Molokaʻi canal races reflect cultural traditions and family ties to paddling

When the Moloka’i paddler Kaʻala English is in the waʻa, she feels her kūpuna with her.

“When you pull you need more than just yourself, you know what I mean, you’re calling on everyone to focus their strength on you and just pull with you,” she said. “Every time they pull, it’s like they’re pulling with me.”

Catherine Cluett Pactol/HPR

English and nine teammates from the Waʻakapaemua Canoe Club in Molokaʻi spent the last five months training hard. They juggled full-time jobs, motherhood and other commitments to prepare for the seven-hour paddle across the Kaiwi Channel in Nā Wāhine O Ke Kai.

“I don’t know how to explain the feeling of being connected to our ancestors in this way,” English said.

Before the opening ceremony, the team attached a ti leaf to the back of their waʻa for protection and hugged their families.

Then hundreds of paddlers carried their canoes to the water and pushed off to the launch. As the coast of Molokaʻi disappeared behind them, the teams battled for top spots before scattering across the open sea.

Throughout the race, paddlers threw themselves from their support boat into the open sea during “water changes.” They climbed into the moving canoe and continued paddling while their teammates rested and ate aboard the escort.

“It must be hectic, I have to hurry!” shouted Waʻakapaemua coach Keola Kino. “Jump, jump, jump!” said paddlers as they splashed into the water.

Speed ​​is crucial during water changes to avoid wasting time during the race, but also to ensure safety during potentially dangerous maneuvers in rough waters.

“Paddle, paddle, come on girls!” Kino shouted as the paddlers pulled themselves into the canoe and increased the pace again.

The men’s Moloka’i Hoe began in 1952, but it was more than two decades before women paddled the Kaiwi for the first time.

Catherine Cluett Pactol/HPR

Penny Martin is a legendary Moloka’i paddler and Hokule’a crew member who has completed 15 Kaiwi crossings, although she has not raced this year. She remembered her coach’s words in her early twenties.

“He said, ‘No, the women will never run the channel.'”

Many coaches and officials did not believe that women could manage the crossing.

When Martin was helping at Moloka’i Hoe in 1975, a group of women showed up.

“Some of them, I realized, were from Oahu, and (I said, ‘What are you doing?’) They say, ‘We’re doing the canal,'” she said.

And they did, marking the first female transition.

“I thought, ‘Wow, this is so cool. And how brave,” said Martin.

Catherine Cluett Pactol/HPR

She described the community spirit surrounding racing on Molokaʻi in the early days.

“It was like this huge holiday, this huge event that got people excited, not just about the paddling, but the whole spirit of the thing – people coming together and celebrating canoes and paddling,” she said.

The tradition of the two races was interrupted by the pandemic and then the Maui fires. But this year both are back.

“These two races, Nā Wāhine O Ke Kai and Moloka’i Hoe – they are not only the Olympics of canoe paddling, but also Hawaii’s heritage,” said race director Luana Froiseth. “These races started on Moloka’i and Moloka’i won the first race from Moloka’i to O’ahu. That’s our culture.”

Martin hopes to keep the Waʻa teachings alive.

“I think one of the best things about paddling in a six-person, four-person or two-person canoe is that you can’t move the canoe by yourself,” she said. “And you really learn how important it is to work together and be there for each other.”

During this year’s Nā Wāhine, paddlers battled fatigue and cheered each other on as the canoes made their way from the open sea to the finish.

“Sit up and breathe, breathe!” they shouted from the accompanying board. “Come on, right here! Go!”

Catherine Cluett Pactol/HPR

Wa’akapaemua finished in the top 20, with Oʻahu’s Team Bradley taking first place for the fifth consecutive year.

At the finish line, Ishay Kaholoaa of Molokai’i, completing her first Kaiwi crossing, spoke of the special motivation that had gotten her through the race.

“I had a granddaughter two weeks ago and she’s down here in the NICU. So all I could think about was coming here and being with my grandchild, and that’s what I thought the whole time,” she said in an emotional voice.

For many in the team, the family connection to paddling is deeply rooted. For Moloka’i’s Pualei Lima, her grandfather took part in one of the first Moloka’i Hoe crossings and both sides of their ‘ohana carry on the tradition.

“I feel good every time I practice or take my kids to my daddy’s house,” she said. “He asks me, ‘Are you going paddling?’ “Yeah, practice,” and he’s all excited, and I know he’s proud of me, and my cousins ​​too – they’re doing the hoe.”

English said she was paddling the channel to her island.

“When I go, they all come with me, just like all the Moloka’i come with us,” she said. “That’s kind of the magic of it – they’re all pulling with us, for us, even if they’re not in the water with us. So that’s like the fuel that drives me.”

A Waʻakapaemua crew will also be paddling Moloka’i Hoe on Sunday.