Sports

Dutchy Kino Memorial Long Distance Classic

Friday, August 18th, 2006

Four of Molokai’s canoe clubs competed over the weekend in one of the season’s earliest distance races, the Dutchy Kino, on the south side of Maui.

Of the Molokai teams who battled it out in the calm waters and sweltering heat, it was Wa`akapaemua women’s novice A team that would bring home gold in their division, placing 17^th over-all. Kukui’s open women did great as well placing 10th overall.

The men’s race opened with a sprint from Ma`alaia to the cliff-lined point two miles off the start. The Kukui open men, with Bozo Dudoit in the steersman’s seat, jockeyed for the inside line keeping at the head of the pack.

For most of the 18 -mile race, two crews from Hawaiian, followed by Kahana and Kukui battled it out for medals. “Kahana was our competitor… we went back and forth. In the end, they came in just two boat-lengths ahead of us,” said Adolph Helm who stroked for the Kukui boat. “We toned down the stroke rate a little and everyone was able to grab more. It really kept the canoe moving. In the future we need to fine tune the stroke with a little more explosiveness.” Hawaiian Canoe Club finished in the first and second spots.

Kukui’s second entry, the Boomshkys, did a respectable job arriving somewhere near the center of the pack.

Helm expressed great satisfaction in Molokai’s competing clubs. “You don’t succeed overnight, you succeed over time. It showed in the race we did over this past Saturday. It shows we can go over there an actually compete.”

The race, in its 26^th year, is held in honor of local boy Keola Kino’s father, Dutchy Kino, who was well known for the many years of sacrifice to the sport of outrigger.

Race standings mentioned in this article were unofficial at time of print. Mahalo to Adolph Helm for his re-cap.

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Island Paddlers Head for States

Tuesday, July 25th, 2006

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Molokai Challenge Lives up to its Name

Tuesday, July 25th, 2006

By 10 a.m. Saturday the beach in front of the Embassy Suites north of Lahaina was packed with huge brightly-colored kites, some as wide as 50 feet. Almost as colorful was the multinational group of 84 kiteboarders and windsurfers, who busied themselves rigging gear or sprawled under a tree, waiting, hoping, praying for even a breath of wind.

The athletes were assembled for the fourth annual Molokai Ocean Challenge, a benefit for Youth In Motion, an organization dedicated to getting Molokai’s youth active in sports.

At 11 a.m., the event’s scheduled start time, the wind had picked up to a whisper, but it was coming from the east. By 12:30 two kiteboarders, unable to wait any longer, had paddled nearly two miles out into the channel to reach the wind line. Around 1:30 everyone began packing up and hitching rides up the coast to Flemmings beach, where the wind was strong enough to take them out to the channel. Eventually all 84 participants made it across to Molokai, which was a great relief to Clare Seeger Mawae, race organizer and founder of YIM.

"I was making some pretty heavy duty prayers,” said Seeger Mawae. “So I was happy when people started coming in. The whole move was pretty amazing how we made it all happen.”

Due to the staggered, free-for-all start of the race, there was no official winner declared. But it was clear from watching the kiteboarders race around Kamalo Wharf and launch themselves into the air, that they were more interested in having fun than winning.

“It was all good at the end of the day,” said Seeger Mawae. “Everyone had a blast, everyone said it was a huge success. Next year we’re going to have two launch locations.”

Mawae estimates that the event brought in $3,000 to $4,000. The funds will be used to support the Na `Opio Hana Pa`a, a festival that accompanies the race and provides sports clinics for Molokai youth. This year there were six clinics run by coaches from the University of Hawai`i. Between 70 and 80 kids participated in the clinics and other activities in Malama Park Saturday.