University of Hawai'i at Manoa Athletics

Career Highlights:

• ICSA Hall of Fame Inductee (2012).
• Two national championships (2001 women; 2004 coed).
• Has coached 3 Olympians.
• Has coached 17 All-Americans (34 total citations).
• Finished in the top three at Nationals from 2002-05 with the coed squad
• Qualified for the coed nationals in 14 out of the last 20 seasons.
• Qualified for the women’s nationals in 16 out of the last 20 seasons.

For the last 31 years, head coach Andrew Johnson has been synonymous with University of Hawai‘i sailing. Johnson, a former Rainbow sailor and currently the longest tenured coach in UH Athletics,  has elevated the Rainbow sailing program to elite status.

In his time at UH, Johnson has guided UH to a combined 60 individual and team national championship competitions and has produced more than a dozen All-Americans, 30 All-PCCSC selections and three Olympians.  

From 2001-06, the program captured two national championships and finished no lower than third at the dinghy nationals in four of its five appearances during that time. In 2004, the Rainbows captured the Coed Dinghy Championships in Cascade Locks, Ore. Coming on the heels of the school’s 2001 women’s title, Johnson helped stake the program’s claim as a perennial power with its second championship in a three-year span.

During Johnson's tenure, the University of Hawai‘i has proudly been the host of the National Sloop Championship in 1992, the National Women’s Dinghy, Team Race, the Coed Dinghy Championships in 2002 and the Singlehanded  Men’s and Women’s Championships in 2005.  

With all of Johnson’s accomplishments,  the ultimate recognition came his way in 2012 when he was inducted into the Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association (ICSA) College Sailing Hall of Fame. Just a month prior, he received the Richard H. Lough Memorial Service Award for his extraordinary service to the Pacific Coast Collegiate Sailing Conference.

Johnson, who lettered at UH from 1981-83, returned to his alma mater in 1989 to head the coed sailing team, replacing former coach Charlie Dole. Johnson had previously served as Dole’s volunteer assistant periodically in the mid-1980s and worked as an outdoor recreation specialist at the University’s leisure program. When Dole decided to resign, former coach Ted Livingston suggested to Johnson that he apply for the position.

Dole, Livingston and Johnson have several things in common, but one accomplishment that stands out is their ICSA Hall of Fame membership.  Johnson had big shoes to fill, replacing founding coach  Livingston (1982 inductee), and his former coach Dole (1985 inductee). His myriad accomplishments have proved  he was more than up for the task.


The UH sailing program has come a long way since he took over as coach nearly three decades ago. Back then there was a team of just five sailors. Now UH has more than 20 sailors on the roster, a fully-funded women’s program and its own sailing center, the Honolulu Community College Marine Education Center – Ke'ehi Lagoon.

For three years, 1984-87, Johnson spent his summers at the Waikiki Yacht Club where he was the head sailing instructor. During the winters, he was a park ranger at the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial located in Pearl Harbor on O‘ahu.

Johnson’s individual sailing accomplishments in Hawai‘i include being a crew member on the two-time state Keelboat Championship squad in 1992 and ’93, three-time state J-24 Champion in 1989, ‘96 and 2005 and a member of the Kenwood Cup overall championship team in 1990. Coach Johnson has also transversed the Pacific on a number of occasions, as part of the Pacific Cup and TransPac. 

He also coached former UH sailor John Myrdal in the summer of 1996 for the U.S. Olympic trials. Myrdal represented the U.S. again at the 2000 Olympics. Johnson also mentored All-American Molly (O'Bryan) Vandemoer who went on to compete in the 2012 Summer Games in London.

Born in St. Paul, Minn., Johnson grew up sailing on Minnesota’s White Bear Lake. He attended the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, where he lettered in ice hockey before transferring to UH Manoa in 1980 in search of warmer weather. Johnson received his bachelor’s degree in education in 1983 and five years later received a professional diploma in elementary education.

Johnson sails extensively in the Hawai‘i Yacht Racing Association and enjoys kitesurfing, surfing, and hiking in his free time. Johnson lives in Kaneohe with his wife, Leslie, and daughters, Malia and Summer.