Joy Salvacion visualized herself paddling with her late husband Saturday morning in the 300 yards of the Na Koa Wounded Warrior Canoe Regatta in Waikiki.

Salvacion, wearing a photo on her back of her husband, Army Pfc. JR Salvacion, said the event was therapeutic.

“This will help us go on,” said Salvacion, who attended the event with her 7-year-old son, Zildjian Salvacion.

JR Salvacion was killed by an improvised explosive device on Feb. 21, 2010, in Afghanistan at age 27.

Joy Salvacion, 33, said she finds comfort being around other Gold Star Families — those who lost loved ones in combat — and with Wounded Warriors.

“It doesn’t matter how their loved ones passed away,” she said. “We have the same emotions.”

On Saturday, hundreds turned out for the seventh annual Na Koa regatta off Fort DeRussy Beach Park. Eighty-two teams competed in the event, the largest running so far. Participants in the recreational race included veterans, Wounded Warriors and friends or family members, competing to raise awareness for Wounded Warriors and to promote opportunities for their employment.

Circuit Judge Ed Kubo and U.S. Marshal Gervin Miyamoto founded the event, which kicks off Duke’s OceanFest, as a way to care for Wounded Warriors in Hawaii.

“The healing waters of Hawaii could be tremendous as far as recuperation and their recovery,” Kubo said Saturday.

Retired Army Col. Gregory Gadson lost both of his legs above his knees in an IED explosion in May 2007. Gadson served in Hawaii about 10 years ago and traveled from Virginia to attend the regatta and support its participants.

“This regatta is about the healing process,” said Gadson, who paddled in a previous year. “It’s involving the community and it’s involving the great asset of Hawaii and that’s the water. It’s the spirit of ohana.”

He noted that service members who are injured come from the community and return to the same community after serving.

“We all have a responsibility for those who serve,” he said. “This is a great example of that, probably rivaled by few in terms of involvement (by the community and community leaders).”

Kubo said the regatta is part of a growing support network for veterans in Hawaii that includes Veterans Court, which Kubo founded about four years ago. Fifteen veterans have graduated from the program, a two-year course that includes treatment, counseling, weekly meetings with a judge and probation officer, and pairing with a veteran mentor.

Kubo said many start the program unemployed and homeless, but leave with a job and living in a home.

Melissa McCasland, of Hawaii island, paddled in the race to support her husband, Dustin, who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. Dustin McCasland served three tours in Iraq and Kuwait in 2007, 2009 and 2011 while in the Navy.

She said PTSD leaves many withdrawn and suffering from social anxieties, such as the fear of crowds or loud noises. PTSD is permanent for many, and those who have it have to learn how to cope, she said.

For her husband, participating in social activities can be a struggle, but the race’s structure puts him at ease since he can see what’s in front of him and he doesn’t have to worry about what’s behind or next to him.

“You’re surrounded by other warriors,” she added. “They’ve all gone through something similar.”

Christina Cogen, 38, of Punchbowl, crushed her spinal cord in a fall in Afghanistan in 2012.

On Saturday, Cogen, a retired Army captain and chaplain, was spurred by the focus of others at the event.

“There is a deep sense of competition,” she said. “You really want to destroy the other teams.”

She runs a nonprofit called Thrive Global that helps at-risk and aging-out foster children. Having been homeless as a child, Cogen wants to show other children they can succeed despite how their lives started out.

Cogen served tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, and she now struggles with anxiety that makes her wary of large crowds. But she said the canoe race helps her socialize in a comfortable environment.

“I like the camaraderie and the brotherhood with the other service members,” she said. “It’s very, very helpful.”