royal lahaina yacht club

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• May-June 2016

Harness the Wind

Catch a ride on the salty breeze with Lahaina Yacht Club.

Story by Shannon Wianecki | Photography by Ben Ferrari

As we leave Lahaina Harbor, the Pacific Ocean is a velvet blue expanse with hardly a white nick of wind. The late morning breeze, though light, is still strong enough to propel a sailboat. That’s good, because today is the first regatta of the Lahaina Yacht Club’s 2016 season, and I’m excited to help monitor the action from aboard the race committee boat.

Ian Ponting attempts to measure the wind speed with a tiny wind vane attached to his cellphone. “Eight knots on the geekometer,” he crows, pleased with his gadget’s accuracy. Ponting serves as rear commodore, in charge of the club’s races both big and small. As we motor out into the deep blue, he and fellow club member Dan O’Hanlon heave huge yellow buoys overboard to mark today’s course. Unlike racetracks on land, regatta courses are contingent on wind direction and shift accordingly during a race. Other contingencies Lahaina yachters might encounter? Whales and submarines.

Eight trim sailboats approach the start line. Among them are Snickers , the club’s own Olson 30, and Gung Ho, the fastest boat in today’s lineup. The boat captains trade friendly banter, jockey for position, and try not to ram into one another—or worse, lose their wind. Ideally, when the start horn shrieks, they’ll sail between the buoys on a strong tack.

O’Hanlon and Ponting synchronize their watches. I raise the four-minute signal flag. O’Hanlon hollers out a ten-second countdown and then blasts the horn: the race is on! Sails fill and surge forward. O’Hanlon immediately shoots up a flag, alerting a boat that it crossed the line prematurely. Gung Ho must maneuver back to the start, losing precious minutes. Gung Ho’s captain and owner, Keahi Ho, takes the penalty in stride. Competition during these club regattas is just stiff enough to make the races fun.

Yachting is a relatively small sport on Maui—which is surprising until you consider the limiting factors. Hawai‘i is a far reach from everywhere; sailing to or from this isolated archipelago is a major commitment. Sailing within Hawai‘i isn’t easy, either. Small-boat harbors are few and far between here, and slips are in high demand. The channels separating the Islands are infamous, known worldwide for their volatile seas and currents. When you leave a Hawaiian harbor, you enter the wilderness of the open ocean.

That wilderness is a siren’s call to some, such as beloved restaurateur Floyd Christenson . Back in the 1960s, he and his family sailed around the South Pacific before setting anchor in Maui and opening Mama’s Fish House, one of the most successful restaurants in the state. He and a handful of other sailors founded the Lahaina Yacht Club in 1965. They transformed a dilapidated laundry on Front Street into an oceanfront clubhouse and contracted Hawaiian artist Sam Ka‘ai to design a burgee—the pennant that identifies the club. Ka‘ai drew a white sperm whale on a red backing.

“I grew up with that logo on everything,” says Ponting. Like most club members, he honed his appetite for yachting elsewhere before moving to Hawai‘i. He’s originally from the Bay Area, but his family has been entwined with Lahaina Yacht Club for decades. In 1974 his uncle won the club’s showcase regatta, the Vic–Maui. Held every other year since 1968, the international yacht race starts in Victoria, Canada, and ends roughly two weeks later in Kā‘anapali. When a boat arrives at the finish line—no matter what time of day—club members greet it with banners, refreshments, and flower lei.

Naturally, when Ponting moved to Maui sixteen years ago, he gravitated to the club. “It was kind of seedy back then,” he admits. Aside from the Vic–Maui, “there was no sailing.” It’s well known that sailing clubs without active boating programs become drinking clubs. For close to twenty years, the “yacht” part of the Lahaina Yacht Club languished while its sailors waited for a slip to open up in Lahaina Harbor. Finally, eight years ago, the harbormaster called. Once the club had a place to park a boat, they bought one: Snickers .

Today, Snickers trails behind the other yachts in the race. The current leaders, Noa and Boondoggle, approach the first mark, a buoy they have to clear. Gung Ho suddenly darts between them, having jibed from far behind. In one sleek maneuver, Gung Ho has stitched up its lost time. All three boats round the mark in perfect sync. Their crews strike the jib sails and hoist silky spinnakers, which inflate like brilliant balloons.

Soon the entire fleet is sailing with the wind towards the finish line. The spinnakers cut a colorful swath across the backdrop of the West Maui Mountains. On calm days like this, sailing is a profoundly serene sport. But even on gusty days when the wind roars through the rigging, a sailor’s inner ear registers the absence of an engine’s high-pitched wail—registers and rejoices. To harness the wind, to hitch a ride on the planet’s very breath is a kind of magic.

O’Hanlon and Ponting keep an eye out for humpback whales, and for the Atlantis Submarine, which has surprised a yacht captain or two in the past by surfacing unexpectedly. As Snickers passes by, they assure me that she’s not a slow boat, but is often skippered by captains and crews in training. The chance to sail her is one of the perks of club membership.

The perks are many. Throughout the year, the club hosts numerous regattas and fishing tournaments. Members have exclusive access to the clubhouse that hangs over the water on Front Street. They can flash their membership card to gain entrance at almost any yacht club in the world—including posh addresses in San Francisco or Shanghai. And, perhaps best of all, Lahaina Yacht Club offers junior and adult sailing lessons.

“We’re trying to nurture the community,” says Ponting, who helped launch the club’s junior sail program in 2009. “It was the most sought-after summer camp on the island—with no advertising.” The club now hosts Hawai‘i’s largest junior regatta. “Teaching kids how to sail gives them a great sense of self, responsibility, and teamwork.”

Teamwork is essential in the final moments of today’s race, to capitalize on the building breeze. As each yacht crosses the finish line, I record its time down to the seconds. We won’t know the official winners until O’Hanlon calculates the scores based on each boat’s handicap. The last boat limps in lazily, its crew already cracking open beers. We motor off to retrieve the buoys and catch several humpbacks frolicking. We dive into the deep blue, to listen to their underwater songs—yet another perk of the sailing life.

A few hours later, the clubhouse fills with sailors freshened up and ready to celebrate. Trophies from past regattas glitter behind the bar and colorful burgees from yacht clubs around the world hang from the rafters. The chef piles snacks onto the crowded tables. I sit down beside Nancy Goode, who crewed today on Boondoggle . She remembers the moment she discovered the power of sailing, forty years ago in Southern California. A boat captain handed her a line and told her when to pull on it. She felt the boat move faster. She was hooked.

Goode and her boyfriend planned to sail around the world. When he decided to go without her, two fellows from Alaska found her crying on the dock. We’re sailing to Hawai‘i tomorrow, they said. She joined them. Upon landing in Lahaina, she got a job on a trimaran, leading snorkel tours. She now skippers monthly ladies’ sails, introducing other women to the wonders of travelling by wind.

O’Hanlon interrupts the socializing to announce the regatta’s winners: Noa places first, Gung Ho second. Jeff Kaiser, the gracious club commodore, stands to make another announcement. “Twenty years ago, Kea Ho won Sportsman of the Year,” he says. “History repeats itself. I’d like to congratulate his son, Nalu Ho, for winning Sportsman of the Year in 2015.” The deserving eighth-grader recently sailed with his father to Tahiti and back. He grins shyly and accepts his award—clearly a club member in the making. Meanwhile, Goode locks eyes with me and pencils my name in for her next ladies’ sail.

Attend a regatta:  Lahaina Yacht Club hosts regattas year-round. You can hitch a ride on a yacht for the day, enter your own boat in the race, volunteer aboard the committee boat, or help welcome the incoming Vic–Maui racers. View the club’s calendar online.

Learn to sail:   Lahaina Yacht Club offers five-day sailing lessons for adults (co-ed and women only) and juniors (ages nine to fifteen). Novice sailors should know how to swim, have strength enough to hoist a sail, bring gloves, and wear layered clothing and sun protection. Adults: $200 member, $400 nonmember. Juniors: $250 member, $300 nonmember

Become a club member:   Two existing members need to sponsor you. Attend some of the events above and you’re on your way. Visit Lyc.us or call 808-661-0191.

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Lahaina Yacht Club

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The Lahaina Yacht Club is committed to promoting yacht racing, cruising, motor boating, fishing, and various other marine activities; affording it’s Members the opportunity to learn elementary navigation, astronomy, meteorology, seamanship, rules of the road, safety regulations, communications and all other subject matters pertaining to ships, harbors and marine affairs. Check out our website and LYC merchandise at www.LYC.us

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An Ode to Lahaina

• By Neil Rabinowitz
• September 6, 2023

I came to Lahaina from the south. After 13 days on an unleashed reach out of French Polynesia , I clung to the mast top, my legs wrapped in a death grip. We swung west into Alenuihaha Channel, known to Hawaiians as the river of laughing waters. The sun blazed and the trades howled as 20-foot rollers raced up our stern and frothed over the rails. Flying our heaviest chute was risky, as the channel boiled with towering whitecaps, but the Beach Boys blared from the deck speakers, and Maui loomed ahead in all its verdant glory. Cobalt-blue waves cascaded on the approaching lava rocks of Kaupo. Hana stood lush to the east, with the Big Island’s Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea silhouetted to the south.

I hadn’t been back to America in years, and I now charged full-tilt—unvanquished from the south seas under a swollen spinnaker, drunk on Brian Wilson.

It was gnarly up the mast. The horizon was a sweep of white water wrapped along the Maui shore, with roller after roller that threatened to bury us in the troughs. We broached, like a dog shaking a rat on a rope, and I slammed hard onto the deck with the bosun’s chair tangled around my legs. Our keel broke the surface as we buried the spreaders and spun out of control. All of us hung white-knuckled until the boat shuddered violently and tried to stand. We were a seasoned crew, baked brown and stringy by the sun. We hadn’t dropped the chute in 2,000 miles since leaving Tahiti. The closer Maui inched, the more we felt invincible. Landfall does that. After days at sea, every south sea island is an intoxicating rebirth of the senses, a virginal stirring of the heart. Lahaina was all of that. We had the boat tidied by the time we slipped past Kaho’olawe, into the lee of west Maui and the tranquil, humpback-strewn waters between Lahaina and Lanai.

Among cruisers around beach fires back in the South Pacific, Lahaina’s reputation was as a dusty, one-horse whaling town. I was on the beach in Huahine, set to hitch a berth to New Zealand, when “Hurricane Annie” Musselman, a striking female sailor fresh ashore after a 20-day sail from Maui, convinced me of the fun awaiting me in Hawaii, where I could then catch a boat to New Zealand next season.

In Hawaii, an endless arrival of passagemakers and wannabe sailors from the mainland made Lahaina their first stop. Those flying over never felt the same passion for the place; landfall was the only way to fathom the prize of Lahaina. From the sailor’s eye after days on the open ocean, Lahaina offered seduction like no other, bathed in the late-afternoon sunset sweetened by the fragrance of tuberose and mango that wafted miles offshore.

It wasn’t the thought of endless lilikoi cocktails, or the fantasy of tropically toned women exuberant with song and dance, their hair pinned with red hibiscus flowers and with plumeria leis around their necks. Beyond the fertile earth, fresh fruits, waterfalls, perfect surf, and harbor life of ocean sailors was the stunning Hawaiian backdrop and a celebratory welcome for sailors fresh from the sea, dues paid. Welcome to the land of earthly delights.

Lahaina’s harbor, first seen as mast tops peering over a small breakwall, was packed with working and provisioning yachts. At the entrance lay a weary 19th-century whaling ship, long in the rigging, and over its shoulder was an old missionary plantation home and museum adorned with whaling artifacts and reminders of the invasion of the Hawaiian Kingdom centuries ago.

The waterfront public library next door was the best place to watch the sunset through the palms, and next to that loomed the colonial, columned veranda of the Pioneer Inn, with its red roof, green sides, creaking wainscoting, whirring ceiling fans, open-air everything, and swinging saloon doors with a carved figurehead standing guard. The sound of a honky-tonk piano player pounding the ivories and wailing rousing tunes drifted from the saloon and across the anchorage, serenading us. Just beyond reach of the saloon was the canopy of an enormous banyan tree spreading a hundred yards in every direction. A missionary gift, it had been planted in 1873 by the widow of King Kamehameha. Lahaina, the capital of the Kingdom of Hawaii, which Kamehameha violently united, became the whaling capital of the world and commanded respect.

Even with its tin-pan serenades drifting across the water and its promises of revelry ashore, Lahaina was a sacred destination for those crossing the Pacific. Its backdrop was a riotous splash of color—a transformative sight after weeks at sea. Lush green cane fields rose up the slopes behind town, waving in the trade winds like a frozen sea. Red earthen foothills, ascending steep slopes to the majestic cloud-shrouded tops of the West Maui Mountains. Lahaina’s low-slung waterfront foreground bustled with green, shanty-style houses and humble shops all the way to the sugar cane mill, where every so often the sweet bouquet of molasses would blanket the town. Most harbor regulars nursed dreams of sailing to the South Pacific and were stopping just long enough to find a berth on a yacht heading south. Bikini-clad gals hawked sailing charters while gruff, unshaven sport-fishermen pitched billfish hunts. Sunset-cocktail-excursion captains, in bright-white uniforms with golden epaulets, recruited passengers. Sport divers in wetsuits hauling scuba tanks joined in the shouts amid the beer-drinking revelries of black coral hunters, stewed in their constant highs from too many daily 300-foot dives.  

Lording over it all, doling out privileges and access like a pirate king, was the leather-skinned, gray-bearded harbormaster. The rest of the town was second fiddle to the workings of that tiny harbor, the heartbeat of the town. Inebriated or not, the harbormaster could make or break sailing futures in this part of the Pacific. Flippant declarations boomed from the breakwall as he stalked the docks, banishing boats from the harbor, relegating them to endless hobbyhorsing at anchor, scheduling impossible departure times, and controlling the pace of work and supplies to replenish desperate sailors amid bribes, favors, and hard-luck tales.

A steady stream of entrepreneurs, street hustlers, harbor alcoholics, and starry-eyed youthful adventurers were always coming and going, convinced that they were at a pitstop en route to the South Pacific. Seemingly every waiter and waitress had dreams of being discovered, landing a berth on a boat heading south.

For many other locals, content with their hospitality and construction jobs, Lahaina was just home. Several hundred one-story houses of all shapes and tropical colors led from the water’s edge to the hillsides by the mill, sprawling neighborly toward the Kaanapali beaches to the north and the Olowalu beaches to the south.

Kaanapali, with its stretch of high-rise beachfront resorts, kept a good distance, about 4 miles from the hum of Lahaina, so their pampered guests could join the tourist hordes swarming town and then return to the civilized world of luxury Hawaiian resorts.

By contrast, many of Lahaina’s simply constructed neighborhood homes had basic tin roofs and green plywood sides, and were smart with a humble pride of ownership. Most houses had flourishing window boxes, and were peppered with hibiscus and plumeria hedges under the shade of towering mango and avocado trees with sweet gardenias, all thriving with minimal care. There was no need for heat or air conditioning, or even screens, in these homes. The streets were alive with locals and young folk making ends meet in town. Dogs barked, kids played, barbecues were everywhere, and bicycles were fine for getting around.

Kids wearing flip-flops and swimsuits skateboarded by the park or pedaled banana-seat bikes through town to the harbor break with surfboards under their arms. Pickups were the vehicle of choice, practical work vehicles suited to racing though cane fields. They’d cruise through town, tunes blasting with surfboards piled high, heading to the beach. Older locals surrounded by their broods of kids and grandkids hosted hula dances and strummed ukuleles beneath the banyan tree, or at the beach or grassy town parks, picnicking to beat the heat.

Lahaina was a tropical mecca of American pizzazz, where mainlanders swapped tales of the South Pacific. With the romance of the south seas under my belt, I was in no hurry to go back to sea, so I ran sailboat charters from here on a handful of yachts from 40 to 65 feet long that swept tourists off the beach for a heart-stopping sprint out to the Pailolo Channel wind line. We got a charge exciting the passengers, shifting without warning from a gentle, drink-sipping 7-knot drift to a rollicking, heeled-over, mai-tai-be-damned 15-knot dash into the teeth of the trades. If the passengers did not seem like they could handle the wind line’s excitement, we sailed calmly to Lanai’s Manele Bay, stopping halfway for a swim with the whales.

The real charter yachts were too big and too busy to handle the daily traffic in and out of Lahaina Harbor, so we sat on moorings off the resort hotels. There was Johnny Weismueller’s 60-foot 1929 schooner, Allure ; Barry Hilton’s Alden 57, Teragram ; the 54-foot aluminum ketch Minset ; the Hermaphrodite schooner Rendezvous ; and a handful of performance catamarans, which had the best layouts to accommodate hordes of tourist passengers, complete with midship bars, and could be rammed right onto the sand for loading and offloading. And the charter fleet wasn’t the only thing humming with intensity and tourists: Lahaina’s Front Street, the town’s waterfront artery, was the place to be. You could grab a drink at the Blue Max—a tiny, second-deck bar overlooking the seawall—and discover Elton John playing a surprise session on the piano. Jim Messina might drop in to perform at Kula’s Silversword Inn; Taj Mahal could be seen playing the congas to an empty beach at sunset; and Stephen Stills and David Crosby were regularly jamming aboard their boats at anchor. I recall Peter Fonda’s 73-foot sloop, Tatoosh , returning from the Marquesas, where I had recently shared trails with its crew while hiking the Nuku Hiva jungle. There were celebrities everywhere on Maui, a place where they could enjoy themselves without facing fandom.

One weekend, we filed aboard the square-rigged Rendezvous with friends and sailed to Oahu to hear the Eagles play Diamond Head crater. Days later, we rounded up our festival-weary crew for a quiet sail back to Maui. Getting around the islands was as easy as going down to the harbor and sticking out your thumb. One friend stood at the harbor entrance and hitched a ride on a sport-fishing boat heading to Oahu. He planted himself in the fighting chair and opened his paperback, ready for a nice read. Next thing he knew, the crew had hooked into something. They grabbed his book, strapped him in, and handed over a live rod. He spent the next four hours landing a 750-pound marlin for the first-ever fish thrill of his life.

Most of the Maui charter boats dragged lines just in case. They often landed ono, mahi, ahi and billfish. Once ashore, they would sprint to the best seafood restaurant in town and pocket a few hundred extra dollars for the crew. I recall a wedding sailing charter aboard Minset around Molokai’s Mokuhooniki Rock that double-hooked two big ono. After the wedding party fought and landed both fish, they returned to the dock bloodied, drunk and still smiling, with rave reviews.

The break at the harbor entrance was sweet enough to lure sunrise surfers from upcountry, a 30-minute drive from the volcanic slopes of Haleakala. As thick as tourists were in town, Lahaina’s waterfront shops had to cater to them. Along with its bounty of missionary folklore and whaling nostalgia, open-air bars, dive shops and salad bars, Lahaina sold trinkets, T-shirts, ice cream, Hawaiian-style jewelry, and the sort of faster food that tourists craving the hotel pool could quickly sample.

Around it all were the locals, living a life in the seams of tourist traffic, enjoying a shady beachfront tuft of palms and greenery, sitting with relatives on the sand, eating fish packets and coconut rice on the seawall. The proprietary goods that they depended on were relegated to tired one-story shopping centers on the periphery of town. The tourists came and went; it wasn’t difficult for residents to still feel a sense of steadfastness to Lahaina town. They tolerated the young people who moved in to take their hotel and tourism jobs. Compared with the relentless tide of visitors who abandoned their sensibilities when they became tourists, sailors often arrived with purpose and were commonly the most welcome of outsiders.

The famed Lahaina Yacht Club, host of the Victoria to Maui race and open to all visiting yachtsmen, was as unpretentious as there ever was a yacht club. It hosted none of the functions that typical yacht clubs host; it had no docks, no sweeping nautical lobby. Accessed through an insignificant Front Street doorway, the private club was disguised so well along retail row that visitors rarely found it on their first attempt. Inside, the dark, narrow hallway was decorated with photographs of classic sailboats finishing the Transpac and Victoria-Maui races, and framed letters from appreciative yachtsmen. A basic waterfront bar hung over the water with an intimate collection of tables. Dangling from the ceiling were burgees from visiting yachts from all around the world; upstairs, the loft had a few tables and backgammon boards. I participated in a couple of the Victoria-Maui races, as well as the dockside parties afterward. The bright-eyed patrons greeted us at all hours like heroes returning from the sea, offering flowered leis for each sailor, champagne, and lots of fresh fruit and pupus.

It’s an ecstatic moment for racing sailors, but cruising sailors wear their hearts on their sleeves and their first landfall is like a first kiss that can never be repeated. It’s a taste of wonder and redemption, almost salvation from any miscues of the passage, and a gratitude for an ocean’s drop of grace. In racing, the motivation is victory, the mission is speed, and glory the reward. While that’s a thrill worth seeking, in cruising, the promise of landfall is all heart.

The aching loss for this breathtaking Pacific landfall is that it will never be the same in Lahaina. The sailors will still come, but the landscape and the romantic legacy of a town that was an authentic kingdom’s home, a whaling mecca, a missionary post, and a working blend of tourism and local ohana is gone. What now remains of this legendary alluring paradise is but a barren gray stretch of ashen slabs and ghosts.

The town will be rebuilt and redefined by developers, legal setbacks and the buying power of realtors, but the soul of this Pacific pit stop and the prevailing Hawaiian spirit is at risk. The magic of this mythical landfall will never be quite the same.

Neil Rabinowitz is a longtime and frequent contributor to Cruising World as both a photographer and a writer. His work has appeared in Men’s Journal , Sports Illustrated , National Geographic , Outside , and The New York Times to name a few, and just about every marine publication. He has completed numerous ocean passages on both racing and cruising yachts and often finds inspiration recalling the romance of his first south seas landfall. He lives on a sunny farm on Bainbridge Island in the Pacific Northwest. 

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Lahaina Yacht Club

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Lahaina Yacht Club

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• Good for groups

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Additional information

• Dining style Casual Dining
• Price $30 and under
• Cuisines American
• Hours of operation Monday - Saturday: 11:00am - 9:00pm; Sunday: 10:00am - 3:00pm
• Phone number (808) 661-0191
• Website http://www.lyc.us/
• Payment options AMEX, Discover, Mastercard, Visa
• Dress code Resort Casual
• Catering Please call the club to book your private catered event
• Private party facilities Please call the club to book your private event
• Location 835 front Street, Lahaina, HI 96761-1607
• Neighborhood Lahaina
• Parking details Street Parking
• Additional Banquet, Bar/Lounge, Beer, Cocktails, Corkage Fee, Entertainment, Full Bar, Happy Hour, Non-Smoking, Patio/Outdoor Dining, Patio/Outdoor Dining, Takeout, View, Wheelchair Access, Wine

Chips & Guacamole $9.00

Made-to-order chips, fresh guacamole

Poke Tostadas $18.00

Fresh Ahi poke over wonton chips, daikon, tobiko, shoyu glaze, wasabi aioli

Fresh Island Ceviche $16.00

Citrus marinated fresh island fish, tomato, red onion, cilantro, avocado, serrano peppers, cilantro lime crema, fresh chips

Fresh Scallops $18.00

Seared bay scallops, fresh veggies, lemon caper butter sauce

Crispy Calamari $15.00

Panko crusted calamari sticks, citrus aioli, wasabi cocktail sauce

Coconut Shrimp $15.00

Coconut crusted butterfly shrimp, Chinese salad, mango chili sauce

Stuffed Mushrooms $13.00

Mushrooms stuffed with cream cheese, garlic, parmesan, Panko bread crumbs

Thai Chicken Wraps $14.00

Sesame grilled chicken, Thai peanut sauce, lettuce cups, daikon, pickled ginger

Kula Farms Bruschetta $13.00

Tomato, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, garlic, Parmesan on a toasted baguette

Habanero Fire Wings $15.00

Six special recipe fire wings, bleu cheese, celery and carrots

From the Garden

House Made Dressings: 1000 Island, Ranch, Sesame Ginger, Bleu Cheese, Raspberry Balsamic or Caesar. Add-ons: Chicken +$6 / Shrimp +$10 / Fresh Catch +$12 / Ahi +$12

Caesar Salad $10.00

Chopped romaine hearts, parmesan, croutons, garlic anchovy Caesar dressing

LYC Salad $12.00

Mixed Greens, bleu cheese crumbles, walnuts, craisins, red onion, raspberry balsamic dressing

Chinese Salad $12.00

Romaine lettuce, cabbage, carrots, wonton crisps, cashews, sesame ginger vinaigrette

Avocado Salad $14.00

Mixed greens, avocado, cucumber, tomato, red onion, green pepper, EVOO, lemon

Chef Salad $16.00

Chopped romaine, strips of oven roasted turkey, honey ham, Swiss & cheddar Cheese, cucumber, tomato, carrot and hard-boiled egg

Garden Salad $8.00

Choice of French Fries or Coleslaw. Substitute Onion Rings +$3, Soup +$2 or Salad

Ahi BLT $18.00

Blackened seared rare Ahi steak, Applewood smoked bacon, tomato, onion, wasabi aioli, served on a Maui-made bun

Classic BLT $12.00

Bacon, lettuce & tomato on served on toasted wheat bread

Mahi-Mahi $16.00

Fresh Mahi-Mahi, tomato, onion, lettuce, lemon dill remoulade, served on a Maui-made bun

Classic Rueben $15.00

Thinly sliced corned beef, Swiss cheese, sauerkraut, creamy 1000 island dressing, served on marbled rye

French Dip $16.00

Shaved slow roasted prime rib, creamy horseradish, caramelized onions, served on a ciabatta bun with au jus

Turkey Club $16.00

Deli turkey, honey ham, Applewood smoked bacon, lettuce, tomato, onion, avocado aioli, served on toasted whole wheat bread

Blackened Chicken $15.00

Cajun dusted grilled chicken breast, local lettuce, tomato, onion, spicy aioli, served on a ciabatta bun

Honey Ham $14.00

Honey ham, Swiss cheese, local lettuce, tomato, onion, cranberry aioli, served on a ciabatta bun

House Burgers

Choice of French Fries or Coleslaw. Substitute Onion Rings +$3, Soup +$2 or Salad. Add $1 (ea): cheddar, Swiss or bleu cheese, jalapeno. Add $2 (ea): bacon, avocado or fried egg

The LYC $15.00

Maui Cattle Company local beef patty, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, served on a Maui-made bun

Lunch Specialties

Fresh hawaiian fish $22.00.

Chef's choice preparation, served with sautéed veggies and white rice

Mahi-Mahi Piccatta $18.00

Grilled Mahi-Mahi, served with sautéed veggies, white rice, lemon caper butter sauce

Fish 'N' Chips $16.00

Panko crusted Mahi Mahi, coleslaw, lemon dill remoulade and French Fries

Achiote dusted Fish, Chicken or Shrimp, cheddar jack cheese, salsa roja, cabbage, lettuce and cilantro crema

• Fish or Chicken $16.00
• Shrimp $18.00

Half Rack of Ribs $20.00

Half rack of slow cooked baby back ribs, French fries, coleslaw, house made BBQ plum sauce

Club Cocktails

Lyc pina colada $12.00.

Old Lahaina Light Rum, coconut milk and pineapple juice with a float of Old Lahaina Dark Rum

Lahaina Lemonade $10.00

Tito's Handmade Vodka, lemonade, cranberry juice and fresh mint

Maritime Margarita $12.00

Casa Noble Tequila, fresh squeezed lime, sweet & sour and Grand Marnier

Mai Tai $10.00

Mango, pineapple and orange juices with Old Lahaina Light and Dark Rums

Dark & Stormy $10.00

Goslings Dark Seal Rum and Goslings Ginger Beer

Sailor's Spiked Tea $12.00

Jack Daniels, fresh brewed iced tea, peach puree and a squeeze of lemon

Maui Mule $12.00

Maui's Organic Ocean Vodka, Goslings Ginger Beer, fresh lime juice and fresh mint

Ocean Breeze $12.00

Maui's Organic Ocean Vodka, Malibu Rum, pineapple and cranberry juice

Canned & Bottled Beers

Budweiser $4.00, coors light $4.00, miller lite $4.00, michelob ultra $4.00, corona $5.00, heineken $5.00, guiness pub can $5.00, kona big wave $6.00, cocoweizen $6.00, draft beers, bud light $4.00, kohola "talk story" pale ale $6.00, kona longboard $6.00, pacifico $6.00, stella artois $6.00, bikini blonde $7.00, kona firerock $7.00, korbel | split $10.00, la marca | split $12.00, lucien | brut rose' $14.00, collet $16.00, piper heidsieck $70.00, vueve clicquot brut $90.00, kendall jackson $10.00, harken $10.00, la crema $11.00, butter $12.00, phantom $12.00, pinot grigio, capasaldo $8.00, kris $10.00, sauvignon blanc, vavasour $10.00, kim crawford $11.00, chateau st jean $11.00, fleurs de prairie $12.00, cabernet sauvignon, aquinas $10.00, juggernaut $12.00, roth estate $14.00, columbia $9.00, peju $12.00, meiomi $10.00, diorra $11.00, four graces $15.00, dona paula | malbec $10.00, sterling | red blend $10.00, beringer | red blend $12.00, what 8 people are saying, overall ratings and reviews.

• 4.5 Service
• 4.6 Ambience

Noise • Moderate

Dined on July 5, 2019

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Does Lahaina Yacht Club offer delivery through OpenTable or takeout?

Lahaina Yacht Club offers takeout which you can order by calling the restaurant at (808) 661-0191.

How is Lahaina Yacht Club restaurant rated?

Lahaina Yacht Club is rated 4.3 stars by 8 OpenTable diners.

835 front Street, Lahaina, HI 96761-1607

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Published on September 24th, 2023 | by Editor

Heavy hearts and challenging emotions

Published on September 24th, 2023 by Editor -->

The Victoria to Maui International Yacht Race is hosted by the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club and the Lahaina Yacht Club. First contested in 1965 and sailed every second year since 1968, Vic-Maui is the pinnacle of Pacific Northwest ocean racing. The race starts in July off Victoria, British Columbia and finishes near Lahaina, Maui, a distance of approximately 2308 nautical miles. The co-hosts provide this update:

Vic-Maui’s trustees and committee chairs have concluded it is in the best interest of competitors and stakeholders to cancel the 2024 Vic-Maui International Yacht Race.

It is with heavy hearts and challenging emotions we have come to this conclusion.

The August 8, 2023 wildfires on Maui were devastating. In addition to the complete loss of shoreside supports – the losses to residences, family, and friends of Lahaina – our Lahaina Yacht Club family – are monumental.

Our LYC family needs our help and requires time to heal.

We are committed to and will immediately start work on the 2026 Vic-Maui.

Our goal is to make 2026 a very special race, celebrating the rebuilding of Lahaina and celebrating the 60th anniversary of both the founding of LYC and of the first Vic-Maui in 1965.

Mahalo – Thank you – to our Vic-Maui community – competitors, volunteers, families, friends, and supporters around the world. We recognize and appreciate all your efforts and support.

We look forward to planning and sailing the 2026 Vic-Maui together.

Tags: Lahaina fire , Lahaina Yacht Club , Victoria to Maui International Yacht Race

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Sail for Hope to benefit Maui victims →

We are Lahaina Strong →

Coast Guard assists with Maui fires →

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V IC- M AUI O NLINE E NTRY

Aloha and welcome to the 2024 Vic-Maui International Yacht Race

Set Sail for the Adventure of a Lifetime!

The Victoria to Maui International Yacht Race, first contested in 1965 and sailed every second year since 1968, is the pinnacle of Pacific Northwest ocean racing. Co-hosts the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club and the Lahaina Yacht Club have been preparing for your participation since July 2022.  Come and enjoy a fun filled week of pre-race activities in Victoria, the Capital City of British Columbia and one of the most beautiful harbours in the world.  From Victoria, we give you a unique ocean voyage over a course that is 2308 nautical miles on the rhumb line.  Vic-Maui challenges sailors to demonstrate their ocean sailing and weather routing skills. Success depends on sailing an optimal track relative to the North Pacific High pressure area and the Northeast Trade Winds.  In Lahaina you will enjoy Hawaiian hospitality including a welcome party and the awards banquet, as well as a well-deserved sojourn in a tropical paradise.

Join the Vic-Maui fleet to Set Sail for the Adventure of a Lifetime! 

The 2024 Vic-Maui fleet is limited to 25 boats (this link is only for skippers who are entering their boats in Vic-Maui)

updated Mar 08, 2023

Featured Sponsor

Shackles & Cotterpins

Featured Yacht Profile

Peligroso (2022).

Vic-Maui welcomes Doug Baker and his Kernan 68  Peligroso. Our 16th entry for the 2022 Vic-Maui!

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