With Kokua, Lokahi and Laulima our RACE was PONO!

​Aloha kakou e na hoe wa’a.
 
Mahalo nui loa (with warmth and many thanks) to everyone for helping to make yesterday a great day.  Ke Akua saved this best day of the year for our regatta and for that we are extremely thankful.
 
You can take pride in helping our hui wa’a provide its 20th annual hosting of the sprint regatta at Green lake.  It was another successful, safe and fun event for our sister clubs and the racing association.  Our hui wa’a couldn’t have done it without everyone’s kokua (cooperation) andlaulima (teamwork/working together) and lokahi (unity or harmony).  I’m extremely proud of all of you and for what you do for Wakinikona.  Noteworthy from yesterday were:
--Leo Anderson for organizing and handling all the registration tasks throughout the day—keeping our accounting straight, adjusting to the changes and fielding tons of questions—another fantastic job.  It got more complex with the new event insurance, but she just took it in stride.
--Jason Zimmermann and his officials crew of Erik and Meridith Anderson.  Using the spreadsheet he developed last year, Jason made it looked so calm and routine in processing the results of each race.  When 3 clubs had to pull their canoes and leave after event 34, our officials easily made the adjustments and created new lane assignments on the fly—with no disruption in the flow of races.  Outstanding flexibility and responsiveness.
--Uncle Ed Tanaka with the PA duties to hustle crews to get on deck and stay on time, not to mention recognizing the finishers and keeping everyone entertained w/music.  He really makes a difference at any race where he is announcing—we all appreciate him and consider ourselves very fortunate to have him volunteer to do this—his 20thyear serving our club.  Maika’i!
--Robert Segundo and his kitchen crew of his wife Stacy, Nicole Juliano, Natalie Fujii, Nicole’s husband Zeb, and Stacey’s friend Z did a fantastic jog organizing, preparing and serving both breakfast and lunch.  As always the presentation was outstanding and very impressive.  Everybody enjoyed the “grindz” and came back often.  We appreciate all of you who agreed to join the food plan and helped finance the food that nourished all of us.  We may not be the best sprint paddlers, but with Robert in our crew we are the best fed.
--Bryan Pule and Mark McDermott for getting the crews organized, scheduled, and registered.  We appreciate the re-juggling they had to do in reacting to see who was available as the day wore on.  Bryan did a superb job in shuffling the keiki into as many crews as he could, and many of them won or placed in each event.  It was heartwarming to see so many keiki and their parents at the race venue.
--Lani Haase for organizing our raffle, encouraging members to donate, beating the bushes with businesses for donations, and hyping the raffle to stimulate more raffle ticket sales at the race venue.  She was ably assisted by her crew of Loretta Little,Karen and Heidi Yoneda, and their friend, May, and even new paddler Josh Padilla.  Mahalo to all of you who contributed something to the raffle.  Your outstanding generosity and creativity generated lots of interest, and some fun moments.  There was a lot of buzz and excitement over the raffle and it was a sight to see the efficient pulling of tickets, announcing winners and handing out prizes.  Lani and her crew deserve a lot of credit in earning additional revenue to pay for more projects at our beach.  Great job, Lani!
--To everyone for pitching in.  I can’t remember everyone but I do know that everyone as a group did whatever was needed or asked, and we worked efficiently and in harmony, e.g., unloading the gear and canoes, hauling everything to the site, rigging canoes, setting up tables and tents, shuffling gear to make space, helping out in the officials tent, and cleaning up a the end of the day.  
 
We had WHC kupuna drop by to observe our event.  They included past president, Kimo Douglas, Peter and Carmen Nova, and Uncle Danny Kaopuiki.  I appreciate those of you who took time to talk to them and even to feed a couple of them.  As a group they were impressed with what they saw and proud of what the hui wa’a is doing in our community.  I, too, am very proud of all of you—you make it a pleasure for me to come to practice and to race.
 
We have just two more sprint regattas left.  So keep working on your paddling technique, timing, jelling and blending as crews, turning skills, and conditioning.  The next sprint opportunity is Sat, June 10th at Silver Lake, in Everett.  Again, mahalo to all for doing your part in making our sprint regatta successful and be sure to rest up and enjoy your Memorial Day.   As usual, we will be off-loading canoes on Tue, May 30th, and rigging them before we practice.  To help, you’ll need to be at the beach prior to 6:00pm.
 
Aloha nui loa, e malama pono.

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