Although its own crew members may not realize it, what On the Edge of Destiny accomplished "is enormous."

The five-man crew, made up of Sean Doyle, Justin Doyle, Roscoe Fowler, Cameron Biehl and Ted White, arrived in Honolulu early yesterday morning after completing the 2,559-mile Transpacific Yacht Race from Los Angeles. The average age of the crew is 19.8.

"This race has been going on for 101 years and this is the 44th race and they're the youngest to ever do it," said Transpac publicity officer Rich Roberts. "They're too young to understand what they've accomplished. There hasn't been a team anywhere near this young since the late '60s."

Skipper Sean Doyle, 19, doesn't easily get caught up in the hype.

"To me, it's really not that big a deal," he said. "We're young but we know how to sail and it's nothing new to me really."

Said Roberts: "To them, they're all confident, experienced sailors. It's just another race, but on the grand scale, they really have accomplished a lot."

Sean's brother, Justin, 18, was appreciative of the opportunity and hoped others could benefit from it.

"It's a good revival for youth sailing and there isn't really much youth sailing in big boats at all," he said. "They're a lot more expensive to maintain so usually it's the owner and their friends (onboard); usually a lot of older people. I think it's good that young people can get an opportunity to sail big boats like us and Morning Light."

Morning Light, owned by Roy E. Disney, has the second-youngest crew in the race at 21.2 years old.

Roberts is hopeful the achievements of both crews will open doors for more youth.

"It'll inspire a lot of young kids to think they can do it and be a boost for youth sailing," he said. "Hopefully, it will inspire the kids to do it and inspire all the old guys to sponsor the kids."

The Doyle brothers competed in the Pacific Cup last year from San Francisco to Kane'ohe with their father, Dan, but this was their first Transpac. They found out "not much sooner than after the race ended last year" that they would compete without their father.

"He has a lot of responsibilities so he couldn't make it, but he told us to put together a crew and we did," Sean said.

White, 23, of Santa Barbara, met Sean at Santa Barbara City College and agreed to join him and convinced Biehl, 19, of San Diego, to come along. Fowler, 20, was a classmate of Sean's at Mid-Pacific. Biehl and White served as watch captains.

"I thought it was cool," Fowler said of the crew's youth. "I guess it kind of just happened, it wasn't really planned that way." Fowler served as the crew's medic, but fortunately "nothing happened."

On The Edge of Destiny — as most boats did — suffered through days with little or no wind during the first half of the race.

"We were struggling and you could see the other boats had good wind and you're not; you're just sitting there hoping for wind and trying to get in the right position," said Sean.

The end could not have come sooner for the crew.

"I was ready to get in," said Justin, who was the navigator. "I was just waiting for the wind. It usually gets windy the last little while of the trip. Once you hit Moloka'i the wind picks up a little bit and we had been waiting for wind for most of the race and we finally got a few good rides toward the end of (Tuesday)."

So what did the boys do first once back on solid ground?

"Ate a whole bunch of food," laughed Sean.

Reach Kalani Takase at ktakase@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8040.