KAILUA-KONA — The Keoua Honaunau Canoe Club may not be able to boast the same numbers as perennial powers Kai Opua or Puna. But for what the club lacks in quantity, they make up for in quality.
The south Kona club managed to pull off a surprise second place finish in a “David vs. Goliath” type matchup at Kai Opua’s Kamehameha Day regatta last Saturday.
The most surprising thing is they did so despite only competing in 31 races, ranking them sixth out of nine Division A clubs on the day.
“Usually we compete in the B division, but this year we had more paddlers, with a lot of them doing two races,” said the club’s head coach Rafa Ramirez. “We could even do better if we were able to compete in three races. We have always been a small club, but this year, it is hard to explain. We had some paddlers who have not paddled with us for 30 years come back out.”
One of those paddlers is Jim Elliot, who picked up two gold medals as part of the Men Novice A and Men Golden Masters 55 crews. Keoua Honaunau had six gold medal finishes total.
“He paddled with us a long time ago and then went on to paddle one-man canoes for a number of years before deciding to come back to us to do six-man,” Ramirez said. “Jim and his brothers are big boys. Jim plays the harp, is a martial artist, a piano mover, is the son of ministers and is a bouncer. He is really interesting.”
After three weeks of racing at Kailua Bay, the paddling scene shifts to the eastside on Saturday with the Kailana Canoe Club regatta.
Elliot, along with teammates Paul Dill, Bugz Luta, Tai Scarbrough, Jim Wilson and Tony Young took the Novice A race with a time of 8 minutes and 13.13 seconds. Along with Robert Abad, Ned Burns and Felipe Galieto, Jr., Elliot’s Golden Masters 55 crew won in 4:03.01.
“The Men Novice A crew was a mix of paddlers who had not competed in years and paddlers who just stared three years ago,” Ramirez said. “They formed a strong crew.”
Keoua Honaunau also had a solid youth performance in the holiday weekend regatta. The boys team of AJ Alani, Tanyo Crivello-Kahihikolo, Kuhi Enos-Chase, Dylan Green, Micah Reep and Ikie Sanchis won in 4:06.92. The girls crew of Taivai Faleofa, Kehau Faleofa, Hana Kahananui, Baby Kihe-Pelekane, Shiloh Nye, Jenn Transfiguracion finished first in a time of 4:59.35.
“That is our future. We have been schooling them, training them, and now, at a young age, they have a taste of victory and they are all gung-ho, training and working hard, “Ramirez said. “They want to go to the state championships and they want to place.”
The Women Novice A crew of Ku’ulei Dumaran, Casey Keohuloa, Sabrina Kirn, Malia Ramirez, Pamela Sanchis and Heather Scarbrough also picked up a victory with a time of 4:38.45.
“The women surprised us, but they have been working for this,” said Rafa Ramirez, who’s daughter Malia steered for the crew and was also returning from a prolonged absence from the club.
Finally, the head coach himself was able to grab a gold with the Men 65 crew along with Ned Burns, Malama Chamberlin, Marvin Feldman, Al LaRosa and John Little. The crew finished in a fast time of 4:24.78.
What wasn’t so fast, though, was finding out if they had won. After a close battle, it would be 30 minutes before Ramirez and his crew found out they had picked up the victory.
“At that age we are fortunate enough to just get in a canoe,” Ramirez joked. “It is really about staying healthy. Which ever crew is injury free is probably going to be the winner.”
Just like his own race, it took a while for Ramirez to even find out his club had finished second overall, a feat that came as a shock since Keoua Honaunau had not finished that high since 1986.
“I actually did not find out until I got home around 9 p.m. that night,” Ramirez said. “My wife said we had finished second and I said, ‘no, we finished first,’ thinking she was talking about my race. I was more surprised than anything else.”
While it is cliche to say that a victory — or in this case the second place finish — could not have been possible without every crew member, in this case it is very accurate as Keoua Honaunau edged out Kai Ehitu and Puna by only one point.
“Every paddler mattered,” Ramirez said. “That is always something we try to stress.”
While the second place finish was nice, Ramirez doesn’t believe the performance will change the club’s goals for the season.
“For us it is about participating, about culture, about teaching history, and about loving each other and our competitors,” Ramirez said. “It has never been about where we place.”