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Monday, May 29, 2000
Tresnak races
to record
Solo-canoe winner slices
Kaneohe club wins Hui Wa'a opener By Linda Aragon
18 minutes off the previous best
time in the Molokai Challenge
Special to the Star-BulletinIn record time, Karel Tresnak Jr. won the 32-mile Molokai Challenge solo canoe race yesterday.
Tresnak shaved 18 minutes off the former solo-canoe record to finish the race from Molokai to Oahu in 3 hours, 49 minutes and 19 seconds.
South Africa's Oscar Chalupsky was the first kayak finisher overall in 3:21.48 -- just 30 seconds short of the record.
Chalupsky, a former eight-time Molokai winner, vowed after last year's defeat to Dean Gardiner that he would not let that happen again.
He said he made an error last year when he headed south and didn't deviate from his course, while Australia's Gardiner moved into the surf by Portlock and was able to capture the lead.
Yesterday, Chalupsky had a big lead when Gardiner, a four-time Molokai champ, pulled out of the race about 10 miles from the finish line.
"I was just burned out," Gardiner said. "I basically lost interest. I was in a good spot, and these conditions are my favorite. I just had no desire to go harder. I was hating every minute out there."
Hawaii's top kayaker, veteran Nalu Kukea, finished third for the first time.
"I was happy with how I did," said Kukea. "It's hard to beat those guys. They're in such great shape."
Conditions were favorable for the 79 canoe and kayak paddlers who crossed the finish line yesterday. The rising tide in the morning was running with the racers, and moderate winds generated about 6-feet swells in the channel.
The Molokai Challenge is considered the world championships of solo canoe and kayak racing because of the severity of the conditions paddlers can face in the channel.
Yesterday's racers said there was good surf with a few dead spots to overcome on the course from Molokai's west side to the Hawaii Kai Towne Center on Oahu.
Kelly Fey, a six-time Molokai winner in the kayak division, switched to racing the one-man canoe this year. In her first solo attempt across the channel, Fey took first place with a time of 4:52:51.
"The conditions were pretty good. It didn't feel real hard to get across," she said.
Previous canoe winners Donna Kahukui and Cheryl Villegas did not race yesterday. The turnout this year was considerably smaller than last year's 103 entries.
While Hawaii paddlers welcomed the surf and trade winds, Tahitian racers like Nicole Montel were hoping for flatter conditions.
"In Tahiti, we don't have the winds and the waves," said Montel, who came in second in the women's kayak division. "For me, it was no good. I turned over two times. The wind was too strong."
Early in the race, Hawaii's Maile Chong was given a gift from the ocean when a malolo fish jumped onto her lap. After the fish incident and a flipping of her kayak a couple of times, Chong was able to take the women's lead and finish first with a time of 4:22:12.
Chong, who is appreciative of the surf, said she spent a good portion of her training this year working on riding swells.
She finished 21st out of the coed field of 36 kayakers.
As for Tresnak, he proved he could pull off a repeat. After winning last year's Molokai and finishing this year's solo season with six first-place finishes in seven races, Tresnak again took the big one.
"It was Karel as usual," said second-place finisher John Foti.
At the start of the race, Tresnak's escort boat kept tabs on how close the competition was behind him.
Tresnak said, "All I heard was 'OK, you got a hundred yards on him.' Then two hundred, then three hundred. And then they didn't say anything."
They didn't have to. Tresnak pulled far enough away from his competition to finish nine minutes ahead of Foti.
"I was just hoping to keep up," Foti said. "I didn't want to worry about him. I just wanted to race the best race that I could race. I thought maybe he'll make a mistake, and maybe I'll have a stellar day, and maybe I'll pull it off. Otherwise I had no aspirations."
While Tresnak was chasing after the record, Foti was still battling for second.
Foti became sick halfway into the race. "I spent about an hour trying to get myself to feel better," he said. "I was surprised that more guys didn't knock on the door."
Kai Bartlett almost did.
At Portlock, Bartlett was only 50 yards behind him. Foti tried to gain some time by catching a wave at the surf spot, China Wall.
"And I paid dearly for it. I ended up getting sucked up on a rock there and I just cartwheeled a couple of times. So Kai caught up with me and we just beefed it out to the end."
Foti finished with a time of 3:58:59. Bartlett took third in 3:59:37.
Molokai marked the finish of the solo canoe and kayak season. Now, many of the paddlers in the Kanaka I Kai Ka solo racing series will be working with, instead of against, their competition as teammates in the summer six-man canoe season.
As people come up to congratulate him, Tresnak sums it up: "Now it's time for six-man season, so everybody's your friend."
Kaneohe edges Lokahi
By Brandon Lee
in Hui Wa‘a opener
Special to the Star-BulletinMany champions will say that it's easier becoming a champion than remaining one. That's what made Lokahi Canoe Club's 12-year reign as Na Ohana O Na Hui Wa'a champions all the more impressive.
The Kaneohe Canoe Club put an end to that reign last year, but Kaneohe's paddlers now have the "bull's-eye" marked on their backs as they seek to defend the championship.
In the first short course regatta of the season at Keehi Lagoon yesterday, Kaneohe passed its first test by narrowly edging Lokahi for the overall victory.
Kaneohe finished with 70 points, just two more than Lokahi's 68.
Kaneohe used the same formula for success as last year --jumping out to an early lead with multiple victories in the youth races, then maintaining that lead with solid, if sometimes unspectacular, performances by the adults.
"Depending on the kids has always been a trait of our club," Kaneohe head coach Woody Kahiapo said. "But I'm also real glad that we had a good turnout as far as the adults are concerned."
Kaneohe secured only one girls' victory --in the 12-and-under division --but picked up four victories in six total boys' races.
At the end of the youth and novice races, Kaneohe led, 44-29.
Lokahi's women won five-of-seven races to help trim the lead to one, 55-44, with seven adult races left.
Two mistakes hurt Lokahi badly.
Despite finishing with the best time by 14 seconds, Lokahi's men's novice B crew was disqualified for having the nose of its canoe just beyond the start buoy before the start. The five points gained for finishing first were taken away.
At the end of the men's golden masters race, Lokahi was hit with a five-point penalty when holders inadvertently obstructed the view of the finish line from officials.
"We made two mistakes today that cost us 10 points, and that's the whole regatta right there," said Lokahi head coach Wayne Babineau who took partial blame for not reminding holders of their responsibilities.
The Hui Wa'a short course season continues next Sunday with a regatta at Kailua Beach.
