I thought that would get your attention, but it’s no lie. There’s a raffle fund raiser to help Dave Yamagata and $20 could win you a new Ares Pro.
Buy your ticket and take your chance on a $5,500 value
2nd Annual King Kamehameha’s Awesome Athletes Inclusive Canoe Race
While I’ve got your attention, I want to let everyone know of a great community event in Hilo. The “2nd Annual King Kamehameha’s Awesome Athletes Inclusive Canoe Race” is on Sunday June 4th.
Register by April 30
This event is to get all those Awesome Athletes in the wa’a. If you or someone you know might be interested just visit https://www.hilocanoerace.com. You can donate, volunteer or paddle! Sign up before the end of this month.
(Note that OC1 means that day’s practice will be on a one man canoe. If you don’t have a one-man we can get you one or group up to use a 6-man.)
Team Reach – Use It
There is a messaging app called “Team Reach” which you can download and enter your team code. This will allow you to instant message each other, share schedules, documents, photos and get all that great advice from your coach.
Crews Currently using this app: Open Men, Men Novice A/B, Men 40 & 50, Women Open, Women 40 & 50 and Women 60+. Contact your coach for your crew’s code, or contact us and we can provide it to you.
One of our junior paddlers, Nahi, is headed to the Big Apple for higher education. Nahiena Kekuawela who has been paddling with the KOYD/RISE program received both an athletic (rowing) scholarship and an academic scholarship to Long Island University for the Sharks.
LIU is only about 25 miles outside of NYC which will be an amazing adventure.
PARTY IS: Wednesday 3/29 at 5pm at the Bayfront Halau.
Both of Nahi’s parents, Tiffany and Kawika, paddle with Keaukaha so let’s come down and show support. Nahi graduates this year from Waiakea HS with a 3.8 gpa. And she follows her older brother, Kailikea who played football for Southern Oregon and older sister Maluhia who went to Fresno Pacific University for soccer.
Good luck Nahi!
If you’re interested to learn something about paddling/rowing scholarship opportunities for your kids, talk with Tiffany about ideas and strategy. And if you’d like to enroll your kids in the KOYD/RISE program for amazing experiences contact Keahi.
The signup for keiki is ready. Please let parents know. There’s a new on-line process which should hopefully be easier than all the papers. If you have any problems just contact us through the website.
This year State Championships is coming to Hilo! The competition will be tough and the pressure high. Keaukaha will be ready. We revamped our jersey’s to reflect our ties to decades of paddlers before us as we break ground with new achievements.
When our club was originally founded a hala tree was planted near our Hālau. It was our original insignia and inspired our original yellow and brown colors. It’s roots has remained strong over the years and it’s grown tall.
Pandanus tectorius
The Hala is an excellent survivor in a marine environment like our paddlers. The tree thrives in poor, salty or sandy soils in hot and windy areas.
Hala leaves (lau hala) are exceptional for weaving mats, hats, roof thatching, canoe sails, baskets, sandals (kāma‘a), fans and much more. The fruit of the female hala tree can be made into striking yellow to deep-orange lei. Traditionally these lei are given in times when a person advances from one significant level of life to the next; including graduations, weddings and funerals.
Sizes
Each product has a size chart. Make sure you double check it and the product description as some sizes run a little smaller. Refunds are only available for defects or damaged goods.
Jerseys
This year they will be made to order. So if you want to save on shipping, hui up with your buddies and order together.
The past 2 weekends had a lot of racing. Even if you were out there hammering you probably missed something. Let’s recap.
Moku O Keawe
This 3 stage race was held on March 4 and 5th and had a large turnout. Stage 1 was a 2.5 mile sprint followed shortly by a 6 mile race for Stage 2. Sunday featured a 12 mile Stage 3 (or you could opt for the 6 mile).
A lot could be said about these races, but most people had Stage 3 burned into their brains. As the entire fleet of racers waited poised on the beach start for Keakua to show up, the wind started building from the SW. And they kept building.
A 6 mile bash to the turning point was strenuous and tiring. Once around it and heading back up you had to either choose to try to stay high off shore or enjoy the ride inshore and pay for it by battling back out around the point. No matter what each paddler did, they’ll remember this muscle burner for a while.
If you have Facebook, Kawika Singson made killer videos which has some great footage of the sprint heats and other races.
Over on Oahu on March 5th we had the 4th annual V1 rudderless race with many keiki paddlers from KOYD/RISE participating.
Keahi posted their results from this event:
Results: Long course – 14 miles 19 Jr men Ali’i Youderian (1st place)
Short course – 7 miles 16 Jr men ‘Ehā Kiyuna (1st place overall) Talan Nicolas (4th place)
16 Jr women Zoe Aoki (3rd place)
19 Jr men Niau Paulos (1st place) Tyler OBrien (3rd place)
19 Jr women Nahiena Kekuawela (1st place) Cother Laa (2nd place) Pakela Kaaua (3rd place) Waiolu Publico (4th place)
With lots of photos here https://www.instagram.com/rdrlswaa/?hl=en
Keauhou Kuuipo Results
March 11 found those paddlers who didn’t have quite enough of a bruising the previous week showing up at Honokohau Harbor (9 mile long course) to Keauhou or the 7 mile short course out and back at Keauhou for another chance at glory.
Long course paddlers started off the green buoy at the harbor with some NW little bumps to help them south. Short course paddlers went south out of Keauhou for 3 miles then back. The current near Keauhou was running south to north was a challenge for both courses but there were no strong winds and the small bumps were helping push, but they were tricky to find.
You can find long and short course results on webscorer
The past two weeks of paddling in Hilo have been wet, dark and cold. Paddling at Hōnaunau typically sunny and in the lee of wind and swell was a welcome reprieve. The reality was a little different as the racers were treated to a lighthearted version of Hilo weather. It was warmer. It was sunnier. But we still had rain, chop, wind and current. Some might even venture to say same same.
Short course was about 7 miles and long course was 9.5 miles. All the paddlers started off at the same time with about half the fleet split between the inside and outside lines going north. The short course route peeled off inshore around an OC6 and long course continued north to Keawekāheka Point then everyone battled the current south back to the bay.
At least that was the idea. In an attempt to prevent paddlers from getting free wake rides, the start boats held back for about 15 to 20 minutes. And with the escort boats not leading the way there was both some confusion about the short course turn, and which point was for the long course.
Nevertheless, even with current running north, winds coming onshore and tricky bumps everyone had fun. We also had a good turn out from our paddlers who put in a great effort.
It should be noted that Keoua’s famous lunch cemented their reputation yet again as the best. They even provided live entertainment as Jim Elliot and his harp serenaded the crowd.
Next Race – 2 Day Rumble Royale
March 4th and 5th is the Moku ʻO Keawe Challenge at ʻAnaehoʻomalu Bay on March 3rd and 4th. Registration is open at the Upcoming Race Events page on the HIPA website. REGISTRATION CLOSES AT 9 AM THURSDAY MARCH 1ST.
Last week we saw So Juicy host a fleet of almost 150 people and canoes for a short and long course race in Hilo’s Kaipalaoa Races. There were 68 on the long course and 65 on the short course.
Kaipalaoa Mass Beach Start
HIPA is also trying out their new race timing system based on webscorer. We had numerous Keaukaha podium places, including Jose’s 1st overall on the long course and Tyler and Mario cracking the top 5 overall. Because we’re behind on race news, let’s skip all the shout-outs but the results from our hammahs speak for themselves. Great paddling!
This past Saturday race saw about 180 canoes breaking previous records. Lots of OC2’s and relay’s on the 8 mile course and the 10 mile course. Also many paddler’s ironed both courses.
Conditions were somewhat typical for that run. Washing machine waves off the point and weird currents and shifting winds elsewhere. With some careful navigation there were plenty of small bumps to be found but there were sections were the OC2’s were a little to big and heavy to take advantage of them.
HIPA published the results on webscorer where you can see them and click them interactively. For the full course results, just click on the “Overall” item for that race.
Here’s a quick summary of our 1st place top category finishers but we had lots and lots of podium finishes. The Jr’s with 3 people doing the 4 man OC2 relay missed 1st overall by just 17 seconds.
Short Course: Keola, Rena (Relay); Wai`olukea Publico (Jr. Iron)
Jeff (Iron) and Greg (Iron) get honorable mention on the short course. If you toss out the OC2 canoes they finished #2 and #3 overall for OC1. They had to race open category and Jeff was squeezed out of 1st by 4 seconds.
Keoua’s Kupuna Memorial Race On 25th
Don’t forget the Keoua race on the 25th at Honaunau, some of the prettiest paddling waters around.
Watch the HIPA site for race details. https://hipa.clubexpress.com/content.aspx?page_id=0&club_id=39669
Another beautiful day in Hilo for a race. The snow capped mauna greeted the paddlers in a dramatic fashion after hiding in the clouds to reveal itself as they rounded the turn boats.
Long course had a little wrap around swell and bumps, but most of the course was a grind for a lot of us. There was some who managed to take advantage of the start boat not paying attention and rode their wake for waaaaay too long making catching them almost impossible.
We had a good turn out with 41 canoes on the long course and 44 on the short course. Our paddlers put the carbon to the saltwater and had a great time:
Long Course: Nik & Whitney, Mario, Kyle, Grant, Sam Tayler (guest paddler from Oregon), Eric, Kawai, Brandi, Kawena. (Honorary mention to Jose, who showed up well after the start and still passed almost everyone but wasn’t registered so he stopped at the beach)
Short Course: Greg, Rodrigo, Jeff, Gary, Lexi, Clem
Check out our events page for what’s next. Don’t miss a race.
OC1 Stall holders need to pay their club dues and stall dues before February 1 to keep your stall. Keys change February 1.
Membership fees are also due for all six man paddlers. OC6 paddlers must pay before jumping in a canoe.
Large expenses this year include main hālau re-construction and OC6 repairs. Continued expenses include ground maintenance, equipment repairs, hālau repairs, HCRA and race related fees.
$100 for Membership
$120 per stall
$50 refundable deposit per hālau key (if you need a replacement key or new key)
How to Pay
All payments are done online because we also need all your paperwork too.
Follow the steps outlined. Please make sure your personal information is correct, especially your contact info and birth date. Even if everything is correct, you’ll need to save the forms to verify you’ve reviewed them.
The last step is the payment via paypal, venmo (if installed on your device), credit or debit card. You can’t pay until all the required paperwork steps have been completed.
People new to the club are required to contact us on the contact page and we’ll create an account for you to setup your information, sign paperwork and pay dues.
Please don’t ask individual members about trying to make exceptions.
