Its King Kamehameha Day!

   Rolling into the parking lot on Saturday morning, I knew something was up.  Not only were all the parking spots taken, but all the illegal parking spots were occupied,  as well.  I back tracked to my secret alternative parking spot and  made the slightly longer walk down to the pier.   As I hit the malecon, it was obvious

The Women's Six is Ready to Race

that an outrigger regatta was in progress.  The smoke from a dozen barbecues wafted across the bay, there were bunches of people on the pier, and (biggest clue of all)  there were canoes in the water.
 
   But these weren't just any canoes.  There were at least four koa canoes paddling near the pier waiting for their turn to race.  As I neared the pier, I ran into signs trumpeting the Kamehameha Day regatta sponsored by the club that calls the Kailua Kona pier its home; hence the Kai Opua King Kamehameha Day Regatta.

    Lucky for me, there were a half dozen booths in Queen K Place, the nearest of which staffed by a comely twenty something who gave me a quick interpretation.  Not being a native of Hawaii, I did my best to understand her without asking her to repeat. 

    The regatta is a club regatta, as opposed to high school teams, and its about the only event in Kailua Kona on KK Day.  Hilo and Honolulu both have parades.  We, here in  the home of the king, have the regatta.   Clubs from around the island travel to Kailua with their canoes for the races.  The canoes are not exactly antiques, as they are still being produced.  But may of them are quite old.  Each of the koa canoes racing here belongs to its club.

    With this information in hand, I took a few more pictures and then donned my geeky snorkeling apparel and hit the water.  There were lots of paddlers in their team shirts flopping around in the sandy shallows, undoubtedly refreshing after a hard paddle.  As I swam out, a canoe with six serious young men made a swoop through

Digging For Home

 the swimming area.  Soon I was out on the starting line, about ten yards past the last swim buoy.  From here I had a good view of the race committee boat, where stood the starter with his big red flag.  To my right were eight koa canoes, glowing like old gold on the azure sea.  The canoes were positioned behind a starting line of large colorful flags.  What pageantry.  The Kailua interpretation of the Palio di Siena.  Mama mia!

    The flag went down and off they went.  Unlike the big canoe race on Labor Day (where they race to hell and back) this is a sprint.  They went down and back twice to a line of flags about 150 yards away.

     This gave me time to look for a fish and I snapped a mediocre photo of a Blue lined Surgeon.  I have a

Koa Canoes with the Kamehameha Day Crowd

 feeling that this fish isn't all that unusual, but its not very colorful.  Mostly you have to be aware of it and know the shape.  Suffice it to say, that while I took a moment to look at the fish, I made sure I didn't swim onto the course!

    I surfaced and readjusted the camera for this exciting photo of the finish.  Following that I swam in, showered and bid Aloha to my friends at the Kamehameha Day Regatta.       

Aloha to you, too!
jeff

Blue Line Surgeon says, "Go Kai Opua!"

The Palio di Siena is a race around the medieval piazza of Siena in Tuscany.  The riders, wearing costumes of their contrade (wards), rival the pagentry of the King Kamehameha Day Regatta in Kailua.