WAILUA — The winds blowing up Wailua River were strong Saturday.
But it wasn’t strong enough to slow the Kapa‘a Warriors, who swept all three divisions for the second straight week.
Before the start of the first races, officials said the upriver journey would be faster due to the winds, but coming back, the paddlers would be pushing into the headwind.
According to the National Weather Service, east winds were blowing in the 20 mph range, creating choppy conditions and bending the buoy markers.
That didn’t deter the varsity Warrior squads who finished with times better than their performance last week.
Topping the performance charts, the Warrior wahine finished Saturday’s regatta with a 4:03.76 paddle, an improvement over their previous week’s 4:10.92 run.
Second place honors in the varsity girls division went to the Kaua‘i High School team who stroked to a 4:12.23 finish in the finals, cutting off more than 10 seconds from their preliminary heat.
Island School finished in third at 4:27.76.
The Kapa‘a varsity boys shaved off close to two seconds from last week’s paddle, finishing this week’s regatta with a 3:35.35 run over last week’s paddle of 3:37.33.
Kaua‘i (3:45.41) and Waimea (3:48.73) rounded out the varsity boys leaders. Of these two teams, Kaua‘i also saw an improvement over its last week’s race of 3:57.09.
In the Mixed division race, Kapa‘a stroked to a 3:53.03 first place, an improvement over its previous race of 3:57.48.
Waimea (4:01.35) and Kaua‘i (4:07.34) rounded out the leaders. Both teams also marked improvements over the previous races where Waimea crossed at 4:08.02 last week followed by Kaua‘i at 4:14.99.
Waimea JV girls showed a marked improvement from its third place finish last week where the team crossed at 4:31.63.
On Saturday, the JV Menehune wahine stroked to a 4:19.95 to claim first place followed by Island School at 4:21.72, and chased closely by Kaua‘i who finished at 4:22.71, that pace being set by being pitted against the Menehune.
Kaua‘i’s JV boys charged off the line and made the turn first, making its homestretch charge as the Kapa‘a JV team hit the buoy. The Red Raiders went on to claim the division on a 3:49.79 paddle followed by Kapa‘a at 4:01.65. Both of the teams’ Saturday runs were slower than last week’s race.
Kaua‘i continued its streak by claiming the Mixed JV division on a 4:02.84 paddle with the Kapa‘a team filling in second at 4:06.18 and the Kaua‘i “B” team taking third at 4:12.53, just a tad faster than the Kapa‘a “B” team who crossed at 4:13.35.
Waimea will host this Saturday’s regatta at the Wailua River starting at 10 a.m.
