DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Sarah Reed and Bryan Lake of the UH sailing team practiced at Keehi Lagoon last week in preparation for the upcoming national championships.
The UH sailing team heads
into the nationals with title
hopes in three events
The white board at the Hawaii sailing team's practice facility had the words OPERATION DOMINATION in big, blue bold letters written on it.
Perhaps it was a bit premature to be thinking about domination. But considering UH's strength and depth, it's understandable why the Rainbows feel confident going into the Intercollegiate Sailing Association championship, which starts tomorrow in Detroit, hosted by the University of Michigan.
The cast of 12 sailors has experience, chemistry and a legitimate shot at bringing home a national title in each of the three regattas (women's, team racing, coed dinghy). The Rainbow Wahine finished second last year after winning in 2001, while the coed (third place) and team racing (fifth) earned their highest finishes in school history.
The Rainbows have sailed all over Oahu, at Kaneohe Yacht Club and Pearl Harbor to prepare for the choppy conditions they expect to face on Lake St. Clair.
They are in prime physical shape as well. At least three sailors need to be. Sarah Hitchcock, Sarah Reed and Jennifer Warnock are prepared to do the sailing equivalent of a marathon in competing for nine consecutive days.
"We can last pretty long," said Hitchcock, an All-American. "The last two years, I've sailed nine days in a row. I've done it with no subs the past two years. This year, the other crews are really good. They're just as good as we are now. I feel confident having Sarah go in for me.
"Nobody wins all three. Winning two, I've never heard of anybody winning two. We have the ability to win any of the three. We could win two of them."
Hawaii coach Andy Johnson is more cautious in predicting the Rainbows' finish.
"Our goal will be to finish top three in all of them," he said. "It's pretty tough to say we're going to win three national championships.
"But we're in a position where we're good enough so that we can realistically say that if we sail to the best of our ability and we get a little bit of luck, we can come back with something."
UH lost three-time All-American Molly O'Bryan, who completed her eligibility at last year's national championship hosted by Hawaii. But the fourth-ranked Rainbow Wahine have proven that there is definitely life after Molly by winning every regatta they entered this year.
"We were really working on changing everybody up so everybody can sail with each other," Hitchcock said. "The women just sailed really well. We have so many people that we can change -- that if the wind is really light, we can sail lighter people. If someone is sick or hurt, there's no question that somebody else can sail."
There was one occasion when Hawaii didn't have any substitutions. At the St. Francis regatta, only four sailors (Hitchcock, Warnock, Bryan Lake and Joey Pasquali) made the trip for the coed races.
Of 19 teams, Hawaii finished first and demolished the competition. It was at this regatta that the Rainbows picked up a little bit of swagger.
"It was just them and that's it," Johnson said. "They hung in there and we won out of 19 teams. It just set the tone so that the rest of the district was on notice after that."
The entire collegiate sailing nation could be on notice if Hawaii completes its operation.
Notes: The 12 sailors making the trip are Warnock, Reed, Hitchcock, Lake, Pasquali, Renee DeCurtis, Kelly McCoy, Kathryn Jackson, Blaire Ladd, Steve Brown, Matt Stine and Adam DuMouchelle. ... The women race tomorrow through Wednesday, followed by the team race championship Thursday through Saturday. The coed dinghy championship runs June 8-10 and concludes the national championship. Old Dominion (women's), Harvard (team racing) and St. Mary's (coed dinghy) are the defending champions. ... Warnock, DeCurtis, and Hitchcock were named to the 2003 PCIYRA All-District women's teams. Warnock also received mention on the PCIYRA coed teams, along with Lake and Pasquali.
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