JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARBULLETIN.COM Na Wahine O Ke Kai race director Hannie Anderson looked over a printout of Doppler radar early this week during registration for today's race. Anderson has been at the forefront of the event since it began 25 years ago.

All Grownup

IT was 1954 and a women's canoe crew from the Waikiki Surf Club proposed a radical idea to their male counterparts -- allow them to cross the treacherous Kaiwi Channel.

The men's Molokai Hoe, a canoe race from Molokai to Oahu, started two years earlier, and coaches and officials told the women they wouldn't be able to handle it. Determined to see what the Molokai Hoe was like, Hannie Anderson, one of the women from Waikiki Surf, and two other club mates, managed to hitch a ride onboard an escort boat from Oahu to Molokai before the race.

Back then, women weren't even allowed at Hale O Lono Harbor before the start of the race. But Anderson got a glimpse of it all, furthering her dream that women would be able to cross the channel eventually.

Today is the 27th Na Wahine O Ke Kai Molokai to Oahu Canoe Race, the 41-mile crossing from Molokai to Duke Kahanamoku Beach in Waikiki. The all-women's race is considered the world championship of long-distance canoe paddling, and has a record 71 crews entered this year.

The 71 crews and international exposure are a far cry from the race's humble beginnings. Anderson has been race director since the inaugural event in 1979 and, along with her committee -- four of the original board of directors are still in charge today, has been through the ups and downs of leading women across the Kaiwi.

"They didn't know what they were getting into," Anderson said of the first 17 crews to cross the channel. "But they wanted to paddle. After that first crossing, it started building up and building up. The women are stronger today, more focused. Their mind is on one thing from the beginning of the paddling season -- the Molokai Channel."

Na Wahine's humble start began in October 1975 with an unofficial crossing of two crews. One was composed of four local canoe clubs and paddled under the name Onipaa. The other was from Healani Canoe Club.

"She (coach Donna Coelho-Woffe) went out and herded women from different canoe clubs," recalled Rosie Lum, who paddled for Onipaa and is currently on Na Wahine's board. "We all paddled against each other for years and that crossing brought us all together. It was a wonderful experience. What was difficult for all of us was to come away from our different coaches and paddle for someone else."

"To be asked by the coach to be part of this crew was just a honor," added Haunani Olds, who paddled for Onipaa and is also on Na Wahine's board today.

Lum said the training for the Molokai was fun but hard. The paddles used back then had heavier blades compared to ones today.

"I can't believe that we did what we did," Lum said. "Our coaches were supportive, and I don't think the men's coaches could think the women could really do it. This was the birth of all of this."

Anderson and the late Leinani Faria officiated the crossing in 1975. When Anderson and her club mates first saw the men's race in 1954, she knew women could do the same.

"We saw the men doing it and we thought the women could make it and do it," Anderson said. "We were told it was too strong and treacherous for women to do it, but we believed in it. It was a very treacherous race for the men, but we thought women could do it with the proper training."

Outrigger Canoe Club won the Molokai in 1979 in 6 hours, 35 minutes and 14 seconds, the first of the club's five titles. The race was canceled the following year due to high surf, and getting by was at times difficult in the beginning. Na Wahine had a few sponsors, but fund-raised heavily on local staple Portuguese sausage. Anderson and Olds would head out for an entire day selling sausage and swore year after year they would never do it again.

"And the following year, we'd look at each other (and said), 'You fool.' And off we'd go delivering Portuguese sausage all over the island," Anderson recalled. "That's what we did to survive. And yet we tried to give back to the women as much as possible."

But as support from sponsors and its male counterparts grew, Na Wahine began to take off.

Anderson said one of the biggest moments for the race was when Bank of Hawaii began sponsorship in 1989. For years, Na Wahine had to prove to BOH, which had been sponsoring the men's Molokai, that women could do it.

"When the time came, they (became) our sponsors and we were ecstatic," Anderson said. "It brought our race up to another level. We started getting the international clubs coming in. We had a few clubs coming in, but not like what we have today."

"We've come a long way, yes, (but) it was only the ocean and the men themselves," Lum said. "It was hard for them, so they couldn't imagine women could do it and handle it. But once they saw they did, then it's no holds barred."

As the race grew, so did the competition. Board member Shelly Gilman said the presence of mainland and international crews raised the bar of Na Wahine. From 1986 to 1996, OffShore Canoe Club of California won 10 titles and in the past eight races, Australian clubs have won four of them.

"What (Na Wahine) has done to women's paddling, and even men's, it has really raised the bar," Lum said. "All of you have to do is look around at the women today who train for Molokai. They do a lot of things to prepare for it. They're serious about what they do and that's a good thing, to see how it has developed and keep raising the bar."

Defending champ Mooloolaba of Queensland, Australia, won't return this year as the two-time defending champion and record holder, leaving the field wide open. Returning to paddle, like she has every single year, is 51-year-old JoJo Toeppner of California.

Toeppner, who was on all 10 of OffShore's victories, promised Anderson in 1979 that she would paddle in Na Wahine for 25 years.

While officials expect Na Wahine participation to grow in the future, there is just one logistical problem that could hinder it. There simply aren't enough flights and lodging spaces on Molokai to accommodate everyone.