PO‘IPU — Marvin Otsuji and the team from the Kamakakoa enjoyed the favorable channel conditions as they captured the 2005 Na Holo Kai Sailing Canoe Race by a scant minute, Saturday. “It was a lot of fun,” Otsuji said. “We
PO‘IPU — Marvin Otsuji and the team from the Kamakakoa enjoyed the favorable channel conditions as they captured the 2005 Na Holo Kai Sailing Canoe Race by a scant minute, Saturday.
“It was a lot of fun,” Otsuji said. “We were just going.”
Kamakakoa, who was buried in the middle of the pack at the No. 4 position 40 minutes following the 7:20 a.m. start, did not gain the pole position until the 1 p.m. position check.
La‘amaomao, captained by Matt Buckman, had the second slot at the 40-minute check, and despite gaining the pole position at the 9 a.m. check, had slipped to the No. 2 position, battling with Kamakakoa through the tail end of the race.
Kamakakoa finished the channel crossing from Haleiwa in seven hours, 50 minutes, chased by La‘amaomao who finished second, a minute later.
The number three slot was taken by Taupua captained by Trevor Cabell with a 7-hour, 52 minute crossing.
“We had a good channel,” Kawika Goodale, one of the Kamakakoa crew members said. “And, that made for good times. The fastest time was somewhere around seven hours, and we came in at just over seven-and-a-half hours. That was good.”
Goodale, a veteran of numerous Na Holo Kai races, joked, “We (Otsuji) are the oldest guys on the crew so we had the two back seats.”
Makakoa, with Mike Spalding in the captain’s seat, jumped out to the pole position at the 8 a.m. position check, but by 1 p.m., had slipped to the No. 4 position, that crew’s eventual finish with a time of 8 hours and five minutes. Mike Kincaid’s Kamali‘i O Ke Kai followed at 8 hours, 11 minutes.
Alan Faye, a sailing canoe race enthusiast, was busy taking team shots of the finishing crews, noting, “The finish line is out there,” pointing to a distant white buoy. “The hardest part is coming from the finish line to the beach since they don’t have the wind to their back.”
Na Holo Kai Sailing Canoe Race is one of the Koloa Plantation Days Celebration events, and is sponsored by the Hawaiian Sailing Canoe Racing Association.
