Kailua Canoe Club was started as a brainstorm between two coaches and 50 or so paddlers. Those two coaches were JIMMY MARCIEL and CLIFF ORNELLAS. The group had been paddling with the Kailua Hawaiian Civic Club, who then owned the victorious koa racer Kalanakila.

In 1971, the group of paddlers purchased the Kalanakila from the Kailua Hawaiian Civic Club. They also bought the canoe trailer and a fiberglass canoe, which was affectionately, called the WATER WIGGLE. Meetings were held, the petroglyph paddleman (which is the KCC logo) was adopted, blue and gold were selected as the club colors, and with 50 paddlers, Kailua Canoe Club was founded. This tightly knit group of people included familiar names such as BEANIE HEEN, JOAN MALAMA and FAMILY, and RANDY SYLVA, PAT ERWIN, KAMOA KALAMA, VIV FO and GAY SOUSA. The HANDLEY and COELHO families were very involved, as well as, people who are less familiar to most of us but just as important to the club during those early years. People like SAM HOOLULU, MA and SIG TANNEHILL, JOHN MAHONEY, BARBARA PACHECO, RUSSELL and DING CAVACO and their parents DARRYL and LORETTA CAVACO, the O'HARA FAMILY, RUSS and PEG APPLE and others worked hard to give us the beginning of the club we are today. These people and others, who have come and gone, gave from their pocketbooks to buy equipment and start the first bank account for the club. They raised money for our first new glass canoe, MALAMA I LANI which was named after GEORGE MALAMA, a supporter of the club who had lost his life. "Uncle George" (GEORGE HAYMEN), a friend and loyal follower of the club donated the money to purchase our second new fiberglass canoe, which was appropriately named KO'O KEOKI.

RUSS and PEG APPLE, friends who believed in and followed the club, created the slogan "Ho'ohana, ‘a’ohe hua 'olelo" which means simply "Action, not words." This is printed on our club shirts and is part of our heritage.

In years past, Kailua Canoe Club has trained many, many paddlers and has been victorious in many regattas. In 1975, at the State Championship Race in Hilo, our Senior Men crew: CARLTON HANDLEY, KAPPY VICKERY, WALTER MAKAULA, JOHN CAVACO, BOB CATES and GORDON LOPES nosed out Surf Club by 3/lOths of a second to place second and to slide us one crucial point ahead of OCC to win our first State Championship. Those who were there will never forget the suspense and thrill of watching that race. The beach thundered with that familiar chant KAILUA! Half the other clubs were cheering for us as well!! We all had chicken skin that lasted for the next two years while Kailua dominated the paddling world - winning regatta after regatta, Oahu Championships, State Championships and even the World Championship!! In 1998, KCC once again won the State Championships under the leadership of head coach CLIFF ORNELLAS - an appropriate tribute to one of the original founding members. In 2000, Kailua Canoe Club was lead by head coach CY KALAMA and capped a strong season by winning the Oahu Championship.

Over the years, KCC has grown from 50 paddlers to 300+ hardworking, dedicated members constituting one of the largest canoe clubs in the world. We now have 18 fiberglass canoes and two koa racers KALANAKILA and LANAKILA MAU O’ KA LOKAHI. The spirit of Kailua Canoe Club was and is still like that of its founders; aggressive, with a dislike of excuses for losing and an intense desire to be successful.

We Are KAILUA CANOE CLUB !!!