KAHULUI — On an emotional day, Hawaiian Canoe Club unofficially started its stretch run in the Maui County Hawaiian Canoe Association in its own John M. and Kealoha Lake Regatta yesterday at Kahului Harbor.

HCC piled up 140 points to win as it dealt with hosting a regatta named for its co-founders approximately three weeks after the death of those co-founders' son, John Keola Lake, 70, on O'ahu.

''It was an emotional roller coaster today because we had the passing of the founder of our club's son, Keola Lake,'' HCC keiki coach Paul Lu'uwai said to The Maui News. ''And we wanted to honor him in our way. Three weeks ago he passed and we buried him last week. We have a boat named after him and we had a great blessing this morning. It was great weather all day and a lot of the clubs came down and participated with us. He was our spiritual guide.''

Hawaiian finished first 20 times on the 41-race slate — two more wins than last week and seven less than the opener two weeks ago — but the blue-and-white boats also suffered a frustrating five disqualifications.

''A lot of the DQs today will affect our strategy as we go along,'' Lu'uwai said. ''You just never know. We are counting (state) crews already, definitely.''

HCC entered with 32 crews in state qualifying slots — the MCHCA gets two lanes at the 14-lane Hawaiian Canoe Racing Association state regatta — and finished the day with 30.

''Every race is juggling around, jockeying for position,'' Lu'uwai said. ''Not only us, every club is trying to solidify crews trying to get to the state championship. It is never too early for that.''

HCC took 31 crews to the state regatta last season, when they overcame Lanikai's 37 entries, and Hawaiian won its seventh straight state title, and eighth in nine years. The 23-time MCHCA defending champions can come within one of Outrigger's record nine straight state titles (1984-92) on Aug. 2 at Ke'ehi Lagoon.

''We have to look at our weaknesses and try to improve on those,'' Lu'uwai said. ''If we have shuffle personnel around, we will do that, too.''

Kahana finished second in the club standings yesterday, edging Kihei 91-89. In what looks like the most intriguing overall place race in the MCHCA, Kahana leads Kihei by 23 points in the seven-regatta season.

It was once again a keiki-driven run for the black-and-green clad West Maui club. Last week, the Kahana 18-and-under division outscored HCC in an area where Hawaiian usually dominates. Saturday, according to Kahana keiki coach Kekai Keahi's count, HCC edged Kahana by eight points in the keiki ranks.

''I think we got five first-places, as well as some seconds and thirds,'' Keahi said. ''We still have plenty (of room) to improve and that is the good part. We are only going to get better. I have some kids who were off-island who are coming back and they can really contribute to all my crews. We have gotten better every week and I think last week we outscored Hawaiian's keikis. This week they got us by eight points, so I think it is going to be a battle between our keikis and their keikis all year long.''

Keahi said that scenario will only make both clubs' foundations stronger.

''I feel comfortable just knowing that our kids have a long way to go and they have a competitor who sets the bar, not just for Maui County, but for the state,'' Keahi said.

Despite losing a couple of state slots, Hawaiian head coach Diane Ho said it was a fitting day in honor of John Keola Lake.

''Chicken skin,'' Ho said when asked to describe the morning ceremony that started the day. ''The entire Lake family was here from Honolulu, 14 of them. Their halau was here. Everybody came. I didn't count, but we launched all of our canoes, 22 canoes. I think Napili and Kahana jumped in with us. We made a huge circle that went from the first flag all the way down to the first jetty and we did traditional protocol. We did chants in his honor. He was a living treasure. He was the cultural leader of our club.''

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