JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARBULLETIN.COM Crew members from Team Tui Tonga, left, congratulated Lanikai Canoe Club after yesterday's race.

Outrigger makes
the right moves
to win race

The crew tops 48 others to claim
the 24-mile Duke Kahanamoku
Long Distance Race

A wrong turn cost Outrigger the race last year. Yesterday, the club made sure it got it right.

Outrigger won the Duke Kahanamoku Long Distance Race in 2 hours, 55 minutes and 5.1 seconds, beating 48 other canoe crews that paddled the 24-mile course from Kailua Beach to Duke Kahanamoku Beach in Waikiki. Lanikai's first crew finished second in 2:56:59.2 and Team Tui Tonga was third in 2:57:05.6.

Last year, Outrigger was the first to cross the finish line. But it had made a wrong turn near the finish area and was disqualified, along with second-place Lanikai, which followed Outrigger's path. Hui Lanakila, which finished third, was awarded first place with a crew of paddlers from Hawaii and New Zealand.

"We thought last year we clearly won the race," said Outrigger steersman Karel Tresnak Jr., who thought his team should've been assessed a 5-minute penalty instead of a disqualification. "We cleared the course this year and made sure we knew exactly what was going on because last year it was finicky with what they were telling us. We were on track and we ended up pulling it off, so we're happy."

"It started out incredible," Outrigger's Jimmy Austin added. "We were unbelievable. We were moving really well and everything was good. We were expected to fall apart a little here and there, but we stuck to our game plan and (we're) just going to continue to work with it."

Outrigger was in a pack with several other canoes before it started to pull away near Waimanalo. Then it started to pick off crews that had started 15 minutes before them. Outrigger picked off all of them, except for Lanikai III, which finished six canoe lengths ahead of Outrigger.

"We worked on Lanikai's third crew and kept trying to get them," Austin said. "Even though we didn't get them, we're still happy at how we finished the race."

With a new coach and program, Outrigger's performance set the tone for the rest of the long-distance paddling season. The season ends with the 41-mile Molokai Hoe in October.

"We're trying to do something different and winning this is just an extra benefit," Austin said. "It was kind of a bummer last year to get DQ for that. Things happen, but that's racing."

"They did really well, especially the first half," Outrigger coach John Puakea added. "We've been working on some things. The second half, they kind of fell into older habits, which is normal. We know some of the other teams didn't have their top guys. We know that we still have a lot of work to do."

Lanikai was in the same pack as Outrigger at the beginning of the race, but realized at Maunalua Bay in Hawaii Kai that it would be difficult to catch up to Outrigger.

"They were too far ahead, so we just concentrated on ourselves," Lanikai's Ka'ai Bruhn said. "The race is always in the back of your head and to catch (up) is always in the back. But instead of worrying about them, we worried about ourselves and channeling more energy into making ourselves better for the next race."

Lanikai spread out its crews amongst several canoes yesterday, including three members who won last year's Molokai Hoe.

In the 7-mile women's and mixed masters races held earlier yesterday at Kailua Beach, Kailua almost pulled off a sweep. Kailua won the open division in 48:13, and also took the Masters 40 (48:29) and Masters 50 (54:40) races. Lanikai won the Masters 55 in 1:02:48 and Hawaiian Outrigger went unchallenged in the Mixed Masters 40 with a time of 53:56.