-tics.”
Peter Lasich was a member on the men’s 65 winning canoe and has been with the club since the 80s.
Lasich compared the conditions on Saturday to being in a “washing machine.”
“It was sloppy and boats were going all over the place because water was bouncing off places it usually doesn’t bounce off of,” Lasich said. “We ended up getting DQ’ed on one of the boats I was holding for. Holding was just as hard as the race.”
For the second consecutive week the A Division came down to the wire.
This time, Kai Opua managed to hold off Puna, edging out the east side club by only one point. Competing in 41 events, Kai Opua finished with 187 points. Big Blue hauled in 12 golds, compared to just nine a week ago.
Puna, which competed in 40 events, made a late run, but finished at 186. Kai Ehitu (160) rounded out the top three.
Kai Opua will host the next Moku O Hawaii paddling event, the King Kamehameha Day Regatta on Saturday, June 10 at Kailua Bay.
