Sidelines
Kalani Simpson
LET'S get this out of the way. Setting sail for lessons
of life and deathILH sailing is not a country club sport.
It is a yacht club sport.
And so it was that I found myself at Hawaii Yacht Club the other day to learn more about this new high school athletic endeavor.
Wait a minute. Yacht clubs? High school sailing? Kalani, as a public school guy, didn't you find yourself a little out of your element?
Yes. Very much so. But the people were very nice, and they were all eager to talk about the benefits of sailboats and student athletes.
"The kids learn literally life and death," said Susan Harper, who serves on the board of governors at the Hawaii Yacht Club. "The first rule of the sea is to take care of each other."
That seems to take on even deeper meaning here -- there are officially separate school teams and team standings. But all Interscholastic League of Honolulu sailors train together as one unit, under single coaching entities put together by the Hawaii Yacht Club, the Kaneohe Yacht Club and Waikiki Yacht Club.
So how competitive can it be?
"It's pretty competitive," said Scott Melander, who coaches the ILH for the HYC. That's because, while some of these sailors are new -- the JVers who came out when it became a school sport -- some of these private school kids have been doing this since they could walk.
"The biggest thing," with the ILH sanctioning, Melander said, "is the kids get recognition."
The league championships are late Monday afternoon off Magic Island.
OUT ON THE water, the ocean is that deep shade of blue-green, and Diamond Head looms huge in the background. The ocean is crowded with surfers, paddlers, tourists, tugboats. The sails, so many of them, are beautiful on the sea.
One boat huli over, and the team struggles to right itself, putting all its weight on the centerboard, pulling.
The two-man crews can be boys, or girls, or both. All that matters is the skill to catch the wind, and steer, and shift weight quickly. It's an awesome sight, alongside, watching a boat speed on the water, two teenagers hanging over the side strategically, getting soaked in the spray.
"Tell him what's happening now," one parent says.
"I haven't quite figured out yet myself," comes the answer.
Even mothers struggle and squint to figure out which boat carries the hopes of their pride and joy.
"Sometimes when you think they're in front," one says, "it doesn't mean they're winning."
No, it can be a tough sport to follow, even for the initiated, even out there with them, on an observation vessel.
They're on 14-foot boats with mainsail and jib, on loan from whichever of the three yacht clubs is host to the practice or regatta. You can see them zig and zag, rounding buoys that define the course, ducking under sails, throwing weight to starboard or port. The sails mingling almost playfully.
Beautiful, beautiful.
So, Yacht Boy. Did you get seasick?
Slightly.
Kalani Simpson can be reached at ksimpson@starbulletin.com