Swim club has been practicing at Kalapaki Mokihana Aquatics has been without its home pool for nearly three weeks. A problem with a pump has rendered the waters at the Kaua’i High School facility useless. But that hasn’t stopped the
Swim club has been practicing at Kalapaki
Mokihana Aquatics has been without its home pool for nearly three weeks.
A problem with a pump has rendered the waters at the Kaua’i High School facility useless.
But that hasn’t stopped the swim club from charging ahead.
In lieu of the friendly confines offered by chlorine and lane lines, Mokihana has turned to Kalapaki Beach. There, kids have run the beach, trudged through long ocean swims and picked up some junior-lifeguarding skills.
“We actually try to not do a whole lot of swimming,” head coach Orlando Anaya said. “The salt in the ocean makes you buoyant and begins to change your stroke.
“But our attitude hasn’t changed.”
Even if their summer schedule may have to.
The club’s annual Mokihana Fun Meet is scheduled for August 4-5 at the Kaua’i High pool. The inability to hold the meet would be a blow to the legitimacy Mokihana has begun to again build at the state level.
“We understand that the high school and the state are doing everything possible to get the pool back in order,” Anaya said. “And if we can’t have it, then we push on.”
County aquatic worker Keala Kai, supervisor of the Kaua’i High pool, said that he is not sure how long the facility will be out of order.
“It’s a state matter,” Kai said. “I really don’t even know what’s wrong with the pool. The state has said they will contact me when they have information.”
The Mokihana Fun Meet is the biggest of its kind on the island. Anaya said he had “at least 100 off-island commitments” for this summer’s event.
“Combine that with our swimmers and we were looking at between 125-150 swimmers,” Anaya said. “That’s 700 to 1000 entries.”
Which, Anaya said, turns the meet into a major fund-raiser for the club.
“The school has been tremendous,” Anaya said. “And the county understands the economic impact of having all those swimmers come, between hotel stays and car rentals and everything.”
In its heyday, the Mokihana Fun Meet was one of the more popular in the state. In 1991, Anaya said, there were 1,800 entries in the meet.
Now, the question remains as to whether the 2001 event will be held.
“We’re hoping to know something by July 15,” Anaya said. “After that, we’ve got to start telling the off-island guys it’s cancelled. We don’t want them losing money.
“Whatever happens, we’re having a fine time down at the beach.”
