The Ohio University Sailing Team has been a student organization for the past five years since being stripped of its club sport ranking, but this semester it took the title back.
OU has offered sailing since the 1960s. The club gives members the opportunity to learn to sail, and now that it is a club sport again, the opportunity to compete in regattas with other universities in the Midwest.
Andrew Atkins, a sophomore studying European studies, is the president, or as the Sailing Club calls him, the “commodore.” He has been sailing since he was young. He said despite being in the Midwest, there are a lot of great sailing opportunities.
“There’s a lot of sailing throughout the Midwest, but it’s kind of hidden,” Atkins said. “It’s just as big as anywhere else in the US … (people can sail on) inland lakes, the Great Lakes or on rivers.”
Atkins said a person does not have to know how to sail to be a member of the club. There are a handful of members on the team who can sail fairly well, and they can teach people with no experience. Along with informational meetings, the team has on-water practices at Lake Snowden in New Albany, where they practice racing strategy.
The team travels to regattas, or sailing competitions, across the Midwest. It has traveled as far as Wisconsin, but Atkins said it hopes to be able to travel out east to places like Rhode Island next semester.
According to Atkins, a standard regatta lasts almost an entire weekend.
“We drive out on Friday, and we’ll hang out with the (other racing) teams,” he said. “We’ll wake up Saturday morning, and we’ll go to the lake. Race’s start at nine ... there’s two fleets ... A fleet and B fleet. (A fleet) runs two races, and then (A fleet) comes in and switches with B fleet. It’s back and forth all day.”
The club has also given students the opportunity to meet other people on campus and network with students on other campuses. Atkins said the team is good friends with Ohio State's and Michigan State’s sailing teams.
The team practices three times a week. Lou Duloisy, a freshman studying biology and the vice commodore, said the practices are enjoyable.
“It doesn’t really feel like practicing,” she said. “You just get to go out to a lake and play on a boat, which you wouldn’t think of getting to do in Ohio.”
Since the team just became a club sport, Duloisy said it’s important to spread the word and let people know about them.
“We’re making a big push to get (our club) out there and get new members now,” she said.
There are many benefits of learning to sail on a campus within a group such as this, rather than learning solo. For example, Atkins said learning to sail alone can be costly.
“It’s really expensive to learn (to sail) … (classes can be) $500 to $600 a week,” he said. “But (with the Sailing Team), for $75 for race fees for one semester you can learn to sail. It’s a life skill.”
Going from a student organization to a club sport will give the group more structure. It will also allow the team to get more funding, which they will use to travel more for competitions and get more boats.
“With becoming a club sport, we’re definitely going to try to do more things,” she said. “We’ll have opportunities to (do) different things as opposed to just going to the same races over and over.”
