Keani Reiner

Keani Reiner (1952 to 1994) was a Hawaiian surfer and sailor, born in Honolulu on 20 March 1952 and educated at Punahou School. A member of the Outrigger Canoe Club, she sailed her own catamaran, built by her father, at the age of 7. In 1976 she and her crewmate Penny Rawlins were selected as the first two women to sail on Hokulea, a contemporary double hulled Polynesian sailing canoe, on the open ocean voyage from Tahiti back to Hawaii. In 1990 she was part of the first all-girl crew to complete the Na Holo Kai Sailing Canoe Race from Oahu to Kauai, and she was also a certified captain. She is described as one of the pioneer women who showed the way for women on board traditional canoes of modern times, and she died of breast cancer on 25 September 1994 at the age of 42.