Leeward Kai had the home surf advantage Sunday, but, more importantly, the club received a huge boost after its koa canoe — “Kame‘enui” — got repaired and back in the water.
Leeward Kai, behind a team effort in and out of the ocean, won the AA Division during the Oahu Hawaiian Canoe Racing Association’s Father’s Day Regatta at Nanakuli Beach Park.
Leeward Kai scored 73 points in AA, which is for clubs with 16-30 crews. Waikiki Surf Club was second with 41 and Healani third with 39.
During last week’s King Kamehameha Day Regatta at Kailua Beach Park, Kame‘enui suffered damage after colliding with another canoe.
Leeward Kai coach Alfred Van Gieson said the hull of the canoe had a three-inch circular hole and cracks that extended five-to-six feet.
“The damage would normally take longer than a week to repair, but our community kind of rallied and we were lucky to have my dad as a canoe builder,” Van Gieson said. “We took the canoe to his house last Sunday night after the accident.”
Van Gieson’s father is Myron Van Gieson, who has been a canoe practitioner since he was in his 20s.
Kame‘enui was driven to the Van Gieson’s family home in Nanakuli Valley with Myron Van Gieson and five or six others from Leeward Kai working to repair the canoe in the backyard.
The younger Van Gieson said his father already had available wood to repair the canoe. He added work started Monday and ended the day before Sunday’s regatta.
“Everybody was surprised to see Kame‘enui here and racing for us today and it’s important to us because Kame‘enui is our wa‘a (canoe) and this is Kame‘enui’s home waters, so we wanted to make sure Kame‘enui was ready. He raced amazing.”
Lanikai won the AAA Division (31-46 events) with 231 points. Hui Nalu was second with 151 and Kailua third with 112.
Lanikai won 17 of 20 races at one point, including nine in a row. Through 28 events, Lanikai had 163 points, which was 74 better than Hui Nalu.
Koa Kai won the A Division (15 fewer) with 26 points, followed by Kai Oni with 16 and New Hope with 14.
Conditions were surprisingly calm due to unexpected winds that were blowing out to sea.
Leeward Kai’s boys 13 crew won the club’s only race Sunday, completing the quarter-mile course in 1:56.95. Lanikai crossed second in 1:59.14 and Keahiakahoe third in 2:03.75.
“I’m really proud to defend our home turf,” Leeward Kai’s Brennan Van Kuren said. “I’m proud of my crew for pushing all the way through and how far we came throughout the season.”
Leeward Kai also had eight runner-up finishes and four third-place finishes Sunday
“It’s a very collective effort. I’m stoked about that for all of our paddlers from our keiki to our adults. Thanks to our coaches really,” Alfred Van Gieson said.
He added having Kame‘enui in the water boosted team morale.
“It kind of rallied our team and pulled everybody together,” Alfred Van Gieson said. “We were unified as one and that was pushing us through the day.”
Leeward Kai has bounced between the A and AA divisions throughout the years, but is solidly in AA this season, Alfred Van Gieson said.
“We’re lucky to be in double-A this year,” he said. “We have a lot of community support for our club. To be in double-A for us is kind of a blessing.”
One of the most exciting races of the day was the 11⁄2-mile senior women’s race, which was won by Lanikai in 14:00.60. Outrigger crossed in 14:00.93.
“We were pretty tight with Outrigger the whole time, but then we did catch them probably after about the first mile,” Lanikai’s Liz Bills said. “Then Outrigger started creeping up and the last turn we were pretty equal and then we just battled it to the end.”
In the previous two regattas, Lanikai’s senior women had won the event by about 20 seconds.
The day started with the completion of the final five events of last week’s King Kamehameha Regatta, which was suspended because of darkness.
The division winners for the King Kamehameha Regatta were Lanikai with 231 points in AAA, Leeward Kai with 59 in AA and Koa Kai with 25 in A.
