Saturday was a gorgeous day to paddle. Maybe we lacked a little wind but the weather was nice for spectators.
Short course worked out to be about 3 miles and the long course was somewhere around 7 or 8 miles.
Good to see lots of paddlers hitting the water even if we had some pukas due to the 2 big races going on over on ‘Oahu. Full results and times can be found here https://www.webscorer.com/race?raceid=344471
Kwai-Chang and Corrina provided a great venue and food for everyone. Mahalo for the hard work getting everything organized and the big prize TV in the raffle!
Long Course
Jose (2nd overall)
Kama
Nik
Tito
Dennis
Kawena
Lexi
Brandi
Whitney
Crystal
Short Course
Kyle & James (1st overall)
Greg
Casey
Loren
Kanoe
I hope I got everyone. Congratulations to all the paddlers who came out and charged today. It looked like great fun.
It built into blustery afternoon day for the San Cann race in Hilo. Fortunately the morning hours weren’t quite as robust as long course and short course paddlers took off and the high school regatta was getting underway.
We had some strong paddlers on both long and short courses and it seems everyone is getting faster. Results are listed in order of finish times.
Full short course results are here. (For short course Open division was 18 to 59.)
Grant Kaaua (1st Mopen, 7th overall)
Nik and Noha Dahm (2nd Oc2)
Nate Osorio (4th Mopen)
Greg Kane (1st M70)
Talan Nicolas (3rd Jr)
David Hafele (2nd M60)
Casey Morris (1st MNovice)
Whitney Dahm (2nd Wopen)
Congrats! I’m sure I missed someone and there were some OC2 names I didn’t recognize. Apologies in advance. Keep up the training and the racing.
Gorge Downwind Championship Registration
TODAY! Yes the 14th at 3pm HST registration opens for the Columbia River Gorge Race happening in July. Sign up early. Find a canoe and lets charge that river for a week long surf session in Washington/Oregon.
January 6 was a bit early for the season opening race and there was a High School Regatta in Hilo, but the turn out overall was good.
Don’t miss Stan Cann in Hilo on the 13th.
Short course was about 5 miles with long course about 8. We saw some new Keaukaha paddlers out on the course. Congratulations for getting out there and experiencing the next level. Even coming in last is an accomplishment in finishing the race.
If your name was missed below, please let us know.
Keauhou put on 2023’s last one man race in their beautiful part of the island. And for it being a shorter race like our Halloween Race, we still had a great turn out and raised funds for a good cause.
Keaukaha paddlers didn’t slack off with a lot of first place showings on both courses.
KCC 1st Place Top Guns included:
Rusty Crabbe
Tyron Nicolas
Jeffrey Clemenson
Ali’i Youderian
Kawaipio Kauahi
Niklas Dahm & Noah Dahm (Short Course Overall Winners – Time for the long course boys?)
We also had multiple paddlers out there pulling in 2nds and more too. Great job. Let’s get to training and smash 2024. Full Results here and below.
Long
Short
2023 End of Season Results
You have to complete at least 4 races in 1 category to get included in the ranking. And we had lots of paddlers on the podium. Here’s all the results from our club (hopefully I didn’t miss anyone). In no particular order…
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.
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.
Last weekend before the high school races started a large group of paddlers gathered on the edge of the beach to show their support for Noah. The Head Strong race was put on by Kwai-Chang and Corrina from So Juicy and all the fees went to help Noah and his ‘ohana keep their heads strong during Noah’s treatment.
We had a variety of paddlers of all levels and crafts. Lots of OC2’s to surf behind and even a paddle boarder charged the 5 mile course along with several Novice B paddlers.
Special shout out to Linda who joined the race as her 2nd time ever on an OC1. Hell yeah!
Lots of Keaukaha Paddlers out there chasing each other around the course and sprinting to the finish.
There weren’t any prices, or categories just a chance to get out and paddle for a good cause. Noah is back home with family and recovering from his surgery before starting treatment.
Don’t forget Kwai-Chang is still running a raffle. Win a customized HI Pressure Paddle, Yeti Cooler and So Juicy drinks — everything you’ll need for start of the season.
We had a good turn out for this opening race, the first in the points series this season. And being the first race, they went easy on the paddlers by giving them a 3 mile short course and a 5 mile long course.
The challenge in this race wasn’t so much the typical flat hot weather with adverse current, but figuring out where your turning point was going. With both courses starting at the same time, they tried to group the starting line between short and long course sides. The short course turn was a double hull canoe being pushed around by the current and drunkenly picking headings. To make things worse the long course motor boat kept crossing behind the double hull out in the distance.
This dance of turning points made for a lot of paddlers cutting back and forth across each others paths. Well, it was a bit fun to watch if you weren’t in the front pack.
Long Course Results
The upside is the amount of gold hording in Keaukaha went up significantly. Check out all the gold:
Nik and Whitney – Mix OC2
Grant – OC1 M50s
Kawai – OC1 W40s
Brandi – OC1 Wopen
Lexi – OC1 WNovice
Congratulations to all the paddlers who raced: Nik & Whitney, Grant, Eric, Jeff, Gary, Brandi, Lexiand Crystal!
Since none of our KCC paddlers did the short course, you can read about their times in the results.
Don’t feel like you can’t jump into some of the races, that was just the very first one with MANY more coming this season in January. Next weekend we have the Beanie Memorial and we’ve updated the calendar of events for this season’s races which you can sync up with your personal calendar.