Kai Opua Canoe Club’s plans for a regatta on Saturday became complicated following an issue at another West-side regatta two weeks ago.
The Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources halted Keauhou’s Founder Regatta on May 20 in Kailua Bay due to damage to coral reefs caused by course markers.
As the investigation continues, it is not possible to set up new course markers in the bay. This presented a problem for Kai Opua, which had slated a regatta for King Kamehameha Day.
Within just 10 days, the club had to rearrange its event as a long distance race instead of a regatta.
“We don’t normally do the long and short distance races, we always do our regatta for King Kamehameha Day,” Kai Opua President Kris Hazard said, “this is our weekend and it has been.”
Moku ‘O Hawaii offered to allow Kai Opua to host the regatta in Hilo Bay, but the club decided to stick to tradition and hold its event on the Kona side.
“We opted to lose the opportunity for points and stay with tradition,” Hazard said, “and keep the race here in Kona to honor King Kamehameha, and keep the celebration here for the community, the kids and the paddlers.”
Though the switch to long distance yielded a much smaller turnout than the regatta likely would have, the event still saw a notable turnout — 218 adult paddlers and 199 youth paddlers from 76 crews and ten clubs.
“We had a blast, everyone had a good time,” Hazard said. “The best part about the whole race was the amount of kids that came to race.
“The beach was just alive with hundreds of kids and families. It was really good.”
The hosts also had a dominant day of competition — raking in 11 gold medals, seven silver and three bronze to lead the pack.
Kai ‘Ehitu also showed out — collecting six gold medals, five silver and three bronze.
The complications with the coral reefs and the DLNR stirred up the season schedule and clouded the near future for regattas in Kailua Bay. All upcoming regattas will be held on the isle’s East side.
Hazard said that there has been preliminary discussion about creating a permanent course in Kailua Bay, but because the DLNR is still investigating the damage, nothing is for sure yet.
She also said that on Sunday, members of Kona-area paddling clubs removed some of the remaining course markers, per the DLNR’s request.