Manny Veincent’s Kawaihae Canoe Club is in its 50th season and the paddling patriarch turns 90 this year.
He has seen it all.
“What I forgot, no one has yet learned,” he said.
Veincent must have loved the view Saturday in Hilo Bay, and not just because it was the Moku O Hawaii Outrigger Canoe Racing Association’s first regatta in 34 months. Armed with binoculars to watch the races, Veincent watched his youth crews dominate – especially the girls – to build up a lead, and his adult paddlers did just enough to hang on, handing the club a rare regatta victory.
“It’s been a long time,” said head coach Kahealani Veincent.
The honor of the premier division usually goes to Big Blue (Kai Opua) or Green Pride (Puna), but on a fun and busy day at the beach with a full shopping list, everyone had to line up behind Manny Veincent and his trademark. red and white palaka shorts.
“We are supposed to do this,” he said. “We just don’t have the staff like other clubs.
“We don’t draw from large populations like Kona and Hilo. We come from the bushes. We are assholes.
But they don’t give big trophies to small lap times. Kahealani Veincent did the honors, bringing the Kai Ehitu/Papa Kimitete material back to her cheer club.
There was a sense of normalcy thanks to a return to action after two canceled seasons, but Kahealani Veincent noted the different vibe at his club this season.
“Everyone was very positive, very ready to go,” she said. “They didn’t take anything for granted.”
Improvements have been made in quality and quantity.
“We’re a little bigger than what we had before, but we have a different kind of people now,” she said. “They paddle more with their hearts and they give everything. They’re not there just to show off.
Kawaihae could hardly have had a stronger starter as he edged Kai Opua (the 2019 and 2008-14 Big Island champion) by three points and Puna (the 2015-18 champion) by 10. He swept all three runs to the 12-year-olds, and had victories in the 13-, 14-, and 15-year-old girls’ races. The Women’s Novice B, Women’s Novice A, Women’s 65 and Women’s Open Four also finished first.
“The kids were amazing,” said Kahealani Veincent, who credited a youth program that provides transportation and covers fees for keiki who want to come train.
And the club have been hitting hard in training since January, she said, while some teams from other clubs may only have been there for a few weeks.
The regatta was the first of seven leading up to the Aunty Maile/Moku O Hawaii Championships, July 23 in Hilo Bay. Next week the Keauhou Regatta will take place at Kailua Pier.
“Now there is a target on our back”, Kahealani Veincent. “We need to train even harder, but maybe we’ll bring back some people who paddled for us, which will make him even stronger.”
Tribute to dad
On his 40th birthday, Kai Ehitu, as usual, hosted the season-opening regatta and honored club founder Papa Kimitete.
The club race was moved from Kailua Pier, which is the usual location, to Hilo Bay in part due to logistical issues. Coach Richard Kimitete said he woke up at 2am on Saturday morning and couldn’t get back to sleep because he was so excited about the day’s festivities.
“Feels good this morning when we looked at the line and on the beach, I haven’t seen it so full in a long time,” he said. “I’m not even sure that in normal times there are so many people. Just to see everyone come down and participate in dad’s race, it means a lot.
Keauhou edged Kai Ehitu 85-78 to take Division B, but Kimitete said the club could have enough crew to compete in Division A as early as next week. Hoemana, a second club from Kawaihae, made its regatta debut and finished fifth in Division B.
As the season progresses, Kimitete may see more keiki reveal themselves to power Kai Ehitu’s crews.
“Dad’s thing was to make sure the kids were taken care of because the adults will take care of themselves,” he said.
Even during the pandemic-induced layoff, the club tried to keep in touch with the sport, said club president Puamail Kimitete.
“We’ve done workshops, not only through Zoom calls, but also by taking people to the mountains, to understand where canoeing comes from,” she said. “Just seeing the paddling community come back is positive energy.
