Posted on: Thursday, May 29, 2003
UH in good condition for sailing championships
| • ICSA North American Championships |
By Brandon Masuoka
Advertiser Staff Writer
The University of Hawai'i sailing team expects everything but smooth sailing at next week's national championships in Michigan.
Rebecca Breyer • The Honolulu Advertiser Hawai'i's women won the national championship in 2001 and finished second last year. The coed team placed third last year — their best finish ever. Hawai'i will also compete in the team racing category.
"We've been trying to prepare as best as we can to what we think the conditions are going to be like," said UH coach Andy Johnson. "I think we've done our best to simulate the conditions."
Johnson said his team has practiced at several locations on O'ahu that would be similar to conditions at Lake St. Clair, whose average depth is only 10 feet. The Rainbows navigated choppy waters off Kane'ohe Yacht Club, flat waters at Pearl Harbor and choppy and strong current conditions at Ke'ehi Lagoon.
"The only thing we can't find is cold water," Johnson said.
This spring, Hawai'i's women posted an undefeated record and the coed team did not finish lower than third, Johnson said.
"All of our teams have a real legitimate chance of winning a national championship," Johnson said. "I'd say our women have a really good chance. There's 176 teams in the country and 18 qualified for nationals. Of that 18, there's probably six teams that can walk into the yacht club and sailing facility and say they have a good shot."
To win the championship, Johnson said teams need to peak at the right time, have a little luck and be prepared for every condition.
Fellow skipper Joey Pasquali said the team has been criss-crossing O'ahu to different training sites and practicing three hours a day. Hawai'i will need to adjust to the water conditions quickly because teams are allowed just 30 minutes of practice before the race.
"The key is to get there, get to know the place and be totally familiar with it and be comfortable," Pasquali said. "When the time comes, we need to sail our best and, hopefully, it's good enough."
"St. Mary's is going to be difficult," Hitchcock said. "They're difficult every year. It's just whether or not we can do it on that particular day. We've been doing very well this year so far. I don't think we're going to be satisfied if we finish out of the top three in any of them."
Notes: This is the sixth consecutive year that the UH women's team has qualified for the national championships. ... The 12 Hawai'i sailors traveling to Michigan are: Steven Brown, Renee DeCurtis, Adam DuMouchelle, Sarah Hitchcock, Kathryn Jackson, Blaire Ladd, Bryan Lake, Kelly Anne McCoy, Joey Pasquali, Sarah Reed, Matthew Stine and Jennifer Warnock. Hitchcock, Warnock and Lake are All-Americans. ... Some of the Hawai'i sailors yesterday headed to Sandy Beach to soak up the sun before heading off to Michigan. Hitchcock said sailors wanted to "get our tans so we're the tannest ones there."
Choppy water conditions on Lake St. Clair should greet Hawai'i's fourth-ranked coed and women's sailing teams at the 18-team Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association North American Championships in Detroit, June 2 to 10.
Sarah Reed, front, and skipper Joey Pasquali are among 12 University of Hawai'i sailors who will compete in the North American Championships June 2 to June 10 in Detroit.
"We're hoping for wind," said skipper Renee DeCurtis, who will be competing in her third national championship for the Rainbows. "Wind is our condition. If there's wind, there's no stopping us. But we're definitely pretty strong in light air, too."
All-American Sarah Hitchcock said the Rainbows will compete against several powerhouse, including Old Dominion (women's defending champion), Harvard (team racing defending champion) and top-ranked St. Mary's College (coed defending champion).
