It is that time again – paddling season is almost here and Wa’akapaemua Canoe Club is inviting interested members of the public to join them at their general club meeting. Input and suggestions are valuable to the club, so please come by to share your mana`o.
Wa’akapaemua Canoe Club
GENERAL CLUB MEETING
Monday March 5th, 2012
Mitchell Pauole Conference room
6pm – 8pm
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Community Contributed by Jan Kanani Thomas
On Saturday, Dec. 3, youth participated in the first ever Kepuhi Beach Bodyboard Championships. The competition was sponsored by Hale Ho`okupa`a, a nonprofit that provides outpatient drug and alcohol treatment services for Molokai adults and adolescents. Contestants enjoyed three to six foot waves and an opportunity for healthy competition in a drug-free environment.
The winter sports season is upon us, and Molokai High School (MHS) teams are gearing up for another exciting round of Maui Interscholastic League (MIL) play. So get out your green gear, read up on the basketball teams’ outlooks this season and keep it nearby for when The Dispatch previews paddling, wrestling and swimming next week.
Boys’ Basketball
The MHS boys’ basketball team earned a runner-up finish in the MIL last year – and this season, they want to go even farther.
“Our goals are to win the MIL championship and represent Div. II MIL in the state tournament, and if all goes well, to win the state championship,” said assistant coach Rick Schonely.
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Whenever keiki in the Molokai Junior Roping Club (MJRC) saw Papa Cliff Dudoit raise his pointer finger, silently holding it in the air a few inches from his face, they didn’t need words to know what he meant.
Dudoit, one of the founders of the rodeo club, strived to teach Molokai’s youth not only the foundations of being a good cowboy or cowgirl, but of being a good person. And, as he explained, “number one was your attitude.” Raising that finger was a simple reminder to keep your attitude in check.
“In life, in roping and in everything else, leave your bad attitude at home,” he said. “If you have a bad attitude, you’re gonna have a bad day.”
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“The kids always had a place to come to,” she said. “It was an alternative to drugs and substance abuse.”
More than 60 youth participated last Friday before refereeing, emceeing and managing the adult competition Saturday – another important aspect of the roping club.
“The kids are running the show,” Cliff Dudoit said. “When they grow up in the sport, they gonna know what they talking about.”
He thanked the Molokai community and the MJRC for their continued support over the years and said he looks forward to extending the club’s legacy.
“We gonna continue to help. We not giving up,” he said. “We cowboys, man. We cowboy up.”
Aloha, I would like to take the time to thank family, friends and the community of Molokai for supporting my daughter, Kailana Ritte-Camara, and the Lady Farmers all these years. Your support has helped Kailana to achieve her dreams. She is a freshman at Linfield College in Oregon and made it on the volleyball team and is on the first string. She has done remarkable things and I know we can all be very, very proud of her. The volleyball season has just ended and Kailana helped Linfield achieve sixth place in the Northwest conference this year. She is honorable mention on the all-league team and ranks third among all the players in the Northwest conference in kills. She also was the only player to register 20 plus killer per game with 30 blocks and 21 aces on the year.
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How many places can you see a canoe of Cruella de Vils paddling behind a boat of unabashed Beer Hunters?
Probably only on Molokai during the Master Blasters canoe race from Kakahai`a to the Kaunakakai Wharf, which took place for the 26th time last Saturday. The annual event raises funds for the Molokai Canoe Club.
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The teams accomplished their feat dressed in costumes ranging from 1920s flappers to Italian gondoliers.
Molokai was represented by top three finishes from the Beer Hunters and Aloha Etes, who each placed second among master’s men and women, respectively.
Another Molokai women’s team’s Cruella de Vil get-ups – complete with keiki dressed as spotted Dalmatians – took second place in the costume contest.
“It was a good race – it was so competitive this year. … It’s not only the drinking, it’s about paddling, too. Gotta be both,” said Ike Sanchez, whose Beer Hunter team paddled with a rack of antlers attached to their canoe.
Penny Martin of the Aloha Etes – who donned pink wigs and Hawaiian wear – agreed that the race is “always a competition.” She and Beer Hunter Ed Misaki said they’ve made many friends from Maui and Oahu who they know only through the annual race.
“It’s a venue where we can laugh together after a long hard season and enjoy each other’s friendship,” Martin said before the crews got ready to party and celebrate at the wharf’s canoe shack.
“You see the brotherhood out there,” added Misaki. “All these guys, we have this common experience.”
MASTERS BLASTERS RESULTS
26th Annual Race, Saturday, Oct. 29
From Kakahai`a to the Kaunakakai Wharf
11 men’s teams, 11 women’s teams
RACE
Masters Men (ages 40+; total age in boat 300+ years)
1. North Shore Renegades (Maui)
2. Beer Hunters (Molokai)
Super Masters Men (ages 45+; total age in boat 330+ years)
1. Poi Dog (Oahu)
2. Kihei (Maui)
Masters Women (ages 35+; total age in boat 250+ years)
1. Sovern Soldiers (Oahu)
2. Aloha Etes (Molokai)
COSTUMES
Men – Kihei (Maui)
Women – Cruella de Vils (Molokai)
HARD LUCK
Men – Chippendales 30 Years Later (Oahu)
Women – North Shore Renegades (Maui)
Volleyball: Movin’ Forward
After securing the second berth in the Maui Interscholastic League (MIL) tournament last week, the Molokai High School (MHS) girls’ volleyball team returns to the state championshipWednesday to defend last year’s crown.
The path to states was tougher than years past, as the Farmers lost five of last season’s state champion squad to graduation or transfer. Another, senior Natalia Levi, had her season cut short by a serious foot injury earlier this month.
But coach Matt Helm said the Farmers’ other senior standout, Leenell Hernandez, excelled during last week’s tournament while gracefully leading her younger teammates.
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Without the opportunity to join the Molokai High School (MHS) club football team, many players would have spent the last three months “staying home,” said senior quarterback Keola DeMello. Others could be “getting in trouble, most likely,” added free safety Kaloko Akina, another senior.
Instead, the 30-man squad spent that time on the field, running through hours of practice, drill after drill, day after day.
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Darren Miller, the Pennsylvanian man who was featured in last week’s Dispatch for attempting to swim seven of the world’s most dangerous channels, set an unofficial record swimming the Kaiwi Channel last weekend, according to his blog. He plan
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How did Darren Miller decide to attempt swimming seven of the world’s most difficult channels – including the Kaiwi Channel, from Molokai to Oahu, which he’ll partake early Friday morning?
In a word, he says, “randomly.”
The Pennsylvanian’s motivation to pursue the so-called “Ocean’s Seven” is the Forever Fund, which he founded in 2010 with his close friend, Cathy Cartieri Mehl. The organization is dedicated to Mehl’s late father, Anthony Frank Cartieri, and helps families pay costs associated with open heart surgery on infants.
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