Thursday, May 24, 2001
Under pressure WHEN a group is as good as the Lokahi Canoe Club's open women have been in recent years, seats in the canoes are typically hard to come by.
Lokahi's women have
been surprised by an
exodus of veterans
By Brandon Lee
Special to the Star-BulletinVeterans usually try to hold on to their positions as if they came by birthright, while newer members desperately try to crack the crew lineup.
But much to the initial surprise and disappointment of five members of the Lokahi senior women's rotation that has gone undefeated in Na Ohana O Na Hui Wa'a regatta competition since the 1997 regular season, they were the only ones to show up when practice began this year.
Five members who were part of the rotation last year -- including three who consistently earned one of the six coveted spots in the senior crew canoe for competition -- left the club. Four of them went to Healani, a club in Oahu's other and bigger canoe association, the Oahu Hawaiian Canoe Racing Association.
"When we started this season, it was so disheartening -- I had no idea that these women were not going to come back," club president Suzanne Schaeffer said. "I definitely did not know they were going to go to other clubs. Last year we dominated, and this year it was like, 'What happened?' "Schaeffer was a part-time paddler on the senior crew last season and is again competing for a spot this year. Of the three classifications within the open women's division (the others are freshmen and sophomore), the senior race is considered the most prestigious. Largely behind consistently dominating performances by the open women each year, Lokahi has been able to win 13 of the last 14 Hui Wa'a championships, including last season's title (Lokahi lost in 1999).
Schaeffer and the other returnees eventually were able to recruit more paddlers. Approximately 20 women are now competing for spots in Lokahi's open crews, with the start of the Hui Wa'a short-course season set for Sunday with the Hui O Ikaika Regatta at Keehi Lagoon.
OHCRA begins its season a week later with the Clement D. Paiaina Regatta, also at Keehi Lagoon. The culmination of the short-course regatta is the state championship,at Hanalei Bay on Kauai on Aug. 4.
"(Joining Lokahi) was a little bit intimidating because of the strong reputation of the women," said senior crew hopeful Theresa Gerry, who came to the club from perennial Maui champion, Hawaiian Canoe Club. "There's pressure, but I love it. The stakes are high and all eyes are on us, but that makes everybody work that much harder."
While returnees like Schaeffer were initially downcast about the prospects for this season, the addition of new blood has all of this year's Lokahi open women enthused and confident that they will continue dominating Hui Wa'a races. Another reason for the shift in attitude is that all have bought into the training style and program of first-year women's coach Ian Forester, who is a guy characterized as "a no-nonsense team builder" by several of his paddlers.
"We're doing well right off the bat, better than we expected," said Forester, who has guided Lokahi's women to four wins out of the five preseason races they have entered this year. "There is a lot of pressure. More so as a coach because I want to perform as well or better than past years, but also with the girls because of the turnover. The girls are a little nervous ... in a way that they're not sure how well they are going to do."
If the veteran senior women's crew members, in particular, aren't feeling any butterflies, they're not showing it. And it's not hard to understand their renewed confidence after the initial letdown from the turnover. After all, these are still the same women who in recent years have regularly helped Lokahi win the 112-mile senior sprint by gaps closer to a full minute than a few seconds.
"I'm really looking forward to seeing what we still have," said senior crew steersman Dy Valdez. "We're going to rise to the occasion is what it is. I can't wait to see what we're going to be able to pull off, and I'm absolutely positive that we're going to do just as well, if not better."