HANALEI — More than 60 clubs are expected to compete in over 40 races at the Hawaiian Canoe Racing Association State Championship Regatta on Saturday in Hanalei Bay.
The opening ceremony is at 7:30 a.m. Racing is slated to begin at 8 a.m. and end at 7 p.m. Some 5,000 paddlers and spectators are expected.
Competitors in six-person outrigger canoes include keiki in the morning and adults in the afternoon. Distances will be from a quarter-mile to two miles.
It should be a spectacular show as the colorful canoes will be racing in 14 lanes.
Organizers say, despite the threat of bad weather this weekend, the races remain scheduled.
But some clubs have pulled out for other reasons and there was even a chance the championship would not be held here.
Two of the state’s oldest and largest canoe clubs, the Outrigger Canoe Club and Hui Nalu Canoe Club, decided not to compete in the State Championship Regatta to give Kauai’s North Shore more time to recover from last year’s flooding, according to the Tribune News Service.
Both clubs voted against sending any teams to Saturday’s event.
In the report by TNS, Walter Guild, chairman of the canoe racing committee for Outrigger, which has about 370 registered paddlers, said Outrigger made an early decision to withdraw because it could have run afoul of hard travel deadlines and faced significant
forfeitures. But Guild said Outrigger’s more pressing concern was sensitivity “to the environment, the town and the people of Hanalei.”
“We did not want to burden the community,” he said.
Denise Darbal-Chang, head coach for the 470-registered-member Hui Nalu Canoe Club, said withdrawing was an easy decision for the club’s board.
“It’s rude to go into someone’s home when they are still trying to get on their feet,” Darbal-Chang said in the TNS report. “I don’t know that most of the community is even aware that they could have thousands more people coming to trample on their precious land when it’s just starting to come back. We love racing, but not under these conditions. We won’t be a part of not allowing the land to heal.”
Mahina Laughlin, who owns Aloha Pearls Hanalei, said the event brings thousands of people to Hanalei and the businesses need it.
“There’s been a lot of back and forth about Kauai’s North Shore being unwelcoming. We are welcoming, and we have aloha, and I’m sure we can all work together to pull this off,” Laughlin said in the TNS story.
Walter Vierra, president of the Hawaiian Canoe Racing Association, said the organization, which hosts the state event, decided some months ago to keep it in Kauai at the urging of the Kauai Outrigger Association.
A letter from KOA said: “For anyone concerned about the logistics of this year’s race, we want to make completely clear that facilities used in previous state regattas in Hanalei Bay will be open and accessible for this year’s regatta.
“We are working closely with the mayor and his staff as we plan for this event. Top county officials attend our meetings and are working closely with us to assure the regatta is a success. Kauai has only one opportunity every six years to host this regatta, and it is one of the largest events of any kind we ever have the opportunity to host. Its success is of extreme importance — not just to Kauai paddlers but county government, local businesses, and cultural practitioners.”
In its letters to Hawaii paddlers, KOA continued: “All of you are aware Kauai experienced severe flooding in April 2018, with thousands on the North Shore struggling to return their lives to normal. Over the past year, we have had many discussions among all member canoe clubs over whether it would be feasible to host the regatta this year. At a meeting on April 19 to finalize these decisions, County representatives explained that Hanalei’s infrastructure — including the newly improved Black Pot Beach park — will be open and ready to handle this event. After discussion, all eleven Kauai clubs agreed unanimously that the event should proceed in Hanalei as planned.”
However, after that meeting, a landslide forced the state to begin construction on Kuhio Highway near the Hanalei Bridge. When construction was announced, the two clubs in Hanalei asked that the race be moved from Kauai.
Adam Roversi, Hanalei Canoe Club men’s coach and steering committee member, said in the TNS report: “We thought it would be better to delay the event to allow everyone to recover, even more so after the landslide. But when they overruled us, our position is that we would make the best of it and participate as well. We didn’t want to undermine the state races. The paddling community is generally respectful and cares for places that they go — as long as that’s the way this works, hopefully the community will embrace that.”
KOA said while it respected their concerns and appreciated their support, “the member clubs of KOA have committed to hosting the race as planned,” the letter read.
