If recent history serves as a road map for predicting the Molokai Hoe champion, Shell Va‘a is in the express lane en route to reclaiming the title in what has become known as the Super Bowl of outrigger canoe paddling.

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If recent history serves as a road map for predicting the Molokai Hoe champion, Shell Va‘a is in the express lane en route to reclaiming the title in what has become known as the Super Bowl of outrigger canoe paddling.

Shell Va‘a, which has won 13 of the past 16 Molokai Hoe competitions, came up short in the 2014 and 2017 editions of the race, and finished second to Team OPT of Tahiti last year. In the two previous shortcomings, Shell Va‘a returned the following year to win—a pattern that positions the elite Tahitian paddling squad as favorites to reclaim the Molokai Hoe crown in its aptly named “Lightning” fiberglass canoe.

Sunday’s running of the men’s world championship race will feature more than 100 crews making the 41-mlie trek from Molokai’s Hale O Lono Harbor to Duke Kahanamoku Beach in Waikiki. The field includes squads from Hawaii, the continent and international representatives, including perennial champion Shell Va‘a.

Lanikai Canoe Club still holds the distinction as the last crew composed completely of paddlers from Hawaii to win the Molokai Hoe since triumphing in 2005. The competition continues to evolve as more crews from around the world attempt to conquer the channel race, and locally based crews incorporate paddlers from other states and countries to build “all-star” paddling squads.

“The ultimate goal every year is the Molokai Hoe,” said Lanikai coach Scott Freitas, who coached the club to its eighth consecutive Oahu Hawaiian Canoe Racing Association and seventh Hawaiian Canoe Racing Association state title this summer. “You have to believe in the process, and it’ll come out in the fold. Part of the difficulty of the race is nobody knows what anybody has” until the crews start to battle in the channel.

Unlike many competitors who paddle for fun and exercise after work and on weekends, Shell Va‘a paddlers are employees of Shell and its subsidiaries in Tahiti and often practice twice a day as part of their professional duties.

Former Shell Va‘a paddler turned head coach Tauatua “David” Tepava explains that his team looks forward to competing in the Molokai Hoe every year because of the challenging, yet enjoyable surfing aspect of the race. The skipper, who served as the crew’s steersman in 11 of Shell Va‘a’s Molokai hoe victories, continues to pass his knowledge on to the pipeline of talent coming through Shell’s program.

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Tepava said the team’s original goal was to win 10 straight Molokai Hoe races. After the end of the initial winning streak, which he described at the time as “routine,” the team vowed to return and begin a new winning run — which it hopes to launch again Sunday with the approach of “younger paddlers taking over.”

Competitors in the ultimate test of strength, endurance and strategy will face unpredictable winds and waves in addition to the varying currents throughout the treacherous Kaiwi Channel. Thursday’s National Weather Service forecast called for moderate tradewinds and 3- to 5-foot seas as paddlers prepare to navigate the vast channel.

Two weeks ago, Na Wahine O Ke Kai — the women’s Molokai-to-Oahu world championship — was canceled due to potentially severe weather generated by a tropical disturbance south of Hawaii.

Shell Va‘a set the course record in 2011, finishing in 4 hours, 30 minutes and 54 seconds – nearly eight minutes faster than the previous record, which it also held. After claiming their eighth straight Molokai Hoe crown in 2013, some Shell paddlers remarked that they would continue chasing the outrigger canoe paddling world championship “until we die.”

However, Shell’s run for nine straight titles was denied in 2014 when Tahitian competitor EDT Va‘a, which paddles under the banner of a competing energy company, claimed the Molokai-to-Oahu crown. After Shell Va‘a reclaimed the Molokai Hoe in 2015 and 2016, Red Bull Wa‘a emerged in 2017 to best the two-time defending champions by 31 seconds as the Kona-based crew blended paddlers from Hawaii and Tahiti.

In a successful effort to right the ship, Shell Va‘a bounced back in 2018, and outpaced the competition en route to winning its unprecedented 11th title in 13 tries by nine minutes and five seconds ahead of runner-up Red Bull Wa‘a. Shell then racked up win No. 12 in 2019 — the final running of the race before a four-year pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the devastating Maui wildfires — in runaway fashion, besting Team OPT by nearly 13 minutes. It then added a 13-minute-plus victory over Wailea Canoe Club of Maui in 2024 to establish its three-peat run, which ended last year with Team OPT’s victory.

Participating crews will have their canoes outfitted with GPS devices that allow supporters to track teams along the channel crossing at pseresults.live. The website also features real-time results as canoes cross the finish line.

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