In Cole Brauer’s view, circling a track and racing around buoys aren’t all that disparate.
The endurance — both mental and physical — and understanding of tactics she developed as a distance runner in high school still apply when navigating a course with the University of Hawaii coed sailing team.
“It’s more strategy than anything,” said Brauer, who ran the 3,000 meters and 4×800 relay at East Hampton High School in New York.
“Because you’re trying to draft behind the main person and you’re trying to see when do you take off versus when you don’t. That’s the same thing with sailing. When do you want to kick it into gear? … And to stay focused for 71⁄2 laps or seven hours, it’s exactly the same way.”
Well, there is at least one significant difference.
“At least here if you get super hot and sweaty you can just ‘accidentally’ fall off the boat,” she said.
After a season of practices at Keehi Lagoon and Kaneohe Yacht Club, training sessions on campus and regular season races, UH’s eight-member contingent will apply its preparation since August in the Intercollegiate Sailing Association/Gill Coed Championship in waters off San Diego this week.
The event opens today with the first of two days of semifinal races. The 36-team field is split into two divisions with points accrued over a series of races. The top nine in each 18-team grouping advances to the finals set for Thursday and Friday.
UH’s representation for the program’s fourth straight appearance in the nationals was determined through season-long competition within the 36-member roster.
Brauer, a junior, has partnered with freshman Michael Pacholski for much of the season and UH also will send seniors Kellie Yamada, Giacomo Paoletti and Patrick Manuel, junior Chuck Eaton and freshmen Annika Garrett and Soren Wilde into the waters off San Diego Yacht Club.
UH competed in San Diego last month when the Rainbows placed third in the Pacific Coast Collegiate Sailing Conference championships. Along with securing a return to the nationals, the ’Bows used the conference regatta to adjust for the lighter winds and choppy waters.
“What we’re normally used to is a lot more wind, in that respect it’ll be more challenging,” said UH coach Andy Johnson, second only to Dave Shoji in UH coaching tenure. “But wherever we go traveling generally we have to adapt to whatever we get and a lot of times in Southern California, that’s what you get.”
Adjusting to the conditions presented on race day is part of the challenge for the crews as UH looks to advance to the finals a year after placing 11th in its semifinal bracket.
“Every little thing matters,” said Manuel. “It’s the teams that make the least amount of mistakes that do the best. You can control what you can control and everything else just happens.”
Along with picking up his diploma in communications on May 14, Manuel also was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Air Force. Along with four years in UH’s ROTC program, Manuel will head to flight school in January equipped with experiences forged on the water.
“You’re always looking ahead and there’s so many life lessons that translate from sailing to everyday life,” Manuel said.
