[ SAILING ] As host of the 2002 Intercollegiate Sailing Association championships, the Hawaii sailing team was hoping to go 3-for-3 in national titles. UH has 1 shot left
to win sailing titleThe Rainbows finished fifth in the
team race but will go for the
coed dinghy title tomorrowBy Grace Wen
gwen@starbulletin.comThey can only hope for one now, as the Rainbows were eliminated from the final day of competition in team racing yesterday. The coed dinghy championship begins tomorrow at noon.
Harvard (11-0), Georgetown (10-1), Tufts (8-3) and College of Charleston (8-3) compete in the final four today at Keehi Lagoon. The double round-robin regatta begins at 9:45 a.m.
"We're fifth in the country. That's not too bad," UH coach Andy Johnson said. "We had it. ... We're kind of young. We have two freshman skippers. They tried but it didn't really go our way. Our goal was to be top five."
The fifth-place finish is the highest in Hawaii's team racing history. The Rainbows finished sixth last year.
Hawaii was one win shy of qualifying for today's final four. The Rainbows improved from Sunday's performance and controlled their own path heading into the last race of the day against Tufts. A win over the Jumbos would have put UH into a fourth-place tie with Charleston.
"Tufts is a good team," Johnson said. "They're quick."
The Rainbows were in the green boats, but the luck of the green was not with them. Hawaii had control at the start of the race and were in first, fourth and fifth at the first reach mark. (In team racing, a win is determined by the combined finish of three boats. The team with the lowest total wins the race.)
But the Jumbos' first two boats covered UH and opened a trap that allowed its third boat to round the buoy before any of the others.
The race was close the rest of the way, but the Jumbos managed a 1-2 finish that rendered the placement of their last boat meaningless.
"It was a good regatta," UH freshman Bryan Lake said. "It was good team racing. That was just a tough loss to take. We had it all the way."
Notes: Georgetown is the 2001 winner of the Walter C. Wood Trophy for team racing and can defend its title today. The Hoyas' only loss in the round-robin competition was to the Crimson. ... Yesterday's team championship was delayed in the mid-afternoon. The conditions were too inconsistent for racing. With a sea breeze coming from one direction and the tradewinds blowing in from another, all the different types of wind converged above Keehi Lagoon.