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Anderson gave
paddling a start

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The first state canoe paddling regatta was held in 1952, the same year as the men's Molokai to Oahu race began.

STAR-BULLETIN / 2000 Hannie Anderson.

At age 17, Hannie Anderson wanted to be involved in all of it, especially the Molokai race. In 1954, she and two Waikiki Surf Club teammates hitched a ride across the Kaiwi Channel on an escort boat that would participate in the next day's race.

The boat got to Molokai in the evening and had no place to dock. The trio had to swim in to the beach, then sought out where the Surf Club paddlers had camped out for the night.

"Wally was not too happy to see us," Anderson said of Surf Club head coach Wally Froiseth. "He asked what we were doing there. We wanted to see what the race was all about and it inspired us to think about a women's race.

"The men thought that women couldn't do the channel. We wanted to prove them wrong."

It wasn't until 1975 that there were enough women interested and enough help from men. Two teams of 18 -- one from Healani Canoe Club, the other a combined crew from Kailua, Lanikai and Outrigger -- completed an unofficial race.

"The men were doing it with nine paddlers and we learned that 18 were too many," Anderson said. "I was so excited because they were doing what we had always wanted to do. Carleen Ornellas tried to have the race in 1978, but they needed more preparation time.

"It was that year that Lei Farias became really sick and when she died, my heart just wasn't in seeing the race through. But when they called to ask if I'd be the race director in 1979, I said yes."

Anderson hasn't been able to say no since then, seeing Na Wahine O Ke Kai grow in stature to become recognized as the world championship for women's outrigger canoe racing.

The Hawaii Canoe Racing Association will celebrate its 50th anniversary with the state race in Hilo on Aug. 3. Anderson, from Waikiki Surf Club, and Outrigger's Keanuenue Rochlen will be honored as the only paddlers from that inaugural state race in 1952 to still be competing in the sport.

"We always knew that women could do the Molokai race," Anderson said. "We just had to prove it."