Scotty Thompson and Russell Swaney started Ka Mamalahoe Canoe Club in 2002 with the goal of expanding the program they built at the Honolulu Elks Club.

As it turned out, the new club decided to downsize six years ago in order to better develop paddlers for long-term success.

"We decided to reduce the size of the club because we didn’t have enough coaches or equipment to sustain a program like we had, so we decided to take it down and refine what we were doing," said Thompson, who still serves as a coach and paddler with the club. "We want to make sure we’re proficient in what we do; we’d rather stay small."

In conjunction with its 10th anniversary, Ka Mamalahoe pursues a third consecutive A division (6-12 crews entered) title at the Na Ohana O Na Hui Wa‘a championship regatta today at Keehi Lagoon. The club has relied on its seasoned paddlers all year. None more so than its men’s 55 and 60 and mixed 55 crews that bring perfect records into today’s competition. The novice and young members continue to show promise as well and are building the club’s next wave of talent.

"The old guys do all right," Thompson said with a chuckle. "We’ve always had a strong masters program, so this isn’t particularly unusual for us. It’s been a transition over the last couple of years. When we started out, we had a lot of kids, but they all grew up and went to college. The masters are still there."

In addition to battling for gold in individual races, crews continue pushing toward qualification for the Hawaiian Canoe Racing Association state championship regatta scheduled for Aug. 4 at Keehi Lagoon. The top three crews from each Hui Wa‘a event earn automatic berths in the state race based on cumulative point standings, and with so many crews on the bubble of qualifying, today’s races are equally important.

"Lokahi will be a tough contender out there, and there are a lot of other strong crews coming in, so it’ll be very competitive," Thompson said. "We definitely won’t be shoo-ins."

The Waikiki Beach Boys are in prime position to secure the AA division (13-24 crews entered) thanks in large part to their women’s program. The club’s novice A, freshman and sophomore women’s crews are undefeated entering today’s regatta and the senior women would be as well if not for a disqualification in the season-opening race.

"The consistency of the women’s program is due to the number of women returning, for a number of years now, has allowed multiple individuals to race week to week, even if others are out of town (or have other conflicting matters)," said Dana Gorecki, Waikiki’s president and an established paddler within the club. "That really helps with consistency at the races and doing well."

The Beach Boys are attempting to mirror a banner 2011 campaign that saw Waikiki’s women’s program claim victory in all major female events — the freshman, sophomore, junior and senior races — in last summer’s state championship regatta.

After winning each of this season’s eight regattas thus far, Na Keiki O Ka Mo‘i is poised to complete the season sweep in the AAA division (25-39 crews entered), and will attempt to win the overall Hui Wa‘a championship for the second time in three years.