Here’s something you don’t see every day during the summer: Kai Opua finishing third at a Moku O Hawaii Outrigger Canoe Racing Association event.
The West Hawaii powerhouse finished behind Puna and Kai Ehitu last Saturday at the Kailana regatta.
That hasn’t happened in a long, long time. How long?
Even Kai Opua president Uncle Bo Campos, who’s got a memory like an elephant, wasn’t exactly sure.
But at least, he got half the answer right.
“It’s been quite a while at a Tui Tonga regatta, maybe 11 or 12 years ago,” he said.
The race results on the Hawaii Canoe Racing Association’s website, www.hcrapaddler.com, only track back to the 2007 season.
Is it time to raise a red flag, hit the panic button or call a membership meeting?
It’s all chill, according to Uncle Bo, who quickly noted what got Big Blue in trouble.
“We ran over three flags and had a couple of scratches,” he said. “We’ll go back and be all right. It’s no big deal. We’ll bounce back.”
Three disqualifications and three scratches or no-shows equal six races with zero points. Somewhere, at least, six points were lost, enough to claim second.
Puna won with 212 points, followed by Kai Ehitu, 181, and Kai Opua, 176 points, in an unfamiliar third-place spot.
Mel Kelekolio is in her second year as Kai Opua’s women’s coach. Dan Legler is the first-year men’s coach, and two young guns are coaching the youngsters.
Lorelei Nakagawa is coaching the crews from ages 12 to 14, and RJ Crampton is guiding the older youngsters.
Uncle Bo, who coached the youth program, is now overseeing things. Nakagawa and Crampton are Kealakehe graduates who paddled for Campos and Kai Opua athletic director as Waveriders.
It’s a sentimental transition for Uncle Bo, who groomed two of his own from BIIF and club days to take over his duties.
“They’re stepping up. You have to give it up to the next generation,” Uncle Bo said. “I’m so proud of them. They’re doing a bang up job.
“To have the kids follow in your footsteps and step up, I love it. That’s their sport. It’s wonderful.”
15 unbeatens
The undefeated crews are:
• Kai Ehitu boys 13, mixed men and women.
• Kawaihae boys 14.
• Kai Opua boys 16, 18, girls 18.
• Puna men novice A, men freshmen, sophomore, junior, women 60, 50, men 55, mixed 55.
• Keauhou men 40.
State championships
The HCRA state championships will be held Aug. 5 on Maui, where Hawaiian will defend its Division AAAA (21-42 races) on its home water.
It was Hawaiian’s fourth straight state title and 14th in 18 years. The club has also captured the last 31 Maui County association crowns.
Last year, Puna won Division AAA (13-20) and Kawaihae took Division A (1-6) at Keehi Lagoon, where unsightly brown water was present due to rain storms.
That day, Kai Opua took 27 crews and finished third in the quad A class against a smaller portion of the state’s best. Seven Oahu clubs pulled out due to safety concerns, including high bacteria levels.
World Sprints 2020
The 2020 IVF (International Va’a Federation) World Sprint Championships will be hosted by the HCRA at Hilo Bay in three years.
The first and last time Hilo Bay held the World Sprints, considered the Olympics of canoe paddling, was in 2004.
Back then, more than 1,800 paddlers from nearly every island nation and territory in the South Pacific, as well as France and Italy, competed in the biennial event.
The first day featured a whopping total of 95 heats and semifinals. For comparison, the HCRA state championships have 42 events.
The IVF’s website is at ivfiv.org, and it gave the Big Island a nice tourism plug with this video at vimeo.com/ihvb/islandofhawaii.