Hawai'i's Philippe Kahn won the IRC A class at last weekend's Rolex Big Boat Series, hosted by St. Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco.

Kahn sailed his TP52 Pegasus 52 to victory and the St. Francis Perpetual Trophy. The award was established 41 years ago to stimulate and encourage competition among large ocean racing yachts.

Kahn also received a Rolex Steel Submariner timepiece.

The Honolulu sailor won five of his seven races, finishing third and fourth in the others for a total of 12 points. Tokyo's Isao Mita was next, with 21, and San Francisco's Mark Jones third, with 28. There were nine boats in the division.

"Big boat is a great series," Kahn said. "It's windy and there is tremendous competition, so it's a fantastic regatta."

Weather was ideal during the prestigious four-day regatta. The wind ranged from 12 knots on the first day to a record-breaking 30 knots Saturday.

The courses were a mixture of windward leeward races and, for the first time, the IRC classes were sent under the Golden Gate Bridge for longer coastal courses, some four miles past the bridge to Point Bonita Lighthouse, which marks the entrance to the northern part of San Francisco Bay.

"The water is flatter, except when we went outside and that was great," Kahn said. "It was awesome, it's more like what we're used to, there's waves and all hell was breaking lose. It was fun, we like that."

Pegasus 52 was launched four months ago and won the Transpac and Waikiki Offshore Series before coming to San Francisco.

BOWLING

KAIMUKI'S NGUYEN AWARDED SCHOLARSHIP

Honolulu's My Nguyen, a senior at Kaimuki High School, was one of 12 Gift for Life scholarships winners, given annually to high school students by the United States Bowling Congress.

Nguyen, 16, received a $1,000 scholarship, which will be held in USBC's SMART program (Scholarship Management and Accounting Reports for Tenpins).

The Gift for Life scholarship program was designed to honor Sept. 11 heroes and those who work tirelessly to save lives in communities across the country.

Candidates must be in grades 9 to 12 with a grade point average of 2.0 or better.