Antara’s Crew Celebrates Despite Slow Ride : Sailing: After almost 16 days of light winds and high spirits, women sailors cross finish line in Transpacific Yacht Race.

With a spectacular sunrise as its backdrop, and smiles and high fives all around, Antara and its all-woman crew sailed across the finish line at Diamond Head early Friday morning, nearly 16 days after setting out from Los Angeles in the 37th Transpacific Yacht Race.

The crew, comprising mostly Orange County residents, passed the finish line below the Diamond Head lighthouse at 7:02:55 a.m. Hawaiian time--15 days 21 hours 2 minutes and 55 seconds after leaving Point Fermin June 30. It received its official Hawaiian welcome from the Transpac race committee boat via shortwave radio.

“Aloha, Antara!” a voice over the radio said. “Welcome to Honolulu!”

The Antara crew members, ages 27 to 45, cheered wildly.

Although Antara led the IMS-C class through the first 12 days, it hit light winds in the latter stages and finished third out of four in its class, seventh out of nine in its fleet. The crew had hoped to finish in 12 to 14 days.

“We were sitting in a parking lot out there,” said Flora Obayashi, 42, of Huntington Beach. “We were just praying for wind.”

But crew morale remained high, thanks to on-board theme parties (Fourth of July, Christmas in July, etc.), pranks and squirt-gun fights. Betsy Crowfoot of Tustin caught a 20-pound albacore and a couple of mahi-mahi along the way, giving a boost to the provisions.

“We were down to chili and beans,” said skipper Bonnie Gibson of Costa Mesa. “And nobody wanted any more beans.”

Food was the last of their worries once they pulled into dock at Ala Wai Yacht Harbor. Members of the Iroquois Lagoon Yacht Club of Pearl Harbor provided a buffet specifically for Antara crew members that included everything from fresh fruit and vegetables to goat cheese, walnut dip and tropical cocktails.

“Wow,” navigator Deb Rigas said as she sipped a mai tai on the dock. “It’s hard to believe we’re actually on land.”