Keaukaha Canoe Club - Hilo Hawaii Paddling Club on the Big Island

Stan has been thinking of renaming this race due to all the natural disasters that seem to occur on his race day from the false missile attack alert to Saturday’s early morning tsunami and the pandemic and floods in between.

Nevertheless Hilo was ready to open the season and race. Both events were near capacity and some standby paddlers were able to jump in.

Unfortunately, unlike the last weeks, the weather was calm and the ocean was flat. Even the tides were barely moving. That didn’t stop Jose from catching an epic “wave” all the way to the first turn. He somehow managed to get onto the escort boat wake at the start and ride it at a blistering pace with out being noticed by the escort crew who usually try to shake paddlers loose.

We had a good club turn out and there were several paddlers who wanted to race but either missed the entry due to the Covid capacity limits or couldn’t join in after the high school sprint regattas were cancelled in Kona at the last minute.

Congrats to the Long Course: Jose (1st Overall!), Tyler, Kama, Eric, Keola

And the short course hammahs: Jeff, Nate, Warren, Michael

Here’s the updated and corrected results for both short course and long course.

Hopefully no one was accidentally missed on the list of congratulations. Lets get out there and see some paddling for the Kaipalaoa Race this coming Saturday! Open to register now: https://hipa.clubexpress.com/content.aspx?page_id=22&club_id=39669&module_id=408119

Saturdays last pre-season race on Dec. 4th was a dreary Kona morning with no wind and cold rain. Hilo’s weather was the subject of plenty of jokes.

The course was changed to run south with some wind blown swell that was left over from the channel to the north. Only a light breeze filtered down the shore. The short course was a 5 mile run past Keahuolu Point and back followed by the long course was a 7 mile paddle which of course meant somewhere around 8.5 miles.

Keaukaha paddlers made a good showing of force with impressive top showings on the long course by Jose, Aaron and Tyler. Eha on the short course had his ama fail and had to abandon the race unfortunately. But it’s a reminder to all of us to keep a close eye on our gear as it takes a beating out there.

Special mention goes to Brandi who didn’t let a little thing like pregnancy slow her down from getting some exercise out on the water.

Long Course: Jose, Aaron, Tyler, Jordan “Kama”, Keahi, Kyle, Ryan “Kawika”, Eric, James, Rodrigo

Short Course: Brandi, Cother-McKeague (Jr.), Tanoa (Jr.), Nahiena (Jr) and Eha (Jr, DNF)

The one and two man canoe race held on Nov. 27 as a charity for the Hayward Ohana was well attended. There was a large fleet of 13 OC2’s and even a 2-surfski on the water. Due to the small southerly swell crossing the reef, the race officials changed the buoy can race to an out and back course starting and finishing inside the hot harbor.

HIPA probably set a record for the most controlled start line because the previous race was a little out of control and had a 1/4 mile rolling start before they just gave up and blew the start horn. This race the large group of paddlers sat in a nice line and waited for the horn to blow. Some waited more patiently than others, but no one was pushing forward.

Both the short course (3 miles) and the long course (6 miles which magically grew to almost 8 miles) headed north out of the harbor with the short course paddlers turning at 1.5 miles around a buoy inside near the shore. The 2 man OC2’s established a dominate role at the front of the pack but we had two individual Keaukaha paddlers contending for the lead against them:

• Tyler hammered out a 6th over all (3rd if you discount the 2 man canoes) placing 2nd in class to Keakua Nolan with less than 1 minute time gap on the long course.

• Eha Kiyuna (Jr. V1) managed to fight off a lot of adult paddlers on the short course and true to his namesake got 4th overall (3rd ignoring the 2 man in 1st) with less than 20 seconds behind the first one man to finish making 1st in his division.

Congratulations to all the Keaukaha paddlers out there on the pre-season races. Remember there’s another race Dec. 4th. So you still have a chance to burn off all those holiday calories! Registration for that race is open now:

Long Course Paddlers: Tyler, Keahi, Kyle, Eric, Ryan “Kawika”, Rodrigo

Short Course Paddlers: Eha Kiyuna (V1 Jr), Tanoa Laititi (V1 Jr), Cother-McKeague La’a (V1 Jr), Nahiena “Nahi” Kekuawela (V1 Jr)

It was a calm day with two out and back courses of 3 and 5 miles with the proceeds going to the Hawai’i Food Bank. These pre-2022 season races are a great way to get motivated for the upcoming race season. Congratulations to Kyle and Rodrigo for placing on the long course!

There will be another race the Beanie Heen Memorial at Kawaihae on November 27th and if you miss that there’s a race planned on Dec. 4th, the Pa’akai Paddles race at Honokohau Harbor.