Lanikai grows
along with Kailua
The beach down the right-of-way on Kaiolena Drive is filled with canoes waiting for paddlers to come and release them into the waters off Lanikai.
Although some are used for regattas and long-distance races, these fiberglass canoes are first and foremost working boats. The Pohaikealoha, Ikaika and Eo Liliu are among the 11 canoes that Lanikai Canoe Club uses for training.
As in most clubs, the youngest paddlers are on the beach first in the afternoons, after school is pau. This year, dozens of preteens and teenagers are carrying the sea-green-and-white canoes down to the water's edge.
Fittingly, they are also carrying Lanikai's legacy. The club was founded 50 years ago specifically for youth on the Windward side, and those fortunate enough to paddle in the Keoki K are continuing the legacy of its first head coach, the late George K. Perry, who co-founded the club with Herb Dowsett.
The club kicks off its 50th anniversary celebration tomorrow with the 8th George Perry Memorial Na Keiki Na Wa'a, a seven-race distance event for paddlers ages 10-18, on Kailua Bay starting at 8:30 a.m. Where the normal regatta distances for youngsters range from a quarter-mile to a half-mile, the Perry race tests the young paddlers, with races up to four miles for the 15-18 year-olds.
The impetus behind the event, first organized by former club president Mauli Olds Aspelund, was to give young paddlers the same benefits as adults in the continually growing sport of outrigger canoe racing. Clubs are also encouraged to bring down an extra canoe so crews can be formed regardless of affiliation, allowing everyone to race.
"Seven, eight years ago, there weren't that many opportunities for the kids to race distances more than a quarter- or half-mile," said Mollie Foti, a club member since 1970 and a past president. "I think the club was ahead of its time in that respect. It's really for the kids who are too young for high school competition, the 13- to 14-year-olds. We've added the 10s because the neighbor island associations have those races. We're pushing it to be part of the state race. We have so many 12-and-under paddlers looking for places in the canoes."
Back in 1953, Kailua was very much a bedroom community. With the Pali Tunnels some 12 years away from completion, once people came home to the Windward side, they pretty much stayed put for the night.
The face of Lanikai Canoe Club -- like Kailua itself -- has changed in the past 50 years. The "kids" from the club's previous five decades have grown up, with many of them still competing or watching their children and grandchildren now compete.
"The club expanded to adults because the kids grew up," said Foti, whose two sons, John and Jim, continue to paddle for the club. "When the club became very successful in the upper division in the 1990s, the core of that strength came up from our youth ranks."
The core of the senior men's crew -- including the Foti brothers -- has paddled together for more than 20 years with remarkable success, including three Molokai Hoe victories from 1995 to 2000. Last August, their string of state titles in the 2 1/2-mile race ended at 10, halted by Kai Opua of the Big Island.
Michael Smith, 36, began paddling for the club at age 8. He "retired" from the senior men's crew a few years ago due to a back injury but remains involved, this year as club president.
"I've been proud to paddle for Lanikai," said Smith. "It feels good when you can bring pride to the community and that's what the club has done.
"And the kids are the lifeblood of the club. It's been that way and we want to keep it."
Youth may have been the lifeblood but mothers formed its backbone. In 1978, Lanikai put together the first women's masters (35-older) crew.
"I can remember racing in Honolulu Harbor and we were the only ones in the race," said Michael Smith's mother, Hoppy.
"We all had kids and we were going to the races," said Foti. "Young mothers back then didn't paddle. But then we started asking, 'Why am I sitting on the beach?' "
Affectionately called the "Old Ladies," the masters women won as 35s, 45s and 55s. For nearly two decades, they were the winningest crew in the club.
Membership has risen and fallen and risen again, much like the tide off Lanikai Beach. This season, the club expects to register 400 paddlers.
With 37 events set for this Oahu Hawaiian Canoe Racing Association regatta season, it means a maximum of 218 paddlers could compete if every race is entered (35 six-person races and two four-person races).
"I think that speaks volumes for the kind of program and focus the club has always had," said Mollie Foti. "But in some ways, we're a victim of our own success in terms of dealing with the large number of those who want to paddle."
But that was the vision that Perry had 50 years ago in wanting the sport to grow. He went to great lengths to make it happen, even managing to borrow Prince Kuhio's racing canoe, the 'A, from Bishop Museum in 1954 with the promise of restoring it to racing condition.
A year later, Lanikai became the first canoe club in modern canoe racing history to build its own koa canoe. Beginning with a 7-ton koa log, the Kehukai was built in a year by master carpenter Kenneth Tsumura and the young paddlers from the fledgling club.
Although the Kehukai is no longer in existence, Perry's dream can be seen alive and well tomorrow.
Perry's son, Tay, helped build that first canoe. Now an insurance agent, the 65-year-old's hobby is restoring canoes.
"It was pretty unique in that the kids were the officers," said Tay Perry, who was the club's first president at age 15. "They've had a very good program over the years. It's a fine club and if I still lived over there, I'd probably be paddling for them again."
Note: Lanikai Canoe Club's 50th anniversary luau is scheduled for 4 p.m., Aug. 9 at Lanikai Park. Ticket prices and sale dates will be announced later.