ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The University of Hawaiʻi Rainbow Wahine sailing team traveled across the country to compete on the Atlantic this weekend, earning a second-place finish at the South Florida Team Race held Feb. 21–22 in Bayboro Harbor.
Originally scheduled as a two-day event, the South Florida Team race wrapped up all 12 races on Saturday thanks to beautiful weather conditions. The Rainbow Wahine finished the weekend with a 7-5 record through a quadruple round-robin tournament, competing against three other schools from Florida. UH completed a series sweep over Jacksonville University and secured two victories against Rollins College. The Rainbow Wahine also picked up one win over host USF, who won the regatta with a 10-2 record. The wahine improved upon last year's fifth-place finish at this event.
Sailing for Hawai'i was a team of eight — Elizabeth Fourney, Stella Taherian, Martha Schuessler, and Kahlia Bailey competed as skippers, and Peyton Lieser, Leila Landay, Amanda Turner, and Kylie Alexander sailed as crews.
On Sunday, the teams participated in a promotional fleet race event. The same eight UH sailors broke into four teams of two, and a total of 14 teams completed 10 races in this regatta. The team of Taherian and Landay won the event, with Schuessler and Turner not far behind in second. The two other Hawai'i teams placed fourth and seventh as UH showed their dominance in familiar breezy conditions.
The Rainbow Wahine will next be in competition on the St. Mary's River, when they sail in the St. Mary's Team Race on Mar. 14-15.
#HawaiiSail
