News & Events

Mahalo to the crews for racing and supporting Kai Oni Athletic & Canoe Club!

Race results are posted here.

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Please join Kai Oni Athletic & Canoe Club with the Stew Kalama Memorial Race to be held on Saturday, March 18, 2023 at Sand Island.

***Registration Link & Race Flyer can be found here.

Short Course Map:

Long Course Map:

Race Background: This race is being held in honor of well-known canoeist Joseph Stew Kalama, coach too many canoe paddlers past and present and founder of Kai Oni Athletic & Canoe Club. In recognition of his lifes dedication to the art of Hawaiian canoe building, designing and paddling, this race will attempt to hopefully acknowledge.

Joseph "Stew" Kalama was born on October 5, 1920, in Honolulu and was raised in Honokua, South Kona by his grandparents. Uncle Stew used to watch his grandfather Joseph Kekuanoni and his uncle Charles Mokuohai work on building canoes. Their canoes were mostly for fishing. He was taught what to look for in a log, and what part of the log to use for the hull. He watched his grandfather and uncle work, never thinking he too would become a canoe builder. After losing the koa canoe "Uwila" in the Molokai channel in 1966, he was inspired to build a koa canoe. He acquired a log and in 1969, finished building the "Kanaiaumoana" built around the dimensions of the Uwila. He is one of the founders of the formally called Hui Waa & Surfing Association and introduced fiberglass canoes into canoe "regatta" racing in 1972 in an effort to accommodate canoe clubs being formed in the association. Uncle Stew is the "piko" of any paddlers, coaches, and canoe clubs which fed off his wealth of knowledge. He won the first Molokai Hoe in 1957. Uncle Stew passed in 1994 of a stroke but will be forever remembered. Mahalo Uncle Stew for being the person you were...