HondaReport.com - Paddling: Kaneohe edges Manu O Ke Kai to win Hui Wa'a championship, Saturday, July 24, 2004

Paddling: Kaneohe edges Manu O Ke Kai to win Hui Wa'a championship, Saturday, July 24, 2004

Here is the full version of the story on Saturday's Hui Wa'a championships at Keehi Lagoon.

The edited, shorter version was published in Sunday's Honolulu Star-Bulletin.

Kaneohe Canoe Club staved off a brilliant master plan by Manu O Ke Kai to capture its third Hui Wa’a Championship in five years yesterday at Keehi Lagoon. Kaneohe outpointed Manu, 70-69.

“I’m proud of the club. We were up early, then down by seven points,” Kaneohe head coach Clint Anderson said. “We just focused on doing the best we could do, one race at a time.”

Kaneohe now turns its attention to the state championships, which will be held in two weeks at Keehi. “We’ll focus and try our best,” Anderson said.

It was yet another runner-up finish for Manu, a club that has come so close to winning championships. “Close is only good in horseshoes and grenades,” Manu O Ke Kai head coach Randy Sanborn quipped. “Everybody did an awesome job today. Our kids did great, and our (men’s) freshmen, sophomores and seniors—we won all three for the second time this year.”

Unbeaten in official Na Ohana O Na Hui Wa’a events this summer—last week’s Waikiki regatta was nothing more than a “fun race” that did not count toward season point totals—Kaneohe was on the ropes midway through the day.

Kaneohe trailed by as many as seven points before rallying late and getting over the hump in Event 33: the Mixed Senior Masters.

Trailing 66-65, Kaneohe’s crew of Naomi Higuchi, Bob Chang, Jonel Smith, Faauuga To’oto’o, Rene Smith and Ben Smith won the half-mile race with a time of 4 minutes, 22.49 seconds to earn five points. Manu O Ke Kai placed second (4:43.36) and gained three points, but Kaneohe took the lead.

Neither club entered a crew in the ensuing Women Open 4 race, dominated again by the Waikiki Beach Boys. That set the stage for the Men Open 4 and the Mixed Open 6—races that Kaneohe and Manu had not entered throughout the entire season.

Manu needed to place at least fifth in one of the final two races to tie Kaneohe for the AAA Division (25-36 events) lead. However, Manu placed seventh in both events, while Kaneohe came in eighth, and then ninth. That left Kaneohe with a hard-earned victory.

“We just don’t have the personnel,” Sanborn said about stretching out his paddlers for two more events.

Anderson, who has guided the club to three titles since returning in 1999, was sympathetic. “My hat’s off to Randy. They’re balanced. They have the adults, the kids,” Anderson said. “Their future is bright.”

Sanborn, Sanford share Coach of Year honors

The association presented Coach of the Year honors to Sanborn, one of the mainstays among coaches in the sport, and Alapa Hoe’s Daniel Sanford. The handsome trophy, a paddle engraved with the islands, went home with Sanford.

“We should let him have the paddle. He has a smaller club,” Sanborn said during the presentation.

Sanford, founder and head coach of Alapa Hoe, is in his 12th year at the helm. “I’m surprised. Randy turned his program around, too. I still feed off him; the coaching, the knowledge and perpetuating the culture,” Sanford said. “In my club, we want to stay small. Everyone gets to paddle and we have fun.”

The 38-year-old is also head coach at Moanalua High School, which began its paddling program four years ago under Sanford.

Lokahi, which competed in the AAA Division this summer, whittled its force down and won the AA Division (13-24 events) title with 49 points. Koa Kai, which had dominated the division during the regular season, placed second with 38 points. Alapa Hoe placed third with 14 points.

The Beach Boys, as expected, captured the A Division (1-12 events) crown with 37 points. Na Keiki O Ka Mo’i placed second with 27 points.

Kaneohe, which usually relies heavily on his strong corps of keiki paddlers, had trouble early.

“In the beginning, our mix and 12 girls usually win,” Anderson noted. “But it was okay. Any given day, anything can happen. We just stayed where we were.”

Kaneohe’s keiki had a solid day, with wins in the Girls 13 and 14, and Boys 13 and 14 races. The Girls 15 also won, setting a course record (4:21.46), breaking its previous mark by more than eight seconds.

“Some of the girls were crying before the race,” first stroker Lehua Tabadero said. “We really wanted to win it for Coach (Anderson). While we were paddling, we kept saying, ‘Do it for Clint!’ He takes a lot of (grief) from us.”

Incredibly, three of the crew members have summer-time volleyball commitments away from paddling. “We rarely practice as a crew,” Tabadero noted.

Though Kaneohe won the state title last year in Girls 15, Tabadero doesn’t make any assumptions about this year’s field. “From what I know, Hawaiian (Maui) is our main competition,” she said.

Manu’s Master Plan

Manu pulled out all the stops to make a run at perennial powerhouse Kaneohe. From the very start, coach Randy Sanborn and his assistants plotted the perfect gameplan.

In the Girls 12 race, Manu switched three paddlers from another crew and upended the previously unbeaten crew from Kaneohe. Three of the Manu crew—Sunny Tantog, Kai Nakamoto and Cristyn Chun, were mainstays. The other three, Aja Lopes, Naomi Blanchard and Rajina Viernes, stepped in to help the crew finish the quarter-mile race with a time of 2:22.81.

Windward, with a time of 2:27.84) also outpaced Kaneohe (2:29.58).

This season, coming into the championships, Kaneohe had outpointed Manu 35-14 in Girls 12 races. Still, the win for Manu’s Girls 12 crew wasn’t overly shocking; they’ve won in statewide competition before.

Another shrewd move by Manu netted at least three extra points. Their Men’s Novice B team placed third, and because of flexible rules in championship competition, the same crew entered the Novice A event. Switching just one paddler, the crew moved up and placed second in the Novice A race, good for three points that Manu normally would not have.

Kaneohe didn’t panic, even as Manu pulled away with wins in the Men’s Freshmen, Sophomore and Senior races. After Manu placed second in the Women’s Masters 40 race, Kaneohe trailed 66-59 with 10 events left.

“For a while, though, we were right there,” Sanborn lamented.

Kaneohe’s Championship Comeback

Chipping away, Kaneohe placed second in the Women’s Senior Masters 50 and Men’s Senior Masters 50 races.

“Everybody knew at a certain point that we were behind,” Anderson said. “But we don’t put pressure on our paddlers. We just let ‘em go out and do what they do during practice.”

Then came the key win in the Mixed Senior Masters 45 event, and Manu’s championship dream was stymied once again.

In all, Kaneohe won nine events, and Manu captured eight. Waikiki Beach Boys were victorious in six races—four wahine events and two mixed. Lokahi took four races.

Of the 13 crews that entered the championship regatta unbeaten, two fell. One was Kaneohe’s upstart Girls 12 team. The other was Waikiki Yacht Club’s Women’s Masters 50, which was toppled by Kai Poha and Kaneohe.

The 11 crews that went through the Hui Wa’a season undefeated are: Koa Kai Men’s Novice A; North Shore Women’s Master’s 40; Waikiki Beach Boys Women’s Freshmen and Mixed Open 6; Manu O Ke Kai’s Women’s Golden 55 and Men’s Golden 55; and Kaneohe’s Girls 13, Girls 15, Boys 13, Boys 18 and Mixed Golden 55.

Knocking Off Goliath

Sunny Tantog, 12, is the first stroker for the Manu crew that upset Kaneohe. “I thought we would get second,” she said. “I slowed my pace down. Aunty Randi said to try and keep a consistent pace.”

The crew finished its quarter-mile race in 2:22.81, more than five seconds ahead of runner-up Windward, and nearly seven seconds ahead of Kaneohe. It was quite a turnaround for Manu’s crew. “We usually would take the lead and die out at the end,” said Tantog, 11.

“Usually, Sunny and me are the ones cheering everyone on,” crewmate Kai Nakamoto, 12, said. “In the middle, our steersman (Cristyn Nakamoto) told us we were winning, and we looked.”

MO6 a Power Source for Beach Boys

The Beach Boys continued to show remarkable strength in several races. The Mixed Open 6 that went unbeaten this summer hopes to improve on last year’s sixth-place finish at states.

“We’re a lot stronger now with a lot more numbers,” steersman James Richmond said. “Right now, our times are better than OHRCA’s.”

The crew lineup has changed constantly for the Mixed Open 6. In fact, about one month ago, a different lineup set a record at Keehi for the Beach Boys.

“As long as we return with them, we’ll be okay,” said Richmond, now in his fifth season of paddling.

The crew won yesterday’s half-mile race in a time of 4:04.52, more than six seconds ahead of Ka Mo’i. “It’s usually quiet out there. We listen to James. He kind of pushes hard,” No. 2 stroker Cori Mackie said.

Ka Mo’i made a serious push. “In the middle, we were neck-a-neck,” No. 1 stroker Andrew Roth said.

Golden Streaks

Manu O Ke Kai’s Golden crews have unbeaten streaks heading into the state championships. It makes for quite a pair of feats in Hui Wa’a’s first year of men’s and women’s Golden divisions.

“We all pulled together. We even have a 76-year-old,” steersman Marilyn Schoenke said of crewmate Grace Dixon. One difference yesterday was the addition of Sheila Pactol and Kay Bauman, who normally paddle with the Mixed Golden crew.

“And Peggy (Cutting) and Donna (Machado) have been our No. 1 and No. 2 (strokers) all year,” Schoenke added.

The crew has improved each week, she said. Come state championship time, the Big Island and Maui have more experience in the men’s and women’s Golden divisions, which makes Manu a darkhorse contender.

Lee Kekauoha, 56, also enjoyed his first year in the Masters division. As the No. 3 stroker, he and his Manu crew also went undefeated, which is fitting, considering the price they pay.

The men train with normal crews on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, they train in one-man canoes. “We train hard, and we have a good coach in Randy Sanborn,” said Kekauoha, who has been part of five clubs in 15 years of paddling. “I came to Manu in ’93 or ’94. Win or lose, we celebrate. There’s camaraderie.”

The wahine Novice B crews of the Waikiki Beach Boys had mixed results this year. The Women’s Novice B team racked up 38 of 40 possible points. The Mixed Novice B, meanwhile, was on par with Kaneohe and Alapa Hoe.

Wahine Novice B paddler Stacey Shepard helped her crew (2:06.44) outlast Manu by nearly eight seconds in their quarter-mile race. .

The moments leading into yesterday’s battle, however, were pensive. Clubs routinely shuffle crew members for the championships, and the Beach Girls knew it.

“There was a lot of nervous excitement, knowing we could be facing people we’ve never faced before,” said Shepard, who expects a lot of fierce competition at the state championships. “Kailua’s running pretty strong, and there’s a strong team from Kona.”

Vivian Caylor, also a first-year paddler, helped her Mixed Novice B team (1:54.79) edge Kaneohe by less than one second. “We could hear Kaneohe’s crew yelling, encouraging each other,” she said. “That pushed us a little more. We knew they were near, but it was hard to tell. We’re not supposed to look.”

The Kaneohe Boys 13 crew capped an unbeaten Hui Wa’a season with a 1:50.59 time yesterday, nearly five seconds ahead of second-place Alapa Hoe.

“We almost beat our record,” No. 4 stroker Cody Hookano said of the mark, which is 1:49.

The crew had one change to personnel, but otherwise, it was business as usual. “It felt like a normal regatta. It felt like we went faster,” Hookano said, referring to the new crew member.

Going unbeaten requires no secret recipe, Hookano said. “We just practice hard. Really hard,” he said. “And we show up to practice every day. We try our best. It’s coming down to states. Everyone’s dedicated.”

Hookano says the training doesn’t end when he and his teammates leave practice. “We go home, do our own training, and then go to practice and train as a crew,” he said.

He expects plenty of competition, especially from Keahiakahoe, which hails from nearby Kahalu’u. “We have some friends in that crew. I saw them last week, and we told each other, ‘You’re gonna lose,’” Hookano said. “They’re good, and we just have fun teasing each other.”

Manu O Ke Kai wasn’t a pushover by any means in the keiki divisions, winning three races and placing second in four others. The Boys 12 crew outlasted Windward and Kaneohe to win its race in 2:22.81.

“We really want to go to states,” steersman Chase Lorenzo said. “We didn’t go to states last year.”

The difference was in four new crew members, including Reid Pangelinan, who paddled for North Shore last year. His experience at the state championships was valuable.

“It’s a little more competitive, and you gotta use koas. It won’t affect us,” he promised. “We just gotta practice more. Koas are slippery, so you gotta wax it or your feet slip.”

Pangelinan, who towers over Lorenzo, knows his role, being the No. 4 stroker. That is akin to being a power hitter in the cleanup position for a baseball team. He also knows that Lorenzo has his duties.

“They don’t listen at practice,” said Lorenzo, 12, is in his fourth year of paddling. “It’s my job to keep them in line.”

Pangelinan is equally pragmatic. “Sometimes we do listen. When it’s race time, we’re serious,” he said, adding that the conditions Manu trains in helps at regattas.

“We train on Anahulu Stream. It’s brackish water, so it makes us pull harder,” he said.

The advantage isn’t significant, Lorenzo noted. “OHCRA practices in koa boats here,” he said, referring to Keehi Lagoon.

Waikiki Yacht Club’s unbeaten string came to an abrupt end when Kai Poha and Kaneohe blazed ahead, with Kai Poha winning by a fraction of a second.

WYC finished more than four second back at 5:03.96. “I don’t know. Maybe we were bouncing around too much,” steersman Linda Nishimura said. “It felt like we worked harder today, but maybe we weren’t working as well together.”

The level of competition, she added, is the norm. “We’ve been challenged by a lot of clubs this season,” Nishimura said. “We have a great crew. We’ll get over this loss by our first refreshment.”