Yacht club sports "bear can" races on Fridays

By Stacy Stout

Every Friday evening the Hawaii Yacht Club (HYC) hosts “beer can” races out of the Ala Wai Yacht Harbor.  For some, these races are a stepping stone to the weekend, but some racers plan their whole week around Friday nights.

According to Dee Darby owner and captain of the sailboat PrimaDonna “On the water it’s just you and the elements, it’s powerful, but most important it’s fun!” You can see PrimaDonna and her crew out sailing every Friday, they haven’t missed one in three years.

Winning the race will get you free pitchers of rum-and-coke at the bar of the club. These trophies however, are often shared between crews, “it’s a community, it’s not all about winning,” says crew member Brian Silver. “The point of the race isn’t winning, it’s to get to the bar faster,” adds Darby

After the race is over the crews all head over to the yacht club to watch thee Waikiki fireworks, drink and talk about the race.  Upstairs at the club there’s a band usually playing covers of Jimmy Buffet and classic rock.  It’s all in perfect yacht club style with favorites like “Don’t Share Underwear,” a regular band that rocks out the harbor until midnight.

“It’s all about the crew,” says Silver “If you can have a good time out sailing and get along great on and off the boat, that’s what it’s all about.” However, when bartender Kevin says it’s all over and kicks the last few stragglers out of the bar, everyone heads home to try and pass through another week until the next Friday night.

So how can someone get involved in these laid back events?  There is always some boat looking for crew, according to Darby, “Just walk along the docks between 4:30 and 5:00, you’re bound to find someone. Oh, and having a case of beer in your hand doesn’t hurt.”

Other Races

In addition to the Friday night races, the Hawaii yacht club also hosts weekend races throughout the year. Sailors take these more seriously than the "beer-can" races, "We bust out our nice sails for these, and everyone is on their game" says Darby.

These races are for season’s points instead of rum-and-coke.  The points accumulate over the season and on the first Saturday in December HYC holds an award banquet and hand out all the awards for the season.

This year at the top of the list for the first time was PrimaDonna. “This was the boat’s first year out on the water, so it’s huge that we were able to end up on top” boasts Darby.

The yacht club also gives out awards for skipper of the year, crewmember of the year along with awards with a more flair like “da whiner” award. This year Darby became the club’s first female to ever win skipper of the year. 

“We’re all proud of Dee,” says skipper Rick Osborne, “but we all already knew how great of a leader she is, now the rest of the club knows as well.”