New partner, same result.

Karel Tresnak Jr. and Andrew Penny took advantage of the waves off East O'ahu to win the Starbucks Kaiwi Channel Relay paddling race yesterday.

Tresnak and Penny — who both reside in Kailua — completed the 40.2-mile course from Kaluako'i, Moloka'i, to Magic Island, O'ahu, in 4 hours, 34 minutes, 39 seconds.

It was the fourth Kaiwi Channel Relay victory for Tresnak, and with four different partners. It was Penny's first victory in his first year as a paddling partner with Tresnak.

"I wasn't sure if I wanted the pressure of paddling with Karel when he first asked me," Penny said. "He's always expected to win. But he said it would be fun, and it was."

The Kaiwi Channel Relay is considered one of the most prestigious races in the sport.

The race features one-person canoes (OC-1), but each "team" is allowed to alternate two paddlers. In short, the paddlers take turns on the canoe, switching every 15 to 20 minutes.

An extended paddling session by Tresnak was the key to victory yesterday. When the waves picked up off Sandy Beach, Tresnak stayed in the canoe for 45 minutes.

"All of a sudden, the (canoe) was dropping in, screaming down wave after wave," Tresnak said. "I figured it was going good, so I stayed in there."

The surf run allowed Penny and Tresnak to open a quarter-mile gap on the rest of the field.

Prior to that stretch, three teams were inseparable for the first three hours of the race.

The teams of Kai Bartlett/Kea Pa'iaina and Maui Kjeldsen/ Manny Kulukulualani exchanged the lead with Penny/Tresnak across the Kaiwi Channel.

"It was a dogfight all the way to Sandys, then (Tresnak) took over," Bartlett said. "He's so good in the surf, and he's in such good shape. He's the top paddler out there, so when he gets in a rhythm like that, it's hard to keep up."

Bartlett and Pa'iaina placed second with a time of 4:35:17. They became partners "at the last minute" a few days before the race because Pa'iaina's original partner could not compete.

Kjeldsen and Kulukulualani were third in 4:37:40.

"It was a really fun race because we all took turns in the lead," Tresnak said. "We were just lucky enough to catch that good section of surf and it gave us a little bit of a gap to play with until the finish."

Bartlett said: "We made up a lot of ground at the end, so I was proud of that. But after (Tresnak) had that nice long run of his, we knew it was a battle for second."

Tresnak and Penny used a canoe called "Zephyr," designed by Karel Tresnak Sr.

"It was great — it worked perfect in the surf," Tresnak Jr. said. "It wasn't big (surf), but there was always sort of something to ride."

Aaron Creps and John Foti were fourth in 4:42:54, and Danny Ching and Luke Evslin were fifth in 4:45:11.

Foti holds the record of six Kaiwi Channel Relay victories.

MAUI TEAM SETS RECORD IN WOMEN'S DIVISION

New partner, same result, too.

Like Tresnak in the men's division, Lauren Bartlett won the women's division for the fourth time, with a fourth different partner.

Bartlett and Andrea Moller — who are both from Maui — set a new women's record with a time of 5:20:33. It beat the previous mark (set by Bartlett and Dane Ward last year) by nearly three minutes.

Cherisse Agorastos and Theresa Felgate were a distant second in 5:45:51.

"We were switching every 20 minutes, and we had help (from the waves) the whole way," said Bartlett, who is the wife of Kai Bartlett.

Bartlett and Moller are both 27, and both mothers of young children, so they said they "formed a bond."

"If one of us has family duties, we understand," Moller said. "But when we weren't watching the kids, we were out training together whenever we could."

Bartlett is a former Olympic kayaker, but she said her focus is back on canoe paddling.

"I retired from kayaking in February, so this is the most time I've spent on a one-man (canoe) in years," she said.

Among other divisions: