Pacific Paddler December 2015 - (Page 38)

PHOTOS BY GLORIA REED Na Holo Kai:Oahu to Kauai The 28th annual 90 mile Na Holo Kai Sailing Canoe race was held this past Saturday August 15, 2015. The annual race was the seventh leg of the 2015 Hawaiian Sailing Canoe sailing series and proved to have the best conditions of the season. The start began in a light offshore wind off of Haleiwa Beach. Winds were not steady enough to sail, so the best paddling teams sprinted the 5-mile course to Kaena Point. Ka Hea Manu No`io/Hawaiian Paddle Sports headed in a northerly course and into an early lead. The front pack, which consisted of Maui Jim, Team Olukai and Aloha Brewery, spread out and jockeyed for position and the best sailing course. It took over 3 hours for the lead to change. The Maui Jim canoe captained by Kauai's Donny Jones snuck into a slight lead over Team Olukai, Kala'i Miller's Aloha Brewery, and Ka Hea Manu No`io/Hawaiian Paddle Sports. After battling with Team Maui Jim for about two hours, Team Olukai, made up of Marvin Otsuji, Jason Dameron, Chris Pico, Maui Kjeldsen, Kalani Vierra, and Tyrus Sale, methodically dropped down to a more southerly course and took the lead. "We were getting 400 yard bombs. We were connecting the waves together, and at one point, Kalani was hooting and hollering, yelling 'there's another mile'," explains captain Marvin Otsuji about their lead takeover. After switching course about 30 miles off of Kaua'i, Team Olukai took and held the lead all the way to the beach. They had the best strategical position to cover all of the other canoes. Team WOW captained by Ray Glauser dropped to a straight rhumb line course even more southerly than Team Olukai, and they were able to come in right behind Team Olukai. Steve Baker, Mike Kincaid, and Marvin Otsuji all participated in this race just as they did in 1987 when the first ever Na Holo Kai took place. The race was inspired by the fact that 1987 was called the "Year of the Hawaiian". The Hawaiian Canoe sailing series culminates with the Nawiliwili to Waimea Kendall Pacific on Sept 12, 2015. If The Olukai team can hold off the charge of all the other canoes, they will have won the series for a record breaking 19 years. 38 PACiFiC PADDLER DECEMBER / JANUARY 2016

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Pacific Paddler December 2015

Pailolo Challenge
Na Wahine Cancelled
Hawaiian Airlines Molokai Hoe
Catalina 2015
Greater Montreal Outrigger Challenge
Na Holo Kai:Oahu to Kauai
American Samoa in the Channel
3 stretches every paddler should know
Ikaika Hawaii rowing program
Canoes are “Whos”

Pacific Paddler December 2015