LAHAINA — In only the second regatta of the Maui County Hawaiian Canoe Association season, three county records were established as clubs worked out some kinks in pleasant weather yesterday at Hanakao'o (Canoe) Beach Park.

Kihei Canoe Club's junior men (7 minutes, 55.64 seconds) and senior master men (3:58.02) each set marks at the Naleieha Regatta, helping their team to 83 points and third place overall, just six points behind Kahana.

Hawaiian took its second AA Division win of the season with 139 points overall. Hana also recorded its second A Division victory with nine points to Lahaina's one.

''Both crews are definitely solid paddlers,'' Kihei head coach Rob Phillips said to The Maui News. ''We didn't expect to set records today but with these nice conditions and the hard work the guys have been putting in, it's been paying off.''

After finishing third last week with 62 points, Phillips was happy with the team's improvement and feels confident things are back on track.

''I think getting beat so bad last week was probably one of the better things that could've happen to us — it really allowed us to refocus and move forward in the direction we needed to head,'' he said. ''Sometimes you need to have that to happen to you.

''Hopefully we're going to put forth the same game this week and continue growing throughout the season, and not rest after what happened today. Got to keep it fresh.''

Also setting a record were the sophomore men of Hawaiian Canoe Club with a time of 7:37.03.

Steersman Billy Felipe Gomes said several aspects contributed to the faster time but not necessarily overwhelming power.

''Just blending, trying to keep the boat moving consistently throughout the race, trying to take care of the little things versus just powering it out – more technique than just straight power,'' Felipe Gomes said. ''We finished right about the same (as last week), but we're just trying to take care of all the little things and eventually get to the big event.

''We've been there, so we know what it takes. Right now, these are just little steps to get to where we want to go.''

The Kahana keiki crews recorded a strong day, with four first-place and six second-place finishes at their home regatta.

''Actually, we never did really think about (being hosts),'' said keiki coach Kekai Keahi. ''It was just watching what we did last week, figuring out what we got to work on for this weekend and just come out and do what we're supposed to.

''It's pretty simple. I don't think for the kids, they never really think about this being the race host, so they're going to try harder. They're going to improve on their technique.''

The girls 13 division won with a time of 1:57.66 and the girls 14 group in 1:59.42.

The boys 14 division also won with a time of 1:44.06 and the boys 15 took first in 4:05.30.

''Our 13 girls, we knew they would do better, because last week, I think, there was a five-second difference between first and fourth (places), so we knew they'd move up but this week, they won by maybe two lengths or so, so it was a dramatic turnaround for them,'' said Keahi, who also said very few changes were made among the crews in favor of tweaking a few things with their technique.

Kahana also finished second in the boys 16 race after getting jostled momentarily out of its lane, finishing in 4:08.34 to Kihei's 4:03.24.

''A lot of big surprises (this weekend), but at the same time, we knew (they could do good) but we never knew when, we didn't know it would be this early,'' Keahi said.

Yesterday's results already sparked more enthusiasm among his crews, who are ready to buckle down and improve some more, he said.

''We cut out conditioning for the last month or so and today, the kids kind of knew that they weren't as in shape as they thought they were,'' Keahi said. ''The conditions that we run are real, real hard and they actually asked for the conditioning this week. So it did a lot for them mentally.''

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