As folks who enjoy being blown about in Hawaii’s treasured tradewinds, University of Hawaii sailors have always appeared to be a pretty chill bunch to those of us more comfortable on land.

Little drama and lots of optimism.

Zero scholarships and almost annual national championship appearances, including two national championships, and a perennially upbeat atmosphere.

Devoted coaches in for the very long run, enhancing what Hall of Fame predecessors produced.

Aloha for each other and a common love of Hawaii’s unique gifts — to their sport and college lives.

Practicing next to the Polynesian Voyaging Society’s iconic Hokulea and Hikianalia canoes on Sand Island almost seems like overkill.

The Rainbows are coming off what senior skipper Owen Lahr termed a “legendary” weekend last month. They won the Port of Los Angeles Harbor Cup in Southern California and the St. Francis Invitational in Northern California.

“(It) was one of the most amazing and fun weekends we’ve ever had as a team,” Lahr said. “Coach Andy (Johnson) gave us a motto going into the regatta, which was, ‘Have fun, represent well, and results will follow.’

“We all focused on having as much fun as we could, and by the end of the regatta we were having fun and sailing more freely. This enabled us to win the Harbor Cup for the first time in our school’s history, which was remarkable.”

UH’s coed team, the 2004 national champion, is back in action this weekend (April 7-8) at the Pacific Coast Collegiate Sailing Conference Team Race Championship in Redwood City, Calif.

The Wahine, 2001 national champions, have their PCCSC Spring Championships the following weekend, then Hawaii hosts the PCCSC’s Fleet Race Championship at Keehi Lagoon April 22-23.

From there, ideally, UH teams will each make their 20th national championship appearance.

“Coach Andy” is optimistic. He grew up in Minnesota, where’s today’s forecast high of 38 degrees can easily be transposed into the temperature he has enjoyed in Hawaii the last 40-plus years.

He looked to Hawaii sailing after being “beat up” his freshman hockey season at University of Wisconsin Eau Claire. Ted Livingston, UH’s inaugural sailing coach and a 1982 Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association (ICSA) College Sailing Hall of Fame inductee, responded when Johnson reached out.

After Johnson graduated, he volunteered for then-UH coach Charlie Dole — 1985 ICSA Hall of Fame inductee — before taking over in 1989.

Johnson had a salary of about $5,000 and five sailors. Now there are 22 on Hawaii’s rosters with a fully funded women’s program and a dedicated sailing center. Johnson works fulltime in Student Recreation Services, part of UH’s Student Life &Development Program.

“We went from having six boats and working out of donated containers off the beach at Sand Island,” he recalls, “to having a top-notch facility and 18 boats for practicing and competing.”

He was inducted into the ICSA Hall of Fame in 2012, a month after receiving the Richard H. Lough Memorial Service Award for extraordinary service to the Pacific Coast Collegiate Sailing Conference.

What — and who — he’s brought to his team, in a sport with more than 230 teams and absolutely no scholarships, is a bunch of sailors who are at home in Hawaii, no matter where they are from. A small percentage have been found on campus, where Johnson saw non-sailors who were good athletes of the right size and attitude, and often became lifetime sailors.

“We try to find the ones that reach out to us and have an adventurous spirit,” Johnson says. “The weather and our programs’ success over the years has helped draw good sailors to our program.”

Senior co-captain Kelsie Grant came from California, drawn by the “ability to surf and sail” in college. She says the perception on the mainland is that the ’Bows “practice in 80-degree weather with rainbows and sunshine all the time.

“Which is an accurate perception most of the time,” Grant acknowledges, “but it is hard being isolated in the Pacific when all our competition is on the mainland. We do not have the ability to travel to regattas every weekend like the mainland schools. So when we get to travel and compete it can be rewarding to see our efforts from practice pay off.”

After 33 years and eight Athletic Directors, Johnson is UH’s longest-tenured coach, with former UH All-American Jesse Andrews serving as his assistant since he graduated in 1997.

There have been three Olympians and 17 All-Americans since Johnson took over, and he mentored two-time Olympian John Myrdal and Molly (O’Bryan) Vandemoer, who competed in London in 2012.

They left UH with the same memories as this team, and probably most UH sailing teams.

“What I am going to remember the most about this whole experience is the community it brought me,” Grant says. “I am so thankful to have such great teammates that feel like family in Hawaii. Also having coaches like Andy and Jesse is something that is irreplaceable.”

She and Lahr hope the fun lasts another couple months.

“I think we have really come together as a group this year and formed really tight bonds,” Lahr says. “We are more than just teammates, and our friendships help us to keep a good, happy atmosphere around practice and competitions.”

In other words, these UH sailors are keeping the legacy alive.