WAILUA — It was the final race of the day and it appeared that an upset was in the making Saturday. Kaua‘i High School’s varsity mixed team, racing in Lane 2, worked a strong start and were first in the
WAILUA — It was the final race of the day and it appeared that an upset was in the making Saturday.
Kaua‘i High School’s varsity mixed team, racing in Lane 2, worked a strong start and were first in the turn in the finals of that division.
Coming out of the turn, Kaua‘i maintained its lead, beating out the Kapa‘a team by a half canoe’s length. The finish flags loomed with the Red Raiders maintaining its lead, the team paddlers stroking furiously in the humid aftermath of an earlier squall.
The flags loomed closer, Kapa‘a’s team churned the water in an attempt to wrestle the lead.
Then, without warning, Kaua‘i’s canoe began to veer toward the Kapa‘a team, working to overcome the current in Lane 3. The flags still loomed ahead. The Raider team tried to recover, but the canoe wouldn’t respond in time as the Warriors slipped ahead, its crew spent and slumped over the craft as Kapa‘a picked up its third straight victory in the Varsity Mixed Division.
Earlier, Kapa‘a returned to the form it displayed on the opening regatta as the Warriors finished the day with five first finishes: the varsity mixed, varsity girls, JV boys, girls and mixed.
The varsity mixed paddle stopped the clocks at 3:57.89 followed by the Kaua‘i run at 3:58.94 and Waimea rounding out the field at 4:15.80 for its B team.
During the preliminaries for this division, the Waimea A team (4:27.44) and the Kaua‘i B team (4:33.48) both disqualified, the only two DQs since the regatta started three weeks ago.
Godwin Esaki, one of the Kapa‘a parents whose daughter is part of the varsity girls team, said the coach has been telling the paddlers they really need to want the win.
That tied in with Kapa‘a’s mixed team that posted its fastest time in three regattas. The previous paddles were at 4:05.44 and 4:03.51.
“The coach keeps telling them that first is not good enough for states. If they want a chance at states, they need to dominate,” Esaki said.
Earlier, Kapa‘a had exerted itself in an attempt to take the varsity boys division, but the Kaua‘i team, working a series of short, power strokes in the final yards to the finish, claimed its third straight victory on a 3:43.09 run followed by Kapa‘a (3:44.91) and Waimea (3:51.75). This third victorious run was almost a three-second improvement over the Raiders’ previous outings (3:46.56, 3:46.30).
With a taste of victory, Kaua‘i varsity girls’ team attempted to repeat its winning performance last week, but fell short as Kapa‘a, taking Lane 2 on the final run, topped the field on a 4:10.56 followed by Kaua‘i (4:13.71) in Lane 3, and Waimea (4:36.58) in Lane 1.
Similarly in the JV events, Kapa‘a swept the field, taking the JV girls event on a 4:13.27 paddle followed by Kaua‘i (4:16.88) and Waimea (42:39.38).
Kapa‘a boys were the only paddlers in the JV Boys and ran the course in a 4:07.03. The Kapa‘a A team topped the JV Mixed division on a 4:10.16 paddle followed by its B team (4:15.12) and Waimea (4:20.55).
This Saturday is the final regatta before the KIF championships and starts at 10 a.m. at the Wailua River.