GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM This crew from the Cook Islands used the smaller traditional paddles from the Cook Islands in yesterday's 35th Duke Kahanamoku Long Distance Race.

Outrigger leaves Duke
competition behind

Healani/New Zealand places
second in the 35th Kahanamoku
Long Distance race

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By Cindy Luis
cluis@starbulletin.com

Duke Kahanamoku's legendary big hands embraced two canoe clubs, Outrigger and Hui Nalu. One he competed for, the other he helped found.

Yesterday, the two clubs honored the late Olympian with impressive performances in the 35th Duke Kahanamoku Long Distance Canoe Race from Kailua Beach to Kalia Bay.

Outrigger grabbed the lead off Diamond Head Lighthouse and didn't let go. A crew comprised of several paddlers in their first year with the Waikiki-based club, including steersman Jim Beaton, finished the 22-mile event in 2 hours, 54 minutes and 44 seconds.

Healani/New Zealand, with members of the 2001 Molokai Hoe champion crew, crossed the finish line off the Hilton Hawaiian Village pier 51 seconds later. Lanikai, last year's race winner and event sponsor, was third out of the 44-canoe field in 2:58:04.

Thanks to a staggered start that gave the 29 "slower" canoes a 20-minute head start, Hui Nalu II was the first across the finish line. The crew finished in 3:08:18, 10th overall.

"We had our own little race within a race," said Hui Nalu steersman Heath Hemmings. "It was a great course, a little choppy, but when you got past Sandy Beach, you got to surf a lot. It was fun."

The fun began for Outrigger off Maunalua Bay when "we got in front of New Zealand," said Beaton. "Then they caught us. Right around the lighthouse, we got on a pretty good wave. They did a (crew) change and we got in front of them. We sat in front and tried to hold them off. We were having a good time. That's the main thing."

"Personally, I didn't think what we did today was ever going to be close to possible," said Outrigger's Bret Chuckovich. "We were trying to beat Lanikai, Kai Opua, Hui Lanakila, Kailua, Hui Nalu ... guys we have so much respect for. It was an awesome surprise.

"This was the first race we've paddled together. We have a bunch of guys who came over from other clubs ... Surf Club, Beach Boys and Lanikai. We've got a little bit of a mixture from everywhere and it came together."

Lanikai thought it was making a good run to repeat around Portlock, despite having scattered members of its top distance crew among several canoes.

"We passed Kai Opua and said, 'Hey, we're looking good,' " said Lanikai steersman Jim Foti. "Then there was New Zealand right in front of us and we were stoked. But we never could get them or Outrigger. I think they stretched us at the end of Maunalua Bay.

"It was a good way to kick off the distance season. We have a good, hungry group for Molokai."

The Molokai Hoe is a year off for Te Tupu O Te Manava, a club from the Cook Islands that made its Hawaii racing debut yesterday. It was also the first time the crew had made open water crew changes during competition.

"We came to get experience for Molokai," paddler Glen Noorah said after finishing 21st overall in 3:28:35. "We've got a few friends here who said this race was the best steppingstone for us. We decided to try it out. There was a little more surf than we're used to but it was good conditions."

The crew had the most unique paddles in the race, small tear-drop-shaped blades with a double-bent shaft. The paddles were made out of native pine.

Kailua wins women's race: The number of entries was down and several of the traditional powers skipped the event to do distance training. But it didn't take away from Kailua's impressive showing in the 6-mile iron race off Kailua Beach that drew 25 entrants.

Kailua had five crews entered with four placing in the top five. Leading the way was the canoe steered by veteran Carleen Ornellas, which finished in 52 minutes and 42 seconds, three minutes ahead of another Kailua crew.

"It's our water, we do this run all the time," said Ornellas. "We had a good start, got away from the crowd. We were working hard with the tide coming up. There was a point when we weren't moving, but everyone else had the same problem. It was a good practice run."

The joke on the beach was how the steersmen were seeking out the "secret passage" through the reef to Mokulea Island. Said Ornellas: "The secret passage ... go straight to the rock (Mokulea)."

Kailua coach Karel Tresnak was pleased with the outcome but tempered his enthusiasm with reality.

"It was awesome, but you have to consider who was here and who wasn't," said Tresnak. "It was nice to see us win, but I would have liked to seen them against the competition that we know of, Outrigger and Hui Nalu. It would have been nice to see them in our waters.

"It's good for team building, especially for our novices, who won the states in novice B (first-year paddlers). We knew they had something going, kept them together and they did well. Now we'll bring them up to the big league next week."

The Kailua novices finished fourth overall in 56:57, four seconds ahead of the Kailua masters-45 crew. This Sunday, the novices expect to compete in their first "water changes" event with the annual Dad Center Race from Kailua to Outrigger Canoe Club.