Another crazy day at Kanaha for the final Maui Race Series event, which is the "Hawaii State Championship", with winds gusting up to the usual 25 knots and this time a wind swept north swell rolling through the course. The proceedings got under way without delay with the age group races being held in the morning and the ability groups including the prestigious Pro (Open) division being held in the afternoon.


Mike Yasak, sporting his TR-5, once again dominated his 50-59 age group winning all four heats by a comfortable margin, taking his fifth win of the season and securing the county championship as well as the becoming State Champion. Congrats to Mike, a fine season of racing and looking like he's back at his best after breaking a leg last year.

MauiSails rider Paulina Pease, now in college on Oahu, has been sailing well all season in the Junior Women's division and again on Saturday showed her consistency after a shaky start. She put together three clean wins to easily win her division. Paulina's dad Jeff decided to race this weekend after watching many events here in Maui, and had a fabulous race debut taking first place in the Experts division in the afternoon heats…..a great family day for the Pease's.


Fresh off his crazy European Ultra adventures in Ironman Germany and the Alps trail race, Phil McGain put in a serious week of training and tuning to get himself ready for the Hawaii State Championships this past weekend. However it didn't go as planned during the morning heats as he finished second to Kevin Ozee in the Mens 40 division. Phil holding onto a TR-5 6.6, got off to a good start winning the first heat, then placed third in the next heat, but while leading the third heat he fell at mark number 3 and allowed Kevin Ozee and Alex Aguera to pass, which gave Kevin the win, leaving Phil in second and Alex in third overall.

After a short lunch break the sailors were once again called for duty to tackle the howling trade winds and short chop of Kanaha. The stacked Pro division got underway with all the heavy hitters leading into the first buoy at full speed, but it was Pieter Bijl leading after the jibe with Phil McGain and Dan Ellis close on his tail. Pieter would hold on to win this heat from McGain and Ellis.


Heat two was underway with Pieter Bijl showing he mean't business. He took the lead again at the first bouy, but it was Kiwi Peter John charging into second, Dan Ellis in third and McGain holding onto fourth. That was the way they finished heat two….. Pieter Bijl was in control.

Heat three was to become the ace card for McGain. Switching down to the TR-5 6.3, he controlled himself at the start, getting away clean once again, but only managing to be in second at the first buoy behind Peter Slate, Alex Aguera was pushing now in third place…. fourth out of the mark was Pieter Bijl. Slate crossed the line in first, McGain second (the ace card), Aguera third and Bijl fourth. However, it wasn't over, so stay tuned.

Heat four started in a gusting 25 knots and McGain flew across the line hoping to win at least one heat of the day. At the first bouy, McGain got inside and edged his nose ahead of Pieter Bijl and rounded in first, with Peter Slate rounding out the top three. By bouy two, McGain found the right wave to pull off a clean jibe, Bijl was close in second, and Slate held onto third, looking for a chance to pass. McGain surged ahead to win heat four, with Bijl and Slate back in second and third place.


As it's said so many times, "it's not over 'til the fat lady sings". This was going to be the case for that day. Pieter Bijl, as well as Phil McGain, thought the results were secure with Bijl winning the Pro division. However while at the prize giving, McGain was informed he was to be crowned State Champion. Apparently the batteries went dead on the radios and the boat ran out of gas in the late afternoon, so it was 5.30 p.m. when the results were finally calculated. Taking into consideration Pieter Bijl and Peter Slate had a premature start in heat 3 in the Pro division, this moved McGain up to first place in that heat. With a tie breaker McGain would win the Pro division, Bijl second and Alex Aguera third.

McGain had this to say at the Paia Inn before the prizing giving; "I'm very happy to hear the news tonight, my goal is to be consistent with my race strategy and work to maintain good starts. Obviously it paid off. It's a nice finish to the season and once again Maui has delivered some of the best slalom racing in the World".

Photos : Barry Spanier