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Monday, May 8, 2000
Youth is served
in record run across
Kaiwi Channel
The old guard gives way in
By Cindy Luis
one-man canoe paddling
Star-BulletinLike a rising swell, the changing of the guard in one-man canoe paddling has been on the horizon.
The veterans of the sport could feel it coming.
Yesterday, it took about 30 minutes to confirm it.
Kai Bartlett and Karel Tresnak Jr. teamed to break the course record by more than seven minutes in the Island Snow Ka'iwi Channel Relay Team Championship, finishing the 40.2-mile course from Molokai to Oahu in 4 hours, 36 minutes and 7 seconds.
The sport had been dominated by the now forty-something crowd for the past few years; yesterday, the combined age of the winners was 43 (Bartlett 24, Tresnak 19).
"Hats off to Kai and Karel,'' said 40-year-old Marc Haine, who won the event last year with Mark Rigg and finished third yesterday. "It was a good race but it was a dogfight for second.''
Almost from the start off Kaluakoi, the record field of one- and two-person canoes knew it.
"Two strokes into the race, everyone got a bump and started surfing,'' said Walter Guild, race director and part of the fourth-place team. "Then the first change came and Karel Jr. got on the boat. He passed about four of us.
"I got a chance to say, 'Hi, how are you doing?' And that was it.''
The top four teams all broke the course record of 4:43:19 set in 1997 by brothers John and Jim Foti. Yesterday, the Fotis overcame a minor equipment problem -- the drainage plug came out during a crew change -- to pull away at the end, finishing in 4:41:05.
Forty-two seconds later, Haine and Rigg crossed the line at Ala Wai Harbor.
Maile Chong and Donna Kahakui teamed to win the women's division in a record 5:55:17, three minutes ahead of Carrie Sue Hendricks and Susan Cordell. Defending champs Kelly Fey and Cheryl Villegas were leading the division but were forced to pull out a half-mile off Koko Head when their new canoe cracked.
"Up until then, it was great day for us,'' said Fey, who was paddling when the canoe cracked. "It was a beautiful day and the surf was good.''
The surf and favorable winds made for a very fast course. And the new Mantra canoe, made by Tresnak's father Karel Sr., made it even faster for the winners.
"The canoe was perfect for the conditions,'' said Tresnak Jr. "It gets on a wave and wants to go, it wants to surf. It wants to go fast.
"We didn't think we'd do that well to begin with. Then, a little into the race, we thought we'd do pretty well. When we got to Oahu three hours into the race, we realized we could get the record and that made us work harder. I yelled to Kai, 'Go! Go!"
"They broke away,'' said John Foti, who was also using a new Hurricane canoe. "Then it was a matter of us beefing it out with Walter and Andrew (Penny) and Haine and Rigg for second."
"The current was against us,'' said Guild. "If we had the current, Karel and Kai would have just smoked the record.
"This is good for the sport. For the longest time, it's been us older guys. It was a cool sport for the younger guys. But now the sky's the limit. The equipment continues to get better and this next generation is one of better athletes because of the resources they have at younger ages.''
Still, it's a growing sport for all ages. More than 200 paddlers - an event record - finished the course in divisions from open to mixed to senior masters (50-over).
