Hulakai sprint relay gives paddlers an early test

KAILUA-KONA — Most visitors come to Hawaii and can’t wait to try the hula. For paddlers jumping off the plane and into the waters of Kailua Bay on Thursday it was, instead, all about the huli.

Kailua Pier was packed for the third annual Hulakai OC-4 Sprint Relay, the first paddling event of the Queen Liliuokalani race week. The lighthearted competition took participants on a triangular route around buoys in Kailua Bay. After the first four paddlers finished the course, the crews intentionally hulied — or flipped — the canoe, righted the ship, and the next four jumped in to finish the final lap.

For the final rounds, the huli was removed, but it still provided some of the more memorable highlights of the day.

“That part of the race came from putting together all the team aspects of canoe paddling,” event organizer Jun Balang said. “When you bail the boat, you really have to watch over each other.”

It definitely took some teamwork. After getting the boat afloat, three paddlers powered through the water while a fourth was tossing it out of the canoe with a bucket.

“The good thing for us is that we live in the Pacific Northwest, so we have to practice that stuff,” said Boy Chun Fook, who is part of the 31-paddler Manulele contingent in town. “It is always rough up there so we need to know how. ”

With the 18-mile wa’a kaukahi lurking on Saturday, the event served as a fun team-building exercise for some crews, while other out-of-towners were just looking to get acclimated to the warm Hawaii waters. Upward of 250 local and visiting paddlers came out — 100 more than last year.

“I think we have a lot more crews coming early now, so they want to get in a canoe and in the water,” Balang said. “We are really thankful that all these people come out every year to paddle for the Queen. That’s what this is all about — people from around the world coming together and celebrating the culture.”

In the men’s division, it was Northern California taking the crown for a second straight year. The eight-person Bay Area crew was made up of Tevita Moce, Matt Huizingh, Alex Beierly, Jim Dimke, James Tolbert, Caleb Brown, Jacob Uruvaru and George Sanico.

“It was a unique experience,” Dimke said. “In Northern California, we don’t really have four-man canoes, at least that I know of. It was a completely new experience, especially when we hit a little bump out there on the water.”

“It’s the end of the season for us, so a little sprint like this is nothing for us now,” added Tolbert. “It’s a nice jolt to get ready for this weekend. ”

On the women’s side, the “This is What We Do” crew of Nadean Hudson, Suzette Hau’oli Smith Gurtler, Denise Stennette, Cheryl Villegas, Yvonne O’Kane, Andrea Horigan, Sherri Carney and Sally Newland were the winners.

“Some of us just got off the plane at noon. This is how we are dealing with our jet lag,” said Newland, in town from California.

In the mixed race, the University of Auckland took home the title.

Despite some weather worries with Tropical Storm Madeline and Hurricane Lester in the area, organizers couldn’t have asked for a better day to host the event. The waters were calm, the winds were tame, and the clouds even decided to roll in later in the afternoon to provide some cover.

“We were a little worried, but it was beautiful and the perfect conditions to pull something like this off,” Balang said.

The viral news of the weather spread to the paddlers visiting from the mainland and other countries, but for most — like Newland and her cohorts — there was really no turning back so close to race day.

“I understood this weather was kind of unique, but we had already bought our tickets and reserved our condos and cars,” said Newland, who has been coming to the Queen’s race for over a decade. “We were committed to coming and just playing solitaire in the condo if we had to.”

A majority of the paddlers in the relay will be in the main event Saturday — the legendary 18-mile race that takes place along the Kona coast from Kailua Bay to Honaunau and back.

“That is the race,” Chun Fook said. “It’s the best in the whole wide world.”