WAIMEA — Host Kilohana Canoe Club swept nine straight races from the Boys 13 and Under through the Boys 18 and Under to capture top honors in Na ‘Opio division at its regatta, Saturday in Waimea. After battling the Hanalei
WAIMEA — Host Kilohana Canoe Club swept nine straight races from the Boys 13 and Under through the Boys 18 and Under to capture top honors in Na ‘Opio division at its regatta, Saturday in Waimea.
After battling the Hanalei Canoe Club powerhouse through the season, Kilohana finally broke through with 11 first place finishes and 112 points.
Pu‘uwai Na ‘Opio finished in second place with 73 points followed by Kaiola with 67 points.
The victory was in strong contrast to Kilohana’s
showing at the Hanalei Regatta where it finished third with just 83 points, below Hanalei and Namolokama
in Hanalei.
In most of the Na ‘Opio first finishes, Kilohana had a strong showing, the closest challenge coming in the Boys 15 and Under race where Kilohana stopped the clock at 4:43:86, challenged by Kaiola at 4:51:32.
Kaiola opened on a winning note, taking the Girls 10 and Under with a 3:11:44 paddle over the challenge of Pu‘uwai (3:24:31).
But despite these close races, Pu‘uwai walked off with the Boys 10 and Under with the only entry before falling to host Kilohana (2:58:13) with a second finish at 3:34:44.
The Kilohana Na ‘Opio was able to relish its victory at home under the scene of calm ocean, a bright sun punctuated by passing showers that served to cool the hot sand at the Waimea Landing where the bread pudding with butter rum sauce was the hit of the day.
Kilohana was only able to muster two first-place finishes in the adult races, taking the Women Novice B (2:35:21) over Namolokama (2:52:05), and the Mixed Novice B on a sole paddle of 2:27:25.
Although no points were available at press time, Kaiola won three of the final four races to take the lead with eight first finishes in the adult division. Kaiola was followed by Pu‘uwai earning six first finishes followed by Niumalu with four and Kilohana and Namolokama each taking two first finishes in the adult division races.
The three back-to-back wins that pulled Kaiola ahead included the Mixed Golden Masters (5:06:21) where it was the sole entrant, the Mixed Masters (4:03:66) where it was about 19 seconds ahead of Pu‘uwai (4:22:41), and the Mixed Open (4:04:51) where the team was about 20 seconds faster than Kilohana (4:24:09) and Pu‘uwai (4:33:71).
Pu‘uwai broke the three-win series by taking the Mens Masters, the final event of the day, on an 8:05:15 paddle over Kaiola’s 8:29:84 run.
This tight competitive run between Kaiola and Pu‘uwai was also demonstrated at the Hanalei Regatta where both teams finished tied for third place with 170 points apiece.
Hanalei won that regatta with 308 points followed by Namolokama finishing in second with 232 points.
The Garden Island Canoe Racing Association championships are scheduled for Saturday at Hanalei Bay, according to the calendar posted on the GICRA Web site.
