The Kakina had been damaged in 1961 when a kid’s crew coming back from the Ala Wai in the dark was hit by some waves outside the Kaiser Buoy. The canoe was destroyed. The Club trailer was sent to pick up the pieces and the Kakina sat in the OCC parking lot for months until they could find someone to rebuild it. George Blanchard finally took it to his home in Pauoa Valley and put the Kakina back together in its original form.
George Perry worked on the Kakina during the summer of 1967. He cleaned it up a lot and raised the gunnels and hull, giving her new gunwales and manu and brought her back to racing form. The work included building up the sides, extending the bow and stern to accommodate higher sides and to continue the existing taper or contour; The new sides to be built up to same height as the Leilani; Stripping down from hull to basic shell, removing all existing laminates and kleets; redoing all patches; replacing gunnels with all new fir wood; new moo’s, build and install all new seats; remove all screws and replace with doweling; remove all interior paint; build two new manu from fir.
The Kakina returned to active racing on the 4th of July in 1967 with an impressive series of wins and then went on to win the Molokai races in 1967, 1968 and 1975, setting records in 1968 and 1975. The Outrigger men also crossed the Molokai Channel in the Kakina in 1969-73, 75-76 and 78-81.
After the Kaoloa was built, the Kakina sat in storage for a number of years, while the Club raced in the Kaoloa and Leilani.
In 2001, the Kakina was brought out of storage and updated. The Canoe Racing Committee’s Bill Danford and Walter Guild wanted to turn the canoe into a more efficient downwind surfing canoe capable of keeping up with the modern fiberglass designs. Joe Quigg provided a design template that would combine the best features of the Bradley and Mirage fiberglass designs. The committee then turned the design over to OCC carpenter Domie Gose who worked on a koa canoe for the first time.
Domie cut the canoe down the middle and more than 40 percent of the wood on the bottom was removed and replaced. The gunnels and seats were kept in place to prevent warping until the hull reconstruction was finished. Then he removed the bow and stern manu, along with the gunnels and replaced them with spruce. He glassed them with fiberglass and polyester resin and installed a plastic rail system to accommodate the long distance canvas. The gunnels were replaced with red cedar and the seats were widened to add strength. When finished, Quigg felt the canoe compared favorably with the measurements of the modern fiberglass Mirage canoes.
The OCC men raced the Kakina to a 12th place finish in the 2001 Molokai Hoe, and the OCC women finished fourth in the Na Wahine O Ke Kai race. It was the highest finish by a koa canoe in Na Wahine competition in ten years.
In 2008 the Kakina was again renovated to remove all non-wood materials and bring it into compliance with the requirements of the Hawaiian Canoe Racing Association for the state championship regatta. Domie Gose was called upon again for the task.
He replaced the Kakina’s manu and gunnel with koa. Using wooden spacers, Domie gradually lengthened the Kakina by nearly seven feet and added four inches to the width bringing the Kakina to its present 44 feet 11 ¼ inches. He widened the center of the canoe by four inches. He also made the ends shallower and sharper. The water line dropped to 34 feet, creating less resistance and friction to the hull which minimizes any loss of hull speed during the turn on the flag in a regatta.
The more refined bow and stern complement the new rocker and modern hull design that is comparable with today’s fastest fiberglass canoes. The work was done in the OCC shop and took seven months to complete. It was completed in time for the 2009 regatta season.
The Kakina is in the finest racing shape it has ever been in. The OCC women have won the Koa Division in Na Wahine O Ke Kai in the Kakina in 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010 and 2016.