Another beautiful day on the water with Kīkaha O Ke Kai
Mahalo to Aaron Tyerman for the above photo. If it doesn’t make you want to get up off the couch, nothing will.
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Kīkaha paddlers train for Seventy48: 70 miles, phantom ships and fog
So, picture this if you can: You’re paddling a kayak through Puget Sound. At night.
It’s 3 a.m. and you’ve been out there for about eight hours, grinding along in the Seventy48, the standard for long distance paddling in the Pacific Northwest. You have 48 hours to travel 70 miles in a human powered craft of your choice. You started in the Foss Waterway and now you’re headed north.
For a time, the bright lights of Seattle make you smile.
Until the fog rolls in and you can barely see anything at all.
Kīkaha paddler Kyle Wynkoop remembers the 2019 experience well – when serenity gave way to jangled nerves. It’s part of the explanation he shares to explain why he’s part of the club’s OC6 crew tackling the race this year. The 2026 crew includes Wynkoop, Brian Martin, Joe Aquino, Alyssa Reischauer, Sofia Zapata and Hannah Yu.
In that 2019 race, Wynkoop was near Kingston in a shipping channel when he thought he saw a pair of tall buildings about 100 yards away. But buildings don’t move. Cruise ships do.
“They almost trashed me,” Wynkoop said. “They made huge waves.”
The encounter left him shaking, but he still went on to finish the race at Port Townsend in about 16 hours.
“It was hard and horrible and I swore up and down I wouldn’t do it again,” Wynkoop said.
But he did, in 2022, in a surf ski. For several hours, he followed a Kīkaha crew that included Martin. Conditions were so rough that year that much of the race field dropped out in the first 10 miles, he said. Wynkoop got farther, but at Blake Island, cold temperatures and an aching shoulder ended his race. The Kīkaha crew went on to finish the race.
“It left a bad taste in my mouth that I didn’t finish,” Wynkoop said. “I’m excited to do it not solo this time. The times I did it, I was really alone.”
The race this year starts at 7 p.m. May 29. Participants have 30 minutes to cross the starting line.
Race organizers make no excuses for the degree of difficulty in Seventy48.
“We wanted to compress crazy stupid into 48 hours and make it a different kind of hard,” they say. “Think of it as powerlifting for 48 hours.”
Organizers also like to note that the race has so much wind it’s “practically a co-sponsor.” In 2025, 72 entries finished the race while another 27 did not. The currents and that ever-present wind turned Puget Sound “into a frothy blender of whitecaps and low morale.”
What paddler can resist that?
The 2026 Kīkaha crew has packed on mileage for several weeks, paddling together on Sundays even after having practiced or raced the day before, Wynkoop said. The crew paddled for 25 miles on a recent Sunday. Their training plan includes a 40-mile trip that will take them around Vashon Island.
This Seventy48 will be Martin’s fifth. He did it with Kīkaha crews in 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2022.
The first year was the hardest, he said. At one point late in the race, they got lost in the fog while paddling in an active shipping lane.
“We thought we saw a large cargo ship moving but it was the side of a cliff,” he said. “It spooked all of us.”
But Martin remains enthusiastic about the race even though he knows he’ll likely have a familiar question in his mind about 1 or 2 in the morning: “Why am I doing this?”
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Mark your calendars for this year’s Manu K. Baker Regatta – May 16 at Spanaway Lake. The annual Kīkaha event opens the regatta season and it’s always a full day of thrilling races, great raffle items and good food, including vendors and the club’s famous broke da mouth potluck spread.
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New paddles bring smiles to Kīkaha’s keiki
Kīkaha’s keiki are starting their 2026 in style, thanks to 20 new paddles from Paddlezoo rep John Murillo, who helped the club secure the paddles.
Murillo delivered a collection from Oregon’s Sawyer Paddles and Oars and Kawen, an indigenous crafts manufacturer in Chile.
“Kīkaha had a need to replace club paddles,” Murillo said. “I found a U.S. manufacturer and a great price and Kīkaha placed the order. Paddlezoo was the middleman on the order and happy we were able to put smiles on the kids’ faces.”
Keiki coach Jill Sullivan was blown away by the delivery.
“I was as surprised as the kids seeing those perfect, gleaming new, high quality paddles for our keikis,” she said. “They all did a countdown and opened the box together.”
The paddles were the same as an adult’s paddle, only shorter, she said.
“That night at practice one keiki asked, ‘Can we learn the same drills as the adults?’ And we did. With their brand new paddles. It was wonderful,” Sullivan said.
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Da Kīkaha Korner
Aw’ryte!
Crunch Fitness now offers a Kīkaha discount
Kīkaha kupuna paddler Joe Villegas is no stranger to knee surgery. He’s had so many, he can probably spell anterior cruciate ligament forwards and backwards. So what does this have to do with paddling?
Well, it starts in Kona and ends in your wallet.
Because he had favored his aching knees, Villegas experienced some excruciating hip flexor pain after last year’s Queen Lili’uokalani Canoe Race. His trainers at Crunch Fitness in Tacoma, where he had been a member for a few months, helped him out. And that led to a $500 sponsorship arrangement for Kīkaha – for E Komo Mai and the Manu K. Baker Regatta – and discounted memberships for all club members.
Crunch Fitness offers a variety of fitness options, including weights, hot yoga, HIIT classes and stretching. Kīkaha members who have paid their dues can sign up for any level of gym membership and receive a discount.
“The instructors are really, really good,” Villegas said. “They are really down to earth people.”
Villegas said his trainer created a program that would give him more power as a paddler. He said he feels stronger.
And those aching knees and hip flexors?
“My knee and my hip flexors are much better than they used to be so definitely a big improvement,” Villegas said.
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Lee Warnaca, a retired Coast Guard officer and water safety expert, presented Kīkaha’s Boy Chun Fook and his wife Brenda with challenge coins at the club’s recent huli drill in April. A big mahalo to everyone involved with the drill and let’s stay safe on the water.
Who dat?
Paddler: Stefan Dô
Years paddling canoes: 4
Years with Kīkaha: 2
Favorite race adventure: “Race Around the Island 2025, short course, Open Mixed crew. On the turn on the far end of the island our steersman took an aggressive inside line while all our competitors took a safe outside line. BOOM, we were beached on a shallow sandbar in 2 seconds. I thought, no way, we gotta make it. Hopped out the canoe along with Paul Hirsh from seat 4, pulled hard and whoosh we were moving again. That aggressive line paid off, we shaved some valuable seconds off the turn, and we won the race.”
Favorite paddling experience: “Rooster Rock 2025. After a tough race on the river we had a potluck in the parking lot, sang late into the night with our Kīkaha ‘ohana and camped out. At sunrise we woke up and made our way to the lookout on the cliffs above and watched the sunrise over the gorge. Epic. And a good reminder that paddling is not just about paddling.”
Why paddling: “I was raised in a paddle club, He’e Nalu down in NorCal. I spent my young years splashing in the water around the canoes at regattas as my parents traveled around to race, just like our Kīkaha keiki’s. I love the paddle club culture and the connection to the islands from afar.”
Best club advice you ever received: “If you hear your paddle knock da boat, you not digging deep enough. Imua!”
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Kīkaha O Ke Kai, a 501 (c) (3) non-profit that paddles out of the Foss Waterway, would like to say mahalo to its sponsors and supporters: Asia Pacific Cultural Center, Papa Ola Lōkahi, Nordlund Boat Company, Katie Downs Waterfront Tavern & Eatery, Tucci Energy Services, Hawaiian Paddle Sports, Aloha Carpet Cleaning, Moku ‘aina Wakinekona Hawaiian Club, Dirty2Dreamy Ceramic Coating & Detail Service, Tumi Tax, Teamsters Local No. 313 and Puget Sound Upfitters.
Talk Story seeks to cultivate a strong, unified identity for Kīkaha O Ke Kai, reflecting the spirit of Hawaiian outrigger canoe paddling. It is dedicated to sharing club news and managing information promptly. It aims to provide members and supporters with a newsletter that enhances their connection to the club and represents our shared values on and off the water. You can contact us at kikaha.info@gmail.com.