July 13^th was the debut of the Around Hawaii Sailing Race, a remake of the old Around the State Race first held in 1978. Although the route of this year’s regatta is a slightly shorter course than the original, it still crosses all the major Island channels and circles 7 of the 8 major Islands. Due to the notorious rough seas and high winds over the course, previous racers have dubbed it the “Hate the State Race.” For the most part, sailors are covered head to toe in waterproof gear while seasickness and gear failures are common. And this will be one of the longest continuous races that most of these sailors will do in their lifetime. 

While there were 6 total entries, only 3 were able to get their boats and crew to the starting line. The amount of work required to get a boat prepped for a multi-day offshore race of this stature is immense and if everything isn’t perfect, it can be dangerous for the sailors. The race started outside Kaneohe Bay under white sails to the West, as the course mandates a counterclockwise rotation around the islands. Spinnakers were launched by all the vessels by the time they got to Kahuku and headed across the channel to Kauai. After a moonlit kite run down the Na Pali and into sunrise in Niihau, the lead had already been exchanged multiple times. The following 48 hours were the hardest for the racers as the crossed to the South of the Islands passing through the Kauai Channel, Molokai Channel and the Alenuihaha. Winds were in the mid 20s topping out into the low 30s with waves 12-15 feet at times. 

Each boat has their own stories of the highs and lows of the race, but just crossing the finish line is its own accomplishment. There will be more publicity as we get into next year and hopefully a larger turnout of racers for next year’s edition after such a successful event. All the competitors were even outfitted with Yellow Brick Trackers which allowed for friends and family on shore to track the moves of the racers. The course and replay of the vessel tracks can be seen on the Yellow Brick website - https://cf.yb.tl/aroundhawaii2024

1^st- “Firefly” (Travis Scott and Kerri Scott)

2^nd- “Alize” (Billy Bowers)

3^rd- “Seafire” (Mike Price and John Harrison)

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See you on the water!

-Sean Doyle