KAHULUI– From huli to victory, the Lae’ula O Kai boys 15-and-under crew has made big progress since the first week of the Maui County Hawaiian Canoe Racing Association to now.

As Matahi Atay, Oliver Dunn, Kaiohu Eleneki-Alves, Kamole Gilliland, Bode Golberg and Noweo Kekauoha-Schultz finished the half-mile loop with a winning time of 4 minutes, 24.82 seconds on Saturday during the Mayor’s Umeke Regatta, Lae’ula paddlers and families were cheering from the shoreline at Kahului Harbor.

“To recover from that we’ve basically been working on balance in the boat and then just power because after that first flip, the crew just knew we had something coming,” Kekauoha-Schultz said. “So everyone has just been putting in the work. We have to work hard so we can just secure a spot.”

After the huli at the first regatta, the Lae’ula boys came back last week to just edge Hawaiian Canoe Club by two seconds. Saturday’s race was no different, though HCC was later disqualified. Napili moved into second and Kihei into third.

“It was super close,” Dunn said. “We were getting exhausted, kinda.”

Dunn recalled gaining the lead earlier as they used the wind, but Hawaiian started inching back up as the pair of canoes battled the headwind coming back.

“It was a solid race — we had a good start and we were flying down and we had a great turn,” Gilliland added. “Coming out we had some power going, it was a little slower, but it was still solid.”

In addition to practicing balance and power, Golberg said that the goal for the MCHCA season is to improve on staying strong through the second quarter mile of the race, but all in all, he said “it was a great race” and “I’m happy with it.”

They are mentored by longtime Lae’ula O Kai coach and paddler Mary Kielty, who earlier that morning led her women’s 60 crew to a win for the third straight regatta with a time of 5:15.30. She was joined in the canoe by Holly Dollar, Emily Fielding, Lei Laanui, Susan Ramos and Kim Vanderlaan.

Kielty was also part of the winning women’s 50 crew (4:51.86) during the windy and hot afternoon.

But in between competitions, she had youth crews huddle up before and after their races to talk strategy and to provide pointers.

Atay, who has many relatives that have paddled for the Kahului-based club, said the LUOK “is like family.”

“We’re all together in this,” he said. “That’s what makes it fun.”

The boys nodded when asked if the Hawaiian Canoe Racing Association State Championship regatta was on their minds, but for now, Atay said the goal is first just to “get better and better.”

“We did great, the turn was good, but I just think we need to work on our stamina,” Eleneki-Alves noted. “Today was good.”

Per tradition, the Mayor’s Umeke Regatta, which is hosted by Lae’ula O Kai, began with a fun sprint between crews from Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen’s administration, the county council and the event’s officials.

LUOK co-head coach Sharon Balidoy, who oversees the 12U through 14U crews, said the mayor’s crew won and that “it was fun for us watching.”

“Even if you haven’t paddled, you still put out, it’s still a race,” Balidoy said with a laugh. “It’s good, it’s good.”

Overall, daily training at the club has been going OK, she said, as paddlers have been battling strong winds at Kanaha Beach Park this summer. They are excited though because the club welcomed a new koa canoe, Hokupana, which carried the women’s 60 and 65 crews that morning.

The league’s fifth-largest club has about 200 members, including over 30 manini. Balidoy hopes the keiki will stay with the program and fill canoes as they get older.

“I think families are looking for summer activities for their young ones and they love being on the water and in the ocean and on the wa’a (canoe),” she said. “It’s good to see that. It’s fun.”

Hawaiian continued to show its strength in numbers on Saturday as the club won the third straight regatta with 164 points. Kihei Canoe Club was second with 79 points and Napili was third with 68. Lae’ula O Kai finished fourth with 63 points.

“Our goal is to have fun, be competitive, we are family, to kokua,” Balidoy said. “Those are our goals — to do the best that we can, that’s all we expect from everybody, but to have aloha for one another and build each other up.”

* Dakota Grossman is at dgrossman@mauinews.com.