Now on to the big show.

Lanikai Canoe Club showed it is ready for the state championship regatta after completing a regular season of dominance yesterday.

Lanikai won the O'ahu Hawaiian Canoe Racing Association Championship Regatta to cap an undefeated season. It is Lanikai's third consecutive OHCRA championship.

"I certainly can't take the credit for this," first-year Lanikai head coach Tom Conner said. "We have a huge coaching staff — I just supervise them. And of course, the paddlers are the ones who go out and perform."

Approximately 1,500 paddlers representing 17 clubs from around O'ahu participated in the day long regatta.

Based on its impressive regular season, Lanikai is considered the top challenger to the powerful Hawaiian Canoe Club of Maui at the state championships.

The Hawaiian Canoe Racing Association State Championship Regatta is scheduled for Aug. 2 at Ke'ehi Lagoon.

Hawaiian is the seven-time defending state regatta champion.

"We came close last year, but Hawaiian was just better than we were," Conner said. "We had a bigger turnout this year in every division, so that gave us more to choose from. Hopefully that will help us."

Lanikai won yesterday's regatta despite committing several errors. It finished the 39-race regatta with a season-low 82 points.

Outrigger had its best showing of the season, placing second with 73 points. It was the first time this season that any club came within single-digits of Lanikai.

"We're not a big club anymore, at least not like Lanikai and Hawaiian," Outrigger head coach Mike Mason. "So we go out and try to do the best we can, and we've shown a lot of improvement. But to be honest, I'm not satisfied with where we are. I'd like for us to improve even more."

Lanikai won just four races yesterday, but placed second in 15 other races. The top four canoes in each race score points on a 5-3-2-1 system.

"We didn't win a lot, but we placed a lot, and those points all add up," Conner said.

One of Lanikai's victories came in the prestigious men's senior race. The crew featured three sets of brothers — Patrick and Ryan Dolan, Ka'ai and Kekoa Bruhn, and Jim and John Foti.

They completed the 1 1/2-mile course in 10 minutes, 28.12 seconds to edge Hui Lanakila by six seconds.

"We lost at states last year, and we as a men's program didn't feel like we pulled our share to help the club," Jim Foti said. "We got a better turnout this year, and it's one of our goals to help the club do better."

One key addition is Kai Bartlett. He returned to Lanikai this year after spending two years paddling and coaching with Hawaiian.

"The guys I paddled with at Hawaiian are great, but I just had some head-butting with the administration there, and it got really frustrating," Bartlett said. "I felt like it was a good time to come back to the club I grew up with, and it's been a good decision. I'm having so much more fun here."

He still lives on Maui, but has been flying to Honolulu to paddle with Lanikai for regattas.

Yesterday, Bartlett paddled on the men's open-4 crew that crossed the finish line first, but was later disqualified for hitting the buoy on a turn.

It was one of two Lanikai crews that lost potential first-place points due to a disqualification.

"That's 10 points right there," Conner said. "You can't make mistakes like that at states."

Lanikai's other race victories came in the girls 12, women novice B and mixed 55 divisions.

"We always want to do our part to help the club," said John Linzi, who paddled on the mixed 55 crew. "And with so many people in the club this year, you have to compete amongst yourselves just to get a chance to paddle."

Outrigger won a regatta-high eight races.

Kailua won six races and placed third with 62 points; Hui Nalu won five races and finished fourth with 53 points; Keahiakahoe won seven races and placed fifth with 45 points.

Hui Lanakila won five races and scored 37 points to win the AA division for medium-sized clubs. Hui Lanakila's open women were especially impressive, winning the sophomore, junior, senior and open-4 races.

The senior crew of Jessie Eames, Mikala Bradley, Michelle Arnold, Arlene Holzman, Kaui Martinez and Sarah Van De Vanter completed the 1 1/2-mile course in 11:57.02 to beat Kailua by 19 seconds.

It sets up an intriguing matchup at the state championships with the women's senior crews from Waikiki Beach Boys and Hawaiian.

"We're training hard and comparing how we're doing with the other organizations," Holzman said. "And I'm sure they're doing the same."

Honolulu Pearl scored eight points to win the A division for small clubs.

Yesterday's regatta was the last chance for OHCRA clubs to qualify for the state championship regatta. The top four crews in each division — based on overall performance during the season — will represent OHCRA at the state regatta.

HAWAIIAN WINS MAUI CHAMPIONSHIP AGAIN

Hawaiian Canoe Club won its 24th consecutive Maui County Hawaiian Canoe Association championship on Saturday at Kahului Harbor.

Hawaiian amassed 149 points in 41 races at the championship regatta to top the other eight teams in the field. Kihei placed second with 80 points, and Kahana was third with 71.