HONOLULU — Team New Zealand/Hawai‘i was first off the line at Sunday’s 7:25 a.m. start and never relinquished their lead during the entire 41-mile race course from Hale O Lono Harbor, Moloka‘i to Duke Kahanamoku Beach, O‘ahu. Along with New
HONOLULU — Team New Zealand/Hawai‘i was first off the line at Sunday’s 7:25 a.m. start and never relinquished their lead during the entire 41-mile race course from Hale O Lono Harbor, Moloka‘i to Duke Kahanamoku Beach, O‘ahu.
Along with New Zealand/Hawai‘i, 95 other crews lined up at Hale O Lono Harbor on Moloka‘i Sunday morning to attempt to capture the 52nd annual Hawai‘i Modular Space Moloka‘i Hoe, what many deem the world championships of long-distance canoe paddling.
Seas were a bit choppy with wave heights in the 3 – 5 foot range and normal 10 – 15 mile an hour north-east trade winds.
Many of the crews chose a northerly route, including the lead teams: Team New Zealand/Hawai‘i, Lanikai Canoe Club, Outrigger Canoe Club and last year’s champions Ra’i Tahiti. Most avoided the breakers and kept outside the current line with a sizable south swell drumming up surf in the 6 to 8 foot face range. Team New Zealand had kept nearly a mile between them and Lanikai until just outside of Diamond Head. At that point Lanikai closed the gap with New Zealand/Hawai‘i to within a fraction of a mile and Ra’i Tahiti overtook Outrigger’s third place position.
But Team New Zealand wasn’t about to replay last year’s scenario where they came in second place by a mere 20 seconds.
“We saw Lanikai gaining on us by Diamond Head and was shocked to see that they had come within a quarter of a mile,” sids Karel Tresnak, coach and steersman for Team New Zealand/Hawaii.
“That’s when we picked it up, I didn’t want it to be a dog fight until the end. I wanted to keep our lead,” he said.
They won with a time of 5:02:24. Lanikai 1 came in 5 minutes later and took second with a time of 5:07:15. Hui Nalu, who was either in 5th or 6th place during the entire race, took a more direct route, possibly avoiding most of the currents, and came in third with a time of 5:12:47. Outrigger Canoe Club place fourth and Hawaiian Canoe Club of Maui placed 5th.
Several Kaua‘i teams traveled to Moloka‘i for the annual race. Namolokama O Hanalei won the Masters-45+ division with a time of 5:49:41 and 30th overall, and Namolokama O Hanalei’s crew in the open division crew finished 23rd overall with a time of 5:39:44.
Hanalei’s winning Masters crew was made up of Steve Cole, Steve Baker, Togo Hermosura, Lance Laney, Mick Callahan, Gene Lopez, Mark Daniels, Leslie Yokotake and Kawika Goodale.
Other Kaua‘i canoe clubs included Pu‘uwai, Kaiola and Niumalu. Pu‘uwai, which finished 47th overall in the open division with a time of 5:58:30. Kaiola, which also entered the Masters-45+ division, completed the race 65th overall with a time of 6:16:51. Niumalu, in the open class, finished 76th with a time of 6:25:48.
The Hawaii Modular Space Moloka‘i Hoe will be broadcast on Oceanic Cable Channel 16 on Oct. 26 at 7 p.m., with six repeat airings occurring that week.
Ken Nagamine won a corrective LASIK eye surgery courtesy of Laser Eye Center of Hawaii. He guessed the winning time of the crew to be 5 hours, 2 minutes and 25 seconds – a guess that was off by only one second. The winning time was 5:02:24.
This year’s Moloka‘i Hoe was made possible with the support of Hawaii Modular Space as title sponsor, and associate sponsors Hinano Tahiti Beer, Ocean Club, RCI Construction Group, Laser Eye Center of Hawaii, Hawaiian 105 KINE, XCEL Wetsuits, Friends of the Race, Hale Koa Hotel, Happy Shirts, Pacific Paddler, Menehune Water, Kualoa Ranch, Reid Inouye Productions, JOSS Photo and Oceanic Cable Channel 16.
For more information, visit http://www.MolokaiHoe.org.
