Lokahi Canoe Club

Lōkahi Hoe. This year we were happy to honor Mike Cushnie and Iwa Bush for their many years of devoted service to Lōkahi. Thank you, Iwa. Thank you, Mike.

The regatta was a success with everyone pitching in to help setup, work at the food tent, and then pack up and return all our gear to the site.

The great food, highlighted by the best breakfast of the regatta season, combined with brisk t-shirt sales, brought the club a nice profit.

Special mahalo to Amin, our vice-president, for organizing and monitoring the event; to Neighbor Dan and Richard, with gourmet help from Bailey, for their hard work organizing and supervising the food prep; to Hiro and Bryan for staying overnight at Ke‘ehi to guard our food and equipment; to MikeE, Nālani and Tammy Silva for conducting the opening ceremonies.

We also want to thank Coach Kevin, the young men and women of his Youth Program, and most especially their parents for their hard work and time. Mahalo nui loa.

Hui Wa‘a reminds us that the City & County and DLNR will be paying close attention to our regattas, perhaps with a mind to impose stricter rules on our use of C&C beach parks. Remember that there is absolutely no drinking of alcohol during the regatta, on penalty of the entire club being disqualified and sent home. The park permit does not allow any dogs; if you bring a dog you will have to take it home.

Ke‘ehi Lagoon regattas specify locations for clubs to put up their tents; we can put up the tent any time on Saturday before the race. The tent sites allow a maximum tent size of 20' by 30', so we’ll have to adjust our big tent accordingly. Also note that overnight camping is not allowed.

We will notify paddlers of their crews for each regatta by email, as we have for the pre-season races. Please if you have not been receiving those posts.

Please note these important dates. We’ll provide more information as we finalize details for some of these events.

• Saturday, July 24: Hui Wa‘a Championships
• July 25: Club Fund Raiser, Oceans808, 6 to 11 pm
• Saturday, August 7: HCRA Championships (States) at Ke‘ehi Lagoon
• late October-Early November: Club Banquet

Dues for 2010 for our adult paddlers are $155. Youth program dues are $100. Both adult and youth paddlers will get a club t-shirt with their fully-paid dues. Dues for recreational paddlers are $50.

Thanks to Al Harjati’s work coordinating with Surfrider Foundation, we joined folks from both the Foundation and the Shidler College of Business, UH-Manoa, in an Ala Wai cleanup project on April 18. Lōkahi had 20 to 30 members there and led the way in removing some major rubbish from the canal.

Because the Surfrider Foundation focuses on coastal water cleanup efforts, they were a bit surprised at the trash in the Ala Wai. Among other items, our team pulled old bikes and bike parts, shopping carts, a pop-up tent, a chaise longue, a bird cage, an air conditioner, a Mac laptop, a skeletal PC desktop, a fax machine, and a relatively new moped from the murky waters of the Ala Wai. All in all we made a good start and we appreciate the opportunity to work with the good people of the Surfrider Foundation and the Shidler College of Business at UH-Manoa. Mai Tai Bar provided a tasty lunch and the Honolulu Zoo allowed volunteers free entry after the project wrapped up.

Special thanks to club member Mark Tomomitsu, representing the State Department of Health, who led the pickup crew that gathered our rubbish from sidewalk collection points.

One of the things we learned was that we need to plan another project to remove as much of the remaining rubbish as we can from the Ala Wai. We’ll be working on that.

Regatta season practice started on 3/29, men practicing Monday and Wednesday from 5:30 pm, women practicing Tuesday and Thursday from 5:30 pm. Novice B paddlers practice Monday and Wednesday, and Recreational and beginning paddlers practice Tuesday and Thursday.

New Paddlers come to the site on Tuesday or Thursday and meet with Coach Larry or Coach Wayne. If you or your friends are interested in learning to race outrigger canoe, check our page for new paddlers.

This season’s final race at Hale‘iwa was sponsored by Kai Poha. Conditions were completely different from the earlier Hale‘iwa race, with light winds and a very small but rideable swell. The mild conditions allowed the men to race around the rocks at Waimea instead of having to turn short of the bay.

Congratulations to all our members, especially Novice Bs, who participated in the pre-season races; you worked hard, did well, and, most importantly, had fun. You will find the results of the pre-season races at the Hui Wa‘a site.

Regatta season is almost upon us. Please check Head Coach Carol’s information sheet for crew selection to see what we’re looking at when we put racing crews together.

Koa Kai’s Laulima race proved interesting despite what seemed to be relatively benign conditions. The men’s race in particular, from Magic Island to Black Point and back, featured a surprising number of capsizes. While the wind was minimal, a complex swell pattern proved challenging for na ho‘okele (steerers), who had to work hard to control their canoes. Congratulations to all our crews, especially our Women Novice Bs who came in second in their first race.

North Shore Canoe Club’s race at Hale‘iwa featured some of the roughest conditions we’ve experienced paddling along the north shore. The combination of big swells and a decent wind made the race challenging and fun as well as tough on steersmen. Congratulations to everyone who raced, and mahalo to all of you who weren’t racing and made the long trek to Hale‘iwa to support the club.