Puna Canoe Club regatta draws 1,300 paddlers in Hilo Bay

More than 1,300 paddlers ages 8 through 81 turned Hilo Bayfront into one of the busiest race sites of the Big Island season as Puna Canoe Club hosted the sixth of eight regattas in 2026. With the Hawaiian Canoe Racing Association state championship regatta set for Aug. 1 at Keehi Lagoon on Oahu, the day carried real consequences: the top three finishers in each division earned berths to states.

That made every heat count in Hilo Bay, where clubs from across the island tested depth as much as speed. Team Kai Ehitu kept its undefeated season alive by winning the Boys 10 division, a result that underscores how the island’s paddling pipeline starts early and runs through the youngest competitors. Waikoloa Canoe Club and Keaukaha Canoe Club also won key heats, showing that the season’s balance of power still stretches beyond one district or one harbor.

The race itself fit a much longer Puna story. The club traces its roots to 1975, when a small group of Kalapana locals formed what was first called Ku Maka Ula, named for an ancient heiau at Kaimu Beach. In 1979, the name changed to Puna Paia‘ala I Ka Hala O Kalapana for cultural sensitivity, then later became simply Puna. The club’s yellow and green colors, tied to the hala fruit and maile vine, have become part of that identity, along with the founding names Clarence “Aku” Hauanio, Ipo Kaawaloa, Darnell Mahi, Steve Morris and Anson Smith.

The County of Hawaii profile adds another layer to that history. In 1981, Puna began building its hālau on the old Kalapana Primary School slab, and in 1983, as lava threatened the Royal Gardens Subdivision, the club sheltered and fed evacuees in the new hālau. That role continued through later evacuations until 1986, turning the canoe house into more than a sports facility and rooting the club in the daily life of families who have had to rely on one another for decades.

That is why the Hilo Bay regatta landed as more than a race day. It brought keiki, adults and kūpuna onto the same course, with crews from Puna, Waikoloa, Keaukaha and elsewhere reinforcing the island-wide ties that keep paddling alive on Hawaii Island.