PRIYA COOPER / SPORTS EDITOR

The USD club sailing team is setting sail for another exciting season,  and they hope to be able to race competitively in the upcoming months.

Torero sailors pictured practicing on the ocean. Photo courtesy of Guilia Coloso.

USD     sophomore    Sofia   Kartel explained the club’s position. 

“Just this last year, we’ve become preliminary members in the PCSC, the Pacific Collegiate Sailing Conference,” Kartel said. “And then next year, we’ll become full fledged members. So now that we’re a part of that group, we will have the opportunity to race in collegiate regattas.”

 The    club    hopes   to  establish themselves  as  a   team   that   could officially compete under USD and practices at Southwestern Yacht Club in San Diego Bay.

USD sophomore Giulia Coloso  is the finance manager for the club team and also functions   as  a student-volunteer coach. Coloso explained how the boats are set up from practices.  

“We practice every Sunday and  organize  carpools from the school,” Coloso said. “We meet   at  the  yacht  club  at 11 a.m. on Sundays  and then we start rigging and putting up the boats. And that takes a while.  So maybe around 12 p.m., we put the boats in the water because they’re on the dock. We push them all in the water, and then we start sailing.”

Coloso continued by sharing the team’s routine.

“We usually just do practices, between ourselves, not regattas,” Coloso said. “We  sail for a couple hours, and depending on what we want to do  that  day,  sometimes  we even go out into the open ocean, and go out of the bay. Sometimes we stay in the bay. We do a lot of mock  races  against  each  other.”

The practices fluctuate and change based on member participation, as the sport is heavily dependent on how many members can participate each Sunday. 

“It  also  depends on how many people we have on a specific day, because the boats are two person boats, so there’s one person skippering and the other controls the sail,”  Coloso said.

Kartel  is  the risk manager for the club and also spoke on how the club operates each week. The  risk manager works to   make  sure everyone stays safe during sailing, ensures anyone who is injured gets proper treatment and takes care of any medical  clearances  for  the  club. 

“Usually we’re using probably around four to five boats  every practice, and there’s  two people in a boat, but then we  haul  a bunch of other  people  in the coach boat,” Kartel said. “So if we have five boats, that’s 10 people on a boat, but then say maybe   we   have   another  four or  five people on the coach boat, and  we  just switch out. We rotate sailors on the water, so  that  way  we’re  not  having  to come  back  to  the dock  every  so often,  we can kind of go farther.”

Practices are busy and collaborative, with sailors rotating in and out of boats to make sure everyone gets time on the water. That same collaborative spirit extends beyond the water. 

“There’s  some   people   who have  a  lot of experience sailing, or  started  sailing when they were a little kid, and are now coming back to it,” Kartel said. “And then it’s a majority of people who have never done it before, don’t even know how to tie a knot, and are just coming into it. And so that’s so fun to have, because it’s not like a sports club where most of the people have years of experience and you join and everyone’s better than you. We’re all starting from baseline zero or  the people who aren’t starting from baseline zero are super welcoming.”

USD alum Nolan Anderson, started the club four or   five   years   ago, and  ever   since then, the   club  has  been  making efforts to boost our funding and just   get   more  people  interested. Kartel discussed why the club is unique in comparison to other organizations at USD and what makes it all worthwhile. 

“I  would  say, just the nature of  what  we do and the equipment that we use is super unique,” Kartel said. “No other club at USD is sailing boats. Quite   frankly,  no  one  is  learning how to tie knots and to rig a sail and to rig a whole boat, and to put a boat in water and to take it out, and learning, you know, the physics that are involved in sailing… it’s actually a really almost mathematical sport.”

Kartel also explained how sailing is more versatile than other sports. 

“But I think, like, the technicality of it is something like, completely different from all other clubs, and the physicality is also really different,” Kartel said. “You don’t have to be going to the gym 24/7 to be a good sailor and to learn how to sail and to be effective on the team.”

Coloso also talked about her favorite part of being a member of the club and the advantages of being so close to the water. 

“For me, it’s definitely worth it, because sometimes after a long  week  of   studying and being on campus, just being outside on the water, with the wind and like the sun, it’s really nice, and it’s really relaxing,” Coloso said. “Every time I go I’m so glad that I went after.”  

Kartel shared similar experiences. For many sailors, those afternoons on the water  are   a   highlight  of the week.

“My favorite practices are when  we  do  our  ocean  sail   days, which is when we go past Point Loma, past the lighthouse, and we just sail around in the open water,” Kartel said. “It’s a lot of fun. The waves get really big out there. You get more speed, and it’s something different.”

Between the demands of school and daily routines, time on the water gives students a rare chance to slow down and recharge.

“It’s  not  like  I can get to the ocean every day,” Kartel said. “But I love being a part of the  sailing  club, because I know  that at  least  for one entire afternoon  every week, I’m going  to  be  out  in  the water. I’m  going  to  be  in  the  sun. I’m going   to   be having a good time.” 

The    team   was   scheduled  to  compete  for  the  first  time  ever  on Oct. 11 in the Pacific Collegiate Sailing Conference freshman-sophomore regatta hosted by UCSD. However, due to technical circumstances, the club sailing debut was halted. 

“We were not able to participate as we did not have enough cleared members in the club to be able to sign up,” Coloso said. “And because we would have  needed more skippers than we had available that weekend, as it was on parent’s  weekend. Of   course we   were   very  sad  as we had been  looking   forward to  getting   our   foot  in  the  door and starting competing in regattas, but we are  going  to  try  our  hardest this  year  to be ready for another  one  and  get everything done to be able to participate.”

Kartel also commented on the  team’s  inability  to  compete. 

“We had to adjust our plans because we didn’t have enough experienced   sailors   available   to race  both  Saturday  and Sunday as it was parents’ weekend,” Kartel said. “Not being able to compete was a big bummer but, in the end there wasn’t much we could do to get around it.”

While their first regatta appearance didn’t go as planned, the team’s progress signals better times ahead. For USD’s club sailors, it’s not just about competition but the shared experience of wind, water and teamwork that keeps them coming back.

USD club sailing loves to spend time out on the water to play their sport and enjoy the sun. Photo courtesy of  @usd_sailing/Instagram