Friday, August 14, 1998
Novice women’s club
By Cindy Luis
makes debut
Star-BulletinHo'owelakai. Passionate seas.
It's more than a name for a canoe. It's about dreams and visions that officially will be realized Sunday.
Na Wahine Ho'olehua, an all-women's canoe club, debuts its new Force 5 fiberglass racer in the Duke Kahanamoku Races.
It's the opening of the long-distance season for Oahu paddlers and the beginning for the newest club in the Oahu Hawaiian Canoe Racing Association.
"This all started in the 1980s after I had left competitive sports," said club founder Mauli Olds Aspelund. "I wanted to keep paddling, but just do it recreationally. We would get together in the mornings to enjoy being on the water.
One thing led to another. A club name. Paddling under the aegis of Lanikai Canoe Club. Membership into the OHCRA. Thoughts of having their own koa canoe.
Now more than 40 women paddle in the mornings off Lanikai under head coach Alexis Freeman, Aspelund's cousin. Most are recreational paddlers, 17 are in the club's racing crews.
Na Wahine Ho'olehua will enter two crews in the women's race, a seven-mile figure-eight iron event from Kailua beach, around Mokolea Rock and Popoia Island and back. The men's race follows, a 31-mile event with open-water crew changes from Lanikai Beach to Duke Kahanamoku Beach in Waikiki.
Aspelund said the club intends to compete in Na Wahine O Ke Kai, the women's Molokai-to-Oahu race, in September. Next June, Na Wahine Ho'olehua will participate in the regatta season.
"I'm so excited about Sunday," Aspelund said. "I don't know if we're at a disadvantage, not having gone through regatta. I've wondered about that, but I think we'll be all right. It's hard to know where we stand, but we did pretty well during the preseason long distance races.
"What I'm really happy about is that these women are all novice athletes, not just novice paddlers. They have never participated in organized sports before. And now they're doing a team sport, learning not just how to paddle, but how to compete as a team."
Aspelund said the gratifying thing for her was watching the women develop self-confidence. Most are in their 30s and 40s.
"What's exciting for me is, when I started paddling, we were never allowed to touch the canoes except to get in and practice or race," said Aspelund, a former president of Lanikai Canoe Club. "One of the wonderful things is seeing the women load their own canoes on the trailers and rig them.
"I never thought I'd be back racing. But it's so gratifying to watch these women grow and find out that they're capable of doing things they never knew were possible. These women are working so hard, putting so much into it. If we come in dead last, it's still worth it."
Long distance schedule
Sunday: Duke Kahanamoku Races: Women, Kailua Beach to Mokolea and back, 8 a.m. Men: Kailua Beach to Duke Kahanamoku Beach, 10 a.m.Aug. 22: Kailua Bay Iron Challenge (men), 8 a.m., Kailua Beach to Mokolea to Na Mokulua and back
Aug. 23: Dad Center Race (women), 8 a.m., Kailua Beach to Outrigger Canoe Club.
Aug. 30: Kaena Challenge (men), 8 a.m., Haleiwa Beach to Pokai Bay.
Sept. 5: Queen Liliuokalani Races: Single-hull. Women, Kailua Bay to Honaunau, 7:30 a.m.; Men, Honaunau to Kailua Bay, 2 p.m.
Sept. 6: Queen Liliuokalani Races: One-person. Women, Kailua Bay to Keauhou Bay, 8 a.m.; Men, Keauhou Bay to Kailua Bay, 10 a.m. Double-hull: Women, Kailua Bay to Keauhou Bay, 9 a.m.; Men, Keauhou Bay to Kailua Bay, 10:45 a.m.
Sept. 6: Israel Kamakawiwo'ole Races: Men, 7 a.m., Pokai Bay to Haleiwa; Women, 10 a.m., each to Pokai Bay.
Sept. 13: E Lau Hoe (women), 8 a.m., Magic Island to Pokai Bay.
Sept. 20: Skippy Kamakawiwo'ole Race (men), 8 a.m., Maunalua Bay to Nanakuli Beach.
Sept. 27: Na Wahine O Ke Kai: Women, 7:30 a.m., Hale O Lono, Molokai, to Duke Kahanamoku Beach, Waikiki.
Oct. 11: Molokai Hoe: Men, 7:30 a.m., Hale O Lono, Molokai, to Duke Kahanamoku Beach, Oahu.
