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A champion’s IT might be hard to believe, but there was a point in Molly O'Bryan's life when the Hawaii All-American shied away from sailing competitively.
anchor
O'Bryan built a national
championship program
from scratchBy Grace Wen
O'Bryan started sailing at the tender age of 7 and followed her parents and older siblings into the sport. Growing up in San Diego, sailing was what the O'Bryan family did. But by the time she was 11, she wanted out.
"That was our pastime," O'Bryan said. "Some families go camping. We went out and anchored somewhere for the weekend.
"I was never into the competitive sailing. I quit competitive sailing for four years. My older brother and sister were really good. Our whole family was really good and it was like, 'Oh, I hate this. Forget it.' "
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O'Bryan forgot about sailing and pursued music during that span. She played the clarinet in honor bands and stayed with music even after she picked up competitive sailing again. When O'Bryan reached high school, she was gung-ho to be back on the water."(High school sailing) was a lot of fun," O'Bryan said. "No more doing what the family was doing. It was my own deal."
She's been the real deal for Hawaii since taking a chance on the Wahine program five years ago.
Women's sailing at UH was still in its infancy when O'Bryan enrolled at the Manoa campus. At first she wasn't sure if she would stay, but her doubts lasted about two months as she warmed to the idea of living here.
O'Bryan has seen the various levels of the program develop. From earning its first national championship berth her freshman year to winning the championship last year, the growth and success of the program has made her choice worthwhile.
"Throughout the whole five years, there was huge change down here," O'Bryan said. "All these brand new boats and everything. When I joined the team, there was just something like seven or 10 people on the team. It was just small.
"We had to struggle just to get enough boats on the water. Now there's 30 people on the team and we have to cut people off the team."
O'Bryan skippered the Wahine to the 2001 Intercollegiate Sailing Association National Women's championship.
The national champion team of O'Bryan, Sarah Hitchcock, Renee DeCurtis, Marin Diskant, Jennifer Warnock and Melody Torres will attempt to defend their title in this week's ICSA national championships.
The nine-day event begins with the women's championship Wednesday followed by the team race on June 2. The coed dinghy championship concludes the sailing championships.
It's the right way for O'Bryan to end her career as a Rainbow.
"It's totally fun. It's kind of all worth it," the UH senior said. "You have everything here and you have all the people that are supporting you. You go everywhere and everyone's ... all excited about it."
Part of the excitement stems from watching her sail. She was voted the most inspirational player the last three years. And she was the first Wahine to earn All-America honors in 1999. O'Bryan was one of 14 women honored at the banquet celebrating 30 years of Wahine athletics three weeks ago.
"She's the cornerstone of the program," Hawaii coach Andy Johnson said. "It's going to continue on. We have some really good freshmen that will pick up the slack for sure, but she would have been able to go sailing at any of the best schools in the country. The thing is that she gave us a chance when our program was just beginning. She is literally the only 'A' division sailor we've had in five years."
Her impact hasn't just been in the water. Johnson calls her an inspiration to youth and women sailors in the state. It was the youth that inspired O'Bryan to come to Hawaii in the first place.
"High school sailing is a big reason why I came out here," O'Bryan said. "There's a lot of good sailors here. The junior sailing is good, but there's no high school sailing, so I gave talks to the athletic advisors and department heads of all the high schools and some parents. I wanted to show them it's possible and that there's all these people that want to help."
Because of her informational talks, the Interscholastic League of Honolulu will sponsor high school sailing for the first time next spring.
O'Bryan graduated this month with a double major in political science and sociology. She has purchased an Olympic class 470 and hopes to begin training for the Olympics after her last race as a Wahine.
At Keehi Lagoon ICSA College Sailing
ChampionshipsWomen's Championship
May 29-31
>> Wednesday, 12 noon
>> Thursday, 9:45 a.m.
>> Friday, 9:45 a.m.Team Race Championship
June 2-4
>> June 2, 12 noon
>> June 3, 9:45 a.m.
>> June 4, 9:45 a.m.Coed Dinghy Championship
June 5-7
>> June 5, 12 noon
>> June 6, 9:45 a.m.
>> June 7, 9:45 a.m.
UH Athletics