At 90 years old, Gillette is one of the oldest sailing competitors in Hawai'i, and he still manages to win his fair share of races at the Kane'ohe Yacht Club.

"Sailing has been my whole life," said Gillette, who began sailing at Detroit when he was 8. "I don't have any other sports. I only played golf once, and sailing has just been my avocation."

As Gillette will attest, sailing has become a lifelong sport for hundreds of people in Hawai'i. The Hawai'i Yacht Racing Association, the governing body of Hawai'i racing, has 15 member organizations, including the three main yacht clubs — the Hawai'i Yacht Club, the Kane'ohe Yacht Club and the Waikiki Yacht Club.

"If your physical condition stays relatively good, you can keep on sailing for a long time," said Gillette, a former naval aviator who moved to Hawai'i in 1941. "Plus having your eyesight — you have to have that. And a fair amount of fluidity in your legs and arms."

Hawai'i has been represented nationally by several standout sailors in the past few years, including Honolulu's Andrew Lewis, Waipahu's Martin Sterling, Kane'ohe's Annelise Moore and Kailua's John Myrdal, Sean Doyle and Molly O'Bryan. Of these six sailors, Myrdal has been the most successful, earning a spot on the 2000 U.S. Olympic team in the laser division.

Andy Johnson, Myrdal's coach at the University of Hawai'i, said sailing appeals to many people because it's a challenging sport.

"I think people are just drawn to the variety of conditions that sailing has," said Johnson, who competes in races as a member of the Kane'ohe Yacht Club. "There's so many things that come into the tactics; the wind changes, the water changes, the different people to race against. It just goes on and on. People are just addicted to it."

Throughout the years, one of the best sailing venues has been Kane'ohe Bay, according to its members.

"For small boat sailing, I haven't run across anywhere in the world that is any better for sailing than Kane'ohe Bay," said Gillette, who estimated that he has logged more than 50,000 nautical miles in his lifetime. "Sailing offshore Waikiki has its challenges and it's very good, too, but for very good competitive sailing, you can't beat Kane'ohe Bay because of the tradewinds. If you're not attuned to the shift in the tradewinds, you can lose or win."

Kathy Higham, a Kane'ohe Yacht Club member, said sailing is quite easy to learn. The only difficulty for beginners might be mastering the wind, she said.

"It's a little abstract because a lot of people don't understand how to pick up the direction the wind is blowing from," Higham said. "But once they get that concept, it's a relatively easy sport to catch a hold of."

It's also a relatively easy sport to make friends. It's very common to have competitors sharing food and drinks after races.

"It seems like everyone knows each other," said Iolani sophomore Morgan Stephenson, 16, who was the winning skipper in February's Cowan Shield race. "During the race you have people yelling at each other, but that's just because it's hard to hear. But as soon as you come in, everyone is joking with one another."

While not everyone may have a boat, everyone can learn to sail. Most yacht clubs offer sailing classes for beginners and advanced sailors.

"Well, we live on an island," Greg Higham, 13, who is a seventh grader at Punahou School. "It's a pretty good sport to get into."