Team Bradley wins fourth straight E Lau Hoe long-distance race

As it completed the E Lau Hoe long-distance race, Team Bradley wanted to make sure it had a fully stocked “tool box” with just two weeks to go before the Na Wahine O Ke Kai Molokai-to-Oahu world championship.

Team Bradley brought the hammer as it claimed its fourth consecutive E Lau Hoe race title in dominant fashion on Sunday, posting a winning mark of 3 hours, 1 minute and 50 seconds. Lanikai (3:06:58) finished second, while Hui Nalu (3:07:04), Team Maui Jim (3:10:02) and Outrigger (3:11:11) rounded out the lead pack.

The victorious crew, which is coached by veteran paddler Kelly Fey, included Lori Nakamura, Coral Mariano, Monica Esquivel, Kristin Foster, Alana Goo-Frazier, Ka‘ulu Lu‘uwai, Cherisse Agorastos, Lauren Spalding, Mahealani Botelho and Andrea Moller-Bouwens.

“This is a byproduct of our training, and we look forward to E Lau Hoe because it’s that last long paddle together that allows us to tweak and fine-tune the little things as we come together as one,” said Agorastos. “There were nice rolling swells out there, and a lot of current to deal with, so we used the wind to our advantage when we could, and made it a ‘happy’ race without any major mind-boggling challenges.”

In the penultimate race of the long-distance season, 38 female crews from across the state completed the modified 21-mile trek that started at Maunalua Bay fronting Hawaii Kai, stretched past the airport reef runway near the mouth of Pearl Harbor, and turned back to finish at Sand Island near the Marine Education Training Center. Team Bradley got a “nice groove” going as it passed Kaimana Beach, and would not relinquish the lead as it made the turn by the airport first.

Lanikai’s runner-up crew featured Giulia Anderson, Elizabeth Bills, Mele Coelho-Beter, Robin Cooper, Joey Foti, Jessie Krause, Carolyn Seto-Mook, Ingrid Seiple, Shien-Lu Stokesbury and Anna Mathisen.

Lanikai coach Mike Lum lauded his team for overcoming adversity on multiple occasions, including at the start, when the green-and-white canoe began the race on the extreme inside of the course and had to make up ground from the middle of the pack.

“From right outside the lighthouse at Diamond Head, it was all about jockeying for position, and it was a battle of attrition after that,” said Lum, who recalled Lanikai passing Outrigger, Maui Jim and Hui Nalu as the race progressed. “I’m proud of our ladies for battling after being that far behind at the start in Hawaii Kai. We were frustrated on the escort boat, but didn’t want that negativity to trickle down to the ladies.

“Then we started walking crews down one by one, and after going through our practices and being well conditioned, they believed. We treated it like a sprint race, 21 miles, let’s go. Team Bradley won, but we’re going to see what happens in the channel in two weeks, and hopefully it’ll be a different story.”

Sunday’s race was shortened due to safety concerns around the potentially rough ocean conditions caused by the post-tropical cyclone Akoni, which fizzled out over the past few days. In prior years, the course covered 32 miles, and previously stretched from Kailua Beach to Sand Island, and before that, Maunalua Bay to Nanakuli Beach.

“Nobody is really happy with the course change, because this is supposed to be the big race before the even bigger race, but OHCRA made the decision with safety in mind, so it was a good decision to change it up because we want everyone healthy going into Molokai,” said Agorastos.

Paddlers enjoyed relatively calm ocean conditions, light breezes, scattered rain showers and moderate swells throughout the course, which allowed paddlers to focus on and refine their technique. Cloud clusters over the course provided brief respites from the sweltering heat and humidity.

Since the regatta sprint season ended Aug. 3 with the Hawaiian Canoe Racing Association State Championship regatta at Hanalei Bay on Kauai, crews have had the opportunity to participate in the Na Pali Challenge held along Kauai’s North Shore, the Dad Center Race that ran from Kailua Beach to the Outrigger Canoe Club in Waikiki and the Queen Liliuokalani Race in Kona prior to E Lau Hoe.

The women now have a week off to prepare for Na Wahine O Ke Kai, the 41-mile Molokai-to-Oahu championship race slated for Sept. 22.

“This was a good practice, even though the course was shorter, the upwind stretches were good for us, and it was nice to get some surfing in,” Fey said.

Team Bradley has won 11 of the last 13 Na Wahine O Ke Kai titles including six straight crowns from 2005 to ’10, and still owns the current race record time of 5 hours, 22 minutes, 5 seconds established in 2008. The dynastic crew has matched the level of dominance established by Offshore, a California team which also won the race six consecutive times (1986 to ’91) and raced to victory 10 times out of 11 tries (1986 to ’96).

The men will compete in the annual Henry Ayau Memorial Race on Sunday as paddlers are slated to race from Maunalua Bay to Nanakuli Beach. After a few weeks off, the top men’s outrigger canoe paddling squads from around the world will wrap up the season with the Molokai Hoe on Oct. 13.