A lesson learned five years ago led to victory yesterday for Nate Hendricks and Karel Tresnak Jr.

Hendricks and Tresnak won the Starbucks Kaiwi Channel Relay World Championship. They completed the 40.2-mile course from Kaluako'i Beach, Moloka'i, to Magic Island, O'ahu, in 4 hours, 36 minutes, 5 seconds.

"In 2001, we were partners and we lost by three inches," Hendricks said. "We learned from that."

Yesterday, they edged defending champions Kai Bartlett and Patrick Dolan by 20 seconds.

"It was scary," Tresnak said.

Yesterday was the first time that Hendricks and Tresnak were a tandem since the runner-up finish in 2001.

The Kaiwi Channel Relay features one-person canoes, but each team has two paddlers. When one paddler is in the canoe, the other follows in an escort boat. They switch positions every 10 to 25 minutes.

Five years ago, Hendricks and Tresnak shared an equal amount of paddling time. Yesterday, they agreed to rely more on Tresnak.

"He's a world champion and I'm not in that class," Hendricks said of Tresnak. "It was like (Bartlett and Dolan) had two great paddlers, and we had one great paddler and one so-so paddler. I had no problem letting (Tresnak) do most of the work."

For most of the race, Tresnak stayed in the canoe for 25-minute intervals, while Hendricks would go in for 20-minute runs.

Bartlett and Dolan stayed close the entire way, and even took the lead for a few minutes off Sandy Beach.

At that stage of the race, Tresnak stayed in the canoe for an extended stretch, putting his team back in the lead for good off Portlock.

"Basically, (Tresnak) won the race and I just jumped in to spell him for a while," Hendricks said.

Bartlett and Dolan said Tresnak's late run was the difference in the race.

"When (Hendricks) would get in, we'd gain some ground," Bartlett said. "But (Tresnak) had that long run and he stayed in there and he just put a gap on us. Give them credit. They didn't play out the full relay thing like we did, but they did what they needed to do to win."

Tresnak is 25 and resides in Kailua, O'ahu. Hendricks is 40 and from Kailua, Kona. They paddled together yesterday because both are sponsored by Outrigger Connection.

It was Tresnak's third victory in the event with a third different partner. It was Hendricks' first relay win.

Strong winds helped and hurt the paddlers at various stages of the race. As Tresnak put it: "It was good but it wasn't great. It was hard work to get any waves."

Dolan raced yesterday despite limited practice in a canoe. He has spent the past few months training for national and international events in flat-water kayaking.

"It was fun to be back in the surf, but I know I wasn't as ready for it as I should have been," said Dolan, who is a senior at Maryknoll School.

Aaron Napoleon and Kea Pa'iaina finished third in 4:41:22, and Manny Kulukulualani and Tapa Worthington were fourth in 4:43:05.

Raven Aipa and John Foti placed eighth overall and were first in the masters division (both paddlers must be 40 or older) with a time of 4:47:42.

BARTLETT, WARD SET WOMEN'S RECORD

Maui paddlers Lauren Bartlett and Dane Ward won the women's division in a record time of 5:23:24. It beat the previous mark by more than 11 minutes.

"Once we got ahead, we pushed ourselves even harder because we saw we could get the record," Ward said.

Noe Auger and Andrea Moller placed a distant second in 5:36:46.

Bartlett and Ward raced to an early lead, but never let up the pace because they thought Auger and Moller were right behind.

"We were definitely looking for them," Bartlett said. "So many things can happen in this race. We didn't want them to pull a sneak attack on us."

Bartlett has also been spending most of the past few months training for flat-water kayaking events. She departed Honolulu last night as part of Team USA for an international event in Europe.

Bartlett represented the United States in kayaking in the 2004 Olympics as Lauren Spalding. She has since married Kai Bartlett.

"I didn't even tell my (kayaking) coach I was going to do this, but I didn't want to miss it," she said. "It's so much fun."

It was the third relay victory for Bartlett, and first for Ward.

TOP FINISHERS

ONE-PERSON CANOE

Open men: 1, Nate Hendricks/Karel Tresnak Jr., 4:36:05. 2, Kai Bartlett/Patrick Dolan, 4:36:25. 3, Aaron Napoleon/Kea Pa'iaina, 4:41:22. 4, Manny Kulukulualani/Tapa Worthington, 4:43:05. 5, Mike Judd/Greg Long, 4:43:10. 6, Danny Ching/Luke Evslin, 4:44:10. 7, Maui Kjeldsen/Woogie Marsh, 4:46:39. 8, Travis Grant/Michael Murray, 4:49:45. 9, Mike Hangai/Kelly Foster, 4:51:32. 10, Jimmy Austin/Walter Guild, 4:53:22. 11, Heath Hemming/Bill Pratt, 4:56:47. 12, Aaron Creps/Kaai Bruhn, 4:57:13. 13, Cana Day/Donovan Leandro, 4:59:47. 14, Steve Blyth/Andrew Glatzel, 4:59:54. 15, Kekoa Bruhn/David Daniels, 5:00:32. 16, George Leslie/Carlton Helm, 5:03:29. 17, Chris Smith/Davin Lum, 5:10:49. 18, Joey Napoleon/Pepper Chong, 5:13:43. 19, Keola Akau/Ikaika Hauanio, 5:15:32. 20, David Loui/Guy Pere, 5:16:21. 21, Ranone Mullen/Don Mehling, 5:17:14. 22, Max Solmssen/Robby Solmssen, 5:17:28. 23, Byron Ho/Evan Rhodes, 5:21:17. 24, Britt Craven/Mark Meyers, 5:22:16. 25, Scott Hendricks/Todd Payes, 5:22:35.

Open women: 1, Lauren Bartlett/Dane Ward, 5:23:24. 2, Noe Auger/Andrea Moller, 5:36:46. 3, Jennifer Asano/Jamie Kinard, 5:55:53. 4, Kelsa Teeters/Sue Brown, 6:06:38. 5, Andrea Messer/Christina Hoggart, 6:29:53.

Open mixed: 1, Mark Frazier/Alana Goo, 5:14:14. 2, Akeo Cuban/Arlene Holzman, 5:31:42. 3, Chris Caldeira/Alohi Aea, 5:58:25. 4, Randy Botti/Marjorie Santos, 6:39:04.

Masters men, 40-older: 1, Raven Aipa/John Foti, 4:47:42. 2, Mark Cluney/Steve Cole, 5:01:50. 3, Rory Frampton/Kawika Williams, 5:08:27. 4, Eric Barto/Alan Duarte, 5:15:45. 5, Jim Beaton/Tim Twigg-Smith, 5:20:33.

Senior men, 50-older: 1, Afa Tuaolo/Steve Zoll, 5:19:57. 2, Pat Erwin/Beanie Heen, 5:25:19. 3, Adolph Helm/Jerome Kalama, 5:27:55. 4, Harold Akeo/Nainoa Thompson, 5:28:55. 5, Kamoa Kalama/Jim Kincaid, 5:36:21.

Masters women, 40-older: 1, Jane McKee/Paula Crabb, 5:54:48. 2, Mary Kielty/Michele Golberg, 6:18:09.

TWO-PERSON CANOE

Open men: 1, Peter Konohia/Tyson Kubo/Dave Kalama/Junya McGurn, 4:55:44. 2, Nabil Vogele/Tony Calderon/Mark Shimmer/J.P. Mihlbauer, 5:00:57. 3, Marc Haine/Ron Grabbe/Jonathan Bloxom/Trevor Wendt, 5:18:22. Open mixed: 1, Ricky Balidoy/Sharon Balidoy/Michael Delima/Barbara Querry, 5:16:50. 2, Mikala Bradley/Norm Bradley/Katie Slocumb/Jason Ignacio, 5:23:21. 3, Chris Acoba/Sammoe Hookuno/Margie Goodno/Chris Fujita, 5:31:15.

SURFSKI

Juniors: 1, Eric Abbott/Mark Towill, 5:20:15.

Reach Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com.