[ PADDLING ]
Corey Friel, Lautoa Atisanoe, Billey Fautt and steersperson Hoku Kinder of Windward Kai Canoe Club prepared for the season in Kaelepulu Stream in Kailua.
Paddling mentor
feeling excitement
Another regatta season.
Another year -- the 31st -- for Windward Kai Canoe Club, one of four original members of Na 'Ohana O Na Hui Wa'a outrigger racing association.
It's another year -- also the 31st -- for Henry "Pali" Palakiko, the last remaining founder of the club based along Kaelepulu Stream in Kailua. He is president and coach and mentor ... and has devoted half his life to Windward Kai.
The season opener is two days away and the feeling is always the same: excitement tempered by experience.
"I'm not ready for it," the 62-year-old said. "I'd like to have one more week to get ready. We're just getting the kids together."
The youth crews will make up a third of Windward Kai's 12 entries Sunday at Keehi Lagoon. The club anticipates increasing that number as the season goes along and as newer paddlers get into race shape.
"We have a lot of novice people right now and we're trying to figure out where to put them," said Rebel Kapoi, the club rep who handles the registration paperwork. "A lot of them did the preseason long-distance race and they did well. I give them a lot of credit.
"This year we have a good mixture of age groups, about half kids and half adults. We have a lot of families, too."
Windward Kai has about 100 members and is a small club in the crowded paddling scene in Kailua. The competition for members include canal neighbor Hawaiian Outrigger, also a Hui Wa'a club, and Oahu Hawaiian Canoe Racing Association powers Kailua and Lanikai.
But Windward Kai gained an influx of new members this season thanks to an association with New Hope Chapel-Windward.
"It's an opportunity for them to learn about canoe paddling and an opportunity for us to share the sport," Kapoi said. "Having New Hope join us has been a blessing. They brought the kids into paddling and the kids got the parents into paddling.
"Our goal has been to keep the children off the streets."
And put them in a canoe, even as young as age 8. Brittney Like is already a veteran at 11, with two previous seasons behind her. She is the steersman for the mixed-12s, a quarter-mile race for a crew of three girls and three boys.
"The best thing about paddling is the teamwork," said the Kainalu Elementary fifth-grader. "And I like working out. You get to learn from each other and get to know their attitudes about things."
Like is part of a family of Windward Kai paddlers that includes father Rocky, mother Yvette and 10-year-old brother Bobby. Several other siblings have paddled for the club in the past.
"It's another generation coming along," said Palakiko, who will steer one of the masters crews Sunday. "I have kids paddling whose mothers and fathers used to paddle for me when they were kids.
"I love the young kids, I cater to them. It might be a headache, but it's my forte. I want them to take this sport and be somebody."
Palakiko has long been a "somebody" in paddling. He began at age 7 with Healani Canoe Club, headed by his uncle, the late Clem Paiaina.
The accomplished steersman also rowed for Kaimuki High in the 1950s, when crew was an interscholastic sport with races held on the Ala Wai Canal.
"But my true love was paddling," said Palakiko, who has competed in more than 20 Molokai Hoes (Molokai-to-Oahu race).
He paddled for Waimanalo Canoe Club until the early 1970s, when he and 40 others broke away and formed their own club. It was about that time that a second association was forming on Oahu, spearheaded by John Kapua, another uncle of Palakiko's.
Windward Kai became a charter member and remains active, as do original members Kamehameha, Kaneohe and Kai Poha. Windward Kai's colors are green and gold. It's a nod to Palakiko's high school alma mater.
Sunday is the first of nine regattas that culminates in the association's championships at Keehi Lagoon on July 24.
OHCRA's season begins on June 6 with the Paiaina Regatta at Keehi Lagoon.
The state championships will also be at Keehi Lagoon on Aug. 7. There are 63 clubs statewide representing six associations.
This year's racing schedule includes the IVF World Sprints at Hilo Bay, Aug. 9-15.
Schedules
Na 'Ohana O Na Hui Wa'a
May--30: Kamehameha Regatta, Keehi Lagoon.
June--6: Manu O Ke Kai Regatta, Haleiwa Beach Park. 13: Lokahi Regatta, Keehi Lagoon. 20: North Shore Regatta, Keehi Lagoon. 27: Windward Kai Regatta, Keehi Lagoon.
July--4: Koa Kai Regatta, Keehi Lagoon. 11: Na Keiki O Ka Mo'i Regatta, Maili Beach. 18: Waikiki Beach Boys Regatta, Waikiki Beach. 24: Hui Wa'a Championships, Keehi Lagoon.Maui County HCA
June--5: Hawaiian Regatta, Kahului. 12: Wilmington Regatta, Kahului. 19: Kamehameha Day Regatta, Hanakao'o Beach.
July--3: Naleieha Regatta, Hanakao'o Beach. 10: Dougie Tihada Regatta, Hanakao'o. 24: MCHCA Championships, Ka Lae Pokahu, Kihei.Moku O Hawaii OCRA
May--29: Kawaihae Regatta, Kawaihae.
June--12: Kamehameha Day Regatta, Kailua-Kona. 19: Kailana Regatta, Hilo. 26: Keaukaha Regatta, Hilo.
July--3: Puna Regatta, Hilo. 10: Kai O'pua Regatta, Kalua-Kona. 17: Big Island Championships, Kawaiahae.Oahu HCRA
June--6: Clem Paiaina Regatta, Keehi Lagoon. 13: King Kamehameha Regatta, Kailua. 20: Leeward Kai Regatta, Keehi Lagoon. 27: Waimanalo Regatta, Keehi Lagoon.
July--4: Walter Macfarlane Regatta, Waikiki Beach. 11: John D. Kaupiko Regatta, Keehi Lagoon. 25: OHCRA Championship, Keehi Lagoon.State
August--7: State Championships, Keehi Lagoon. 9-15: IVF World Sprints, Hilo Bay.
Note: Schedules for the Kauai and Molokai associations were unavailabl.e
