Even without its usual complement of New Zealanders, Team New Zealand/Hawai'i is complete again.

After a one-year hiatus, Team NZ/H reunited this year to compete in Sunday's Bud Light Moloka'i Hoe.

They are considered one of the top contenders among the field of more than 100 crews.

"We're all here for the same purpose — win the Channel," team member Kea Pa'iaina said. "We wouldn't leave our clubs if we didn't think we had a good shot at winning."

The Moloka'i Hoe is a 41-mile race across the Kaiwi Channel, and it is generally recognized as the world championship of long-distance outrigger canoe paddling for men's teams.

Team NZ/H won the Moloka'i Hoe in 2001 and 2003 with a blend of elite paddlers from New Zealand and Hawai'i.

After a fifth-place finish in 2005, the team disbanded last year, and the Hawai'i paddlers returned to their original clubs. Pa'iaina, for example, paddled with Healani Canoe Club last year.

Tahiti teams dominated last year's Moloka'i Hoe, with Shell Va'a winning it in record time. The best Hawai'i team, Outrigger, finished more than 15 minutes behind Shell Va'a.

"I think it was kind of embarrassing to a lot of the Hawai'i teams," Pa'iaina said. "I heard a lot of people telling us we should get back together and at least try to beat Tahiti. That was a good reason to me."

This year's Team NZ/H crew will be Pa'iaina, Nick Agorastos, Raven Aipa, Travis Grant, Heath Hemmings, Donovan Leandro, Thibert Lussiaa, Andrew Penny and Bill Pratt.

Five of them — Pa'iaina, Aipa, Lussiaa, Penny and Pratt — were on the 2003 crew that won the Moloka'i Hoe.

"Even though we weren't together last year, there's still that chemistry," Pratt said. "The fact that we've traveled together and experienced success in the past, that's forged a bond that allows us to do well."

But not all of them were enthusiastic about reuniting.

Aipa, for example, said he wanted to stay with his club, Hui Lanakila.

"We won it twice already, that was enough for me," Aipa said. "But I saw how serious the guys were about getting back together and after talking to my family, I said OK, one more year."

The New Zealand paddlers, however, could not commit to the trip to Hawai'i for various reasons.

When the Team NZ/H concept first started in 1998, there were seven paddlers from New Zealand and two from Hawai'i.

This year, there are seven from Hawai'i, one from New Zealand, and one from Australia.

Penny is the only remaining link to New Zealand, but he could also be considered a "Hawai'i" paddler because he moved to O'ahu several years ago.

"Out of respect for the founders of this team, we wanted to keep the name, even though nobody is flying in from New Zealand this time," Pratt said. "And one of our main sponsors is Steinlager, which is a Kiwi beer, so the name fits."

The new paddlers on the team this year are Agorastos, who is from the Big Island, Leandro, who came from Kailua Canoe Club, and Grant, who is from Australia.

"I'm all for the club thing, I really am — I paddled with Kailua for 22 years," Leandro said. "But this is a great way to be competitive while suiting your own schedule."

Because the paddlers come from different canoe clubs, they rarely practice together. Instead, they mostly train on one-person canoes.

However, the team has been able to practice together more this year than in years past because most of the paddlers are on O'ahu.

"I would say we've worked a little harder and practiced more this year than ever before," Pa'iaina said.

In August, Team NZ/H traveled to California and won the Catalina Channel Crossing. But two weeks ago, it finished a distant fourth in the Henry Ayau Memorial Race.

"We're underdogs, no question," Pratt said. "The competition is really stiff this year, and we're just hoping we have a good race to give ourselves a chance."

The Kaiwi Channel is expected to feature favorable winds and swells Sunday, and that could benefit the Hawai'i crews.

"We know there's a lot of teams that are very good in the surf," said Hemmings, who will steer Team NZ/H. "But we're a bunch of one-mans (canoe paddlers) who know how to ride the surf, so we're hoping for some surf, too"

Reach Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com.