CUs Sailing Club Navigates the Turbulent Hudson

The captains are the first to admit it: The sailing team does not enjoy sunny weather.

"When it's sunny and there's no wind, that's the worst," said co-captain Casey O'Malley, CC '10.

O'Malley and fellow co-captain Adam Walpert, CC '09, are not masochists — rather, they depend on strong winds to propel their boats forward. Yet the tough waves of the City Island Harbor leave the team's equipment with quite a beating, and at times, team members experience similar pain. Just as their sailboats rely on external forces, the team has also found itself at the mercy of others at many points in its history, and its members certainly have not always seen smooth sailing.

The sailing team has existed in varying forms since 1942, experiencing periods of intermittent activity as captains and rowers passed through Columbia. During the '50s, the team had a large member base from the naval ROTC. In the '70s, the group expanded through fundraising efforts and sailed in the Hudson River during its less appealing, pre-cleanup days. The team was instructed that "if a boat flipped over and we ended up in the drink, as soon as we got out, we were to go directly to St. Luke's hospital to have our ears and eyes cleaned out and disinfected and we were to be administered a tetanus booster shot," according to a statement by Nicholas Serwer CC '78 on the team's Web site.

The mid-1980s brought a resurrection for the team, and sailors have been coming together regularly ever since. Last spring, the team advanced to the Atlantic Coast Championships, the 3rd meet away from the national level championship, and has qualified for several years for the mid-Atlantic regional championship. The program accommodates students who applied to Columbia looking specifically to sail and other athletes with no prior sailing experience. O'Malley and Walpert, in fact, were freshmen who had never sailed before.

"A lot of schools are able to offer varsity sailing teams that are fully funded and fully coached, so we have to compete with that," O'Malley said, "but assuming that a student is interested, they can come meet the team before they apply. As far as recruiting freshmen who don't have any experience, we definitely advertise and get a lot of people who are interested in having a good time."

The team practices at the City Island Yacht Club, only 20-30 minutes outside of Morningside Heights. Interest had waned in the early '90s while the team practiced at the Shattemuc Yacht Club some 50 minutes away, but the group's current convenient location allows the team to hold three practices a week tailored to the group's varying levels of experience and interest.

"More competitive people come on Tuesday or Thursday, and Friday is for people who are less experienced," O'Malley said.

But while finding a convenient location has been no easy feat for the team, securing a coach has been even more difficult. The team has had a different coach each year for the past three years, largely due to the fact that most coaches were recent college graduates who quickly moved on.

But last fall, the situation worsened. The Athletic Department announced that the university would no longer provide players and coaches with liability insurance. Instead, captains are liable for any injuries their team members incurred, and officers are required to obtain insurance coverage for their own clubs. As a result, the team was forced to change the position of coach to recreational consultant and obtain insurance on its own, making it hard for younger coaches without liability insurance of their own to consider long-term employment at Columbia. The club hires its coaches out of its own funds.

The sailing team has responded to its challenges with not only the determination to continue competing and training but also by maintaining a strong social network. Often referred to as the
"Columbia Sailing/Drinking Team," the club has held a reputation for coming together in a fun as well as in training.

"It's definitely true, and in the past, the reputation has been deserved," Walpert said. "There tends to always be a senior on the team or a group of seniors who have a suite that becomes the sailing party suite."

O'Malley noted, however, that this year's group has been more focused on practice than on partying.

"Alumni from the early '90s are surprised with how much we've focused on the competitive aspect of the sport," she said.

These same alumni continue to involve themselves with Columbia sailing, returning each year for the annual Alumni Regatta, also known as the Hapgood Cup. They also make financial contributions to the club, bolstering the team's gift account and helping to finance new equipment, as boats have been known to incur damage while docked during bad storms.

The donations also provide for the team's annual spring break training trip, another way that the group bonds. While in the past, the club has gone to the United States Sailing Center at the University of Southern California, this year it will most likely be heading to Florida, where it will practice for five days. The team spends about as much time together as a varsity sport would, accounting for the lasting relationships that have endured time and the ups and downs of the group's history.

"We definitely do a lot of things for camaraderie, like team building activities and dinners," Walpert said.

"Just the time commitment that sailing has makes it impossible not to bond," O'Malley said.

"We're together as a social team."