HILO – Kai Ehitu’s farm system keeps producing promising young paddlers in the Moku O Hawaii Outrigger Canoe Racing Association garden year after year.
The West Hawaii club scored the most points in the youth races (ages 12-18) at the 11th annual Aunty Maile Mauhili/Moku O Hawaii championships on an oven-baked Saturday at Hilo Bay.
Kai Ehitu’s young guns won five gold medals and racked up 69 points while perennial powerhouse Kai Opua pocketed four medals and finished with 57 points.
Hiram “Nana” Anakalea Jr. has seen Kai Ehitu’s growth first hand. Four years ago, he was on the boys 12 crew that won the Aunty Maile/Moku O Hawaii title and snagged the sweep with another gold at the Hawaii Canoe Racing Association state championships.
Back then he weighed about 140 pounds. Now, Nana is a solid 250 pounds and an incoming junior at Kealakehe, where he’ll play football in the fall at defensive line.
Kai Ehitu (Anakalea, Malosi Lasaga, Bronson Leslie, Baba Weza, Setu Vole, Keola Kaleookamanu-Pelekane) won the boys 15 title in 4:06:55, beating Kai Opua’s 4:06:79 in a thriller.
The crew will shoot for a sweep on Saturday, Aug. 6, at states at Oahu’s Keehi Lagoon.
Kai Ehitu’s boys 12, girls and boys 14 and boys 18 crews also captured gold medals on a day that featured a stiff wind but no rain, thanks to Tropical Storm Celia giving Hilo a break.
Under youth coach Hiram Anakalea (Nana’s dad), Nana, Lasaga, Leslie, Weza and Iokepa Aponte, who was in Seattle, have been paddling together since 2012 on that double-gold boys 12 crew.
Those Original Five were on the Kai Ehitu boys 13 crew that finished second at the Aunty Maile/Moku O championships but first at states in 2014.
Almost on clockwork, it’s every two years that crew brings home state gold.
Last year, the Original Four (no Lasaga) were on the boys 14 that won the Aunty Maile title but placed second to Maui’s Hawaiian at states at Hilo Bay.
“Our kids did not do too bad. They did a good job,” Kai Ehitu head coach Richard Kimitete said. “You have to give credit to the youth coaches. Hiram is the head coach for the kids and his assistants, Aunty Blondie Kamaka, Gabriel Pelekane and Chris Vasquez.
“When coaches can just coach, paddlers paddle, and I can take care of any little problems, that’s always a good thing.”
Anakalea and Vasquez point out they follow the legacy of late club founder Bernard “Papa” Kimitete, who used to preach to his coaches to treat the paddlers like family.
“We want the families to come down, but if they don’t then we’ll treat the paddlers like family for the two hours or so that we got them,” Vasquez said. “That’s what Kai Ehitu is all about. After our 18 boys crew won, they went over and congratulated second-place Keaukaha. We want to be a family with the competition, too.”
Only Nana and Malosi play football for Kealakehe, where football coach Sam Kekuaokalani has given the two paddlers a bit of leeway from missing offseason conditioning.
That’s a good thing for Nana, who hopes to keep paddling with his Original Five.
“We’ve been together since we were 12 years old,” Nana said. “Basically, we grew up with each other.”
So what happens to Kai Ehitu’s farm system when the Original Five grow out of the youth ranks?
Well, another seed has already been planted.
On that boys 12 gold medal crew sits Nana’s cousin, Hailama Anakalea, another promising paddler in Kai Ehitu’s blooming garden. And Nana’s sister Kiana is on the girls 14 crew that also took gold.
