CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARBULLETIN.COM Jane McKee is after her third straight Kanaka Ikaika OC-1 state championship.

Water Woman

Transplanted Californian McKee
finds success in Hawaii’s waters

When Jane McKee was a youngster on vacation with her family in Hawaii, she made herself a promise. Someday, she would live in the islands and enjoy the warm water on a permanent basis.

Kanaka Ikaika What: Ocean Club Oahu Championships Divisions: OC-1, OC-2 and surfskis Course: 10 miles, Hawaii Kai to Kaimana Beach When: 10 a.m. today

But McKee never dreamed she would come to own those warm waters. The 47-year-old transplanted Californian has been successful in every canoe race offered in Hawaii, from Na Wahine O Ke Kai to the Molokai Channel Relay to the Kanaka Ikaika state championship.

Today, McKee tunes up for her attempt to three-peat as Kanaka Ikaika OC-1 state champ with the Ocean Club Oahu Championships. The 16-mile course is from Makai Pier to Kaimana Beach, a run on which McKee's mantra is "pray for surf."

This racing season has been marked by fluctuating conditions that have run the gamut, from hot and flat to blustery and blown out.

"This season has been tough," McKee said. "The weather hasn't cooperated. We've seen a lot of broken boats.

"At the start of the season, I was about ready to quit. It was too hot and flat. You tend to get spoiled here with the excellent conditions, the surf making it so much fun. The tendency is to only go (train) when it's good. But you just have to put it into your mind that, regardless of the conditions, you just have to go."

The training for today's race has included several runs from Maunalua Bay to Kaimana Beach, which is most of today's race course.

"The currents and the surf is what makes it so much fun," McKee said. "That's what makes you keep coming back.

"When I first moved here (in 2003), every race was fun. Last year, it was hit or miss, with some brutal races. This year has been hard."

Last Saturday was very hard. During the 18-mile race from Makai Pier to Magic Island, part of McKee's canoe broke, forcing her to thread one of the cables between her toes for the final 2 hours. Still, she finished in 2 hours, 33 minutes, 21 seconds, a little more than 2 minutes behind the women's winner, Arlene Holzman.

But whatever has happened of late, it still beats commuting from Santa Barbara to Hawaii several times a year to compete. McKee realized that it made more sense to move to Oahu permanently, trading her job on the oil platforms off Santa Barbara for one with Hawaii Biotech Inc. as an environmental health and safety manager.

"I started coming to Hawaii when I was 10 with my family," McKee said. "I am so grateful that my dad gave us the opportunities to come here. We have home movies of us staying at the Halekulani, of Waikiki with no high-rises. It was a whole different era.

"I loved the warm water. I always dreamed of living here."

The 5-foot-10 McKee has always been athletic, playing volleyball and running track, surfing and windsurfing. Before taking up paddling in 1992 for Santa Barbara Outrigger, she competed nationally as a bodybuilder.

But her addiction is "any aquatic."

"I love Hawaiian sailing canoes, going 20 knots across the channels, it's a huge rush," McKee said. "And I love one-man on a really huge day.

"With a one-man, it's just you out there. If you're too tired to train, you don't have to show up for a practice. You can go where you want on the water and go wherever with your friends."

What also appeals to McKee is how the ocean is a great equalizer. Hawaii paddlers in their 40s and 50s -- such as Mark Rigg, Walter Guild, Marshall Rosa and Paula Crabb -- continue to finish at the top of the open division, not just age-group.

"Paddling is a sport where older athletes can be very competitive," McKee said.

Dedication and desire are keys.

"Jane just has a tremendous amount of 'want,' " said Jim Foti, a very successful OC-1 and OC-6 paddler. "She really wants to battle, she really wants to do well."

Enjoyment is equally important to McKee.

"Having fun, it's what makes you keep coming back," she said. "I've been paddling year-round now for about four years and it caught up with me at the end of the six-man season (last September). Part of me wants to take a break, but ... "

The addiction always kicks in.

She already has plans to partner with Wendy Simmons from Kai Opua on the Big Island in the 40.2-mile Starbucks Kaiwi Channel Relay from Molokai to Oahu on May 1, and with Loretta Toth on May 7 in the 34-mile Kauai World Challenge coastal relay race. Regatta season starts in June and she'll paddle for Hui Lanakila.

"But I love the relays," McKee said. "There's so much energy. The Molokai race is a blast when you can surf all the way across. Kauai is spectator-friendly and it's always good to win money."

As for today, "Big and gnarly are my conditions," she said. "There's been some good competition going on this season with Arlene (Holzman) and Kelsa (Teeters). Anything can happen and I have as good a chance as anyone.

"We have great times out there. I love the whole ohana thing in Hawaii. It's why I always wanted to be here."