"Every year, we're pretty much the last sport," coach Andy Johnson said.

The sailors' final exams begin this weekend, in the Intercollegiate Sailing Association Team Race National Championships in Austin, Texas, from Sunday to Tuesday, and the Coed Dinghy National Championships held June 8 to 10.

"It's mentally stressful as well as physically stressful," Johnson said.

UH won the Coed Dinghy National title last year, and the Rainbow Wahine won the program's first women's national title in 2001.

Junior Scott DeCurtis, junior Matt Stine, freshman Becky Mabardy, sophomore Shandy Buckley, sophomore Cassandra Harris, senior Jennifer Warnock and junior Bryan Lake are competing for UH in this year's national championships.

Lake is a three-time All-American and Warnock, the winner of UH's prestigious Jack Bonham Award, is a five-time selection, including two honorable mention picks as a skipper.

Lake was recently honored by the Pacific Coast Intercollegiate Yacht Racing Association as an all-district selection as a skipper on the all-coed team, along with teammate Tinja Anderson-Mitterling, named to the all-district women's team.

UH captured a share of the Pacific Coast Intercollegiate Yacht Racing Association Dinghy Championship and a second-place finish in the PCIYRA Team Race Championships in May. By finishing as a top two qualifier in both events, it earned berths into the national championships.

Hawai'i tied with top-ranked Southern California for the coed dinghy title, the second straight year it won the association's championship. Hawai'i has qualified for the national championships in both the coed dinghy and team race five straight years.

The sailing team has quietly been one of UH's more successful sports, winning the school's only other national titles besides those won by the women's volleyball team.

The sailing team had a "good two hard weeks of practice," which ended last Friday, and some members flew home to the Mainland, "taking advantage of the tickets they already had," according to Johnson, and will meet up in Texas for the championships.

"Based on the practices we have, and the attitude of the team, I really feel good about our chances, if we get a lot of wind," Johnson said.

Experience also helps, and Harris, Lake, Stine and Warnock were all members of last year's coed national title team.

"What it means is that the group we have going with us has had a chance to sail in the national championships and be a part of the national championship team," Johnson said. "Knowing what you have to do, knowing you don't want to get in trouble the first day, like anything else, it is experience that counts. That is going to be a big factor for us."

The squad is ranked 12th in the nation by Sailing World, but Johnson said, "we have the best 12th-ranked team to go into the nationals.

"I don't think there's any other team in the country that can keep up with us with 15 to 20 knots of breeze."

He said a lot of younger sailors saw action during the season, and some of the more experience sailors took classes that conflicted with practice and meet schedules, all factors that could have influenced the team's ranking.

Regardless, Johnson is confident of the team's chances in the national championships.

"I'm pretty confident we're going to finish in the top five," he said. "If you're good enough to finish in the top five, all you need is a little bit of luck to win it all.

"I'd like to really think we can be top 3 or top 4. It would be a good goal for us to shoot for."

UH's chances increase with the presence of Lake, a fourth-year junior and Warnock, a fifth-year senior, who Johnson said, "are probably the fastest sailors in the country."

The sailors, who are without campus housing after the semester ends, live in their off-campus housing or board with friends during the two-week period of training.

The sport, which does not have scholarships, means that the athletes pay their own way to UH, or find their own financial aid.

"They're basically doing this because they want to and love it, not because it's paying for their school," Johnson said.

NOTES: Boats earn points based on finish (one for first, two for second, etc.). The team with the fewest points wins.