By Airwaves Writer Brendan Healy
Charleston, SC (December 15, 2015) – Since its inception in 1953, the College of Charleston Sailing program has been synonymous with championship sailing both at the college level and far beyond. The program has captured 19 national championship tiles, and has produced in excess of 100 All-Americans, national and world champion sailors, as well as Olympians. Until recently however, upon graduation from the College, its athletes lost all “official” connection with the program in terms of representation. Along came the commissioning of the College of Charleston Yacht Club in 2014 to address this exact issue. The club was created in order to provide a way for graduates to both give back to the program and to represent the institution that fostered so many friendships and provided opportunities for its sailors during their tenure on the team and extending past graduation.
Led by a few enthusiastic graduates, the club was founded in order to fulfill the needs that graduates could rarely attain from their respective home yacht clubs. As previous members of the program, there was a desire to continue to compete with our classmates, in addition to graduates of all generations, to represent the burgee that we’ve all come to know and love. As Commodore Zeke Horowitz put it, “Sure we could all go on in life and join yacht clubs in our home towns and hopefully compete in inter-club team races and club sponsored events, but in doing so we’d miss out on the opportunity to sail with our college friends and relive the ‘old days”. Together with the help of Head-Man-In-Charge, Greg Fisher, Horowitz has helped to organize CofC’s graduates into a full-blown, commissioned club of dues-paying members, all of whom are graduates of the College. The club’s mission: “To bring together like-minded individuals who share a passion for sailing, strong camaraderie, and all things Charleston” in an effort to compete in numerous yacht club challenges, and other high profile regattas throughout the country.
Obviously creating something awesome and totally different doesn’t come without its challenges, the greatest of which, being the physical organization of its members. Prior to Greg’s arrival as the Director of Sailing, the program had a somewhat poorly attended alumni weekend, which changed in dates from year to year and had no real consistency in terms of attendees. Viewing this as a great opportunity to bring graduates together in an effort to showcase the current team and raise funds, Greg sought to revamp the annual alumni celebration. With the help of some recent grads, including the Commodore, the program enjoyed its greatest attended Alumni Weekend and regatta in history in 2013 by communicating with grads from several generations and agreeing on a time of year that would fit into the majority’s calendar. The following year, we snowballed on that enthusiasm with the announcement of the club and the election of officers, as well as the unveiling of a burgee and the launch of an official website. The Alumni Weekend now serves as the annual Alumni Regatta, hosting several get-togethers in order to collect annual dues and provide alumni with exposure to the current team members.
With the College of Charleston Yacht Club now officially off the ground, the next challenge became the collection of dues and the allocation of funds to support the club’s mission. Annual dues are kept to a minimum, providing grads with membership and a chance to represent the club at any Yacht Club team races or inter-club events to which it accepts an invitation. Club dues are also tax deductible and a significant portion of the club’s collections go on to directly fund the operations of the current college sailing team. Members are additionally encouraged to donate whatever funds they deem appropriate to help fund the team and support the club’s mission. With its founding, it satisfied the needs of graduates while also directly supporting the operations of the current sailing team. Instead of shoveling out thousands of dollars annually to some other yacht club, graduates can now represent a burgee that is truly theirs, continue the experience of sailing with life-long friends, and expand the reach of the Sailing Program in terms of recruiting and marketing, all while helping to develop the College of Charleston Sailing Team.
The club has gone on to support its members in two major events thus far. This past November, CofCYC graciously accepted its first ever invitation to a yacht club team race hosted by Southern Yacht Club for the Southern Soiland Trophy. A group of eight Charleston graduates, joined by the Head Man Greg Fisher, flew to New Orleans to represent the club. After going undefeated in the first flight, the team struggled slightly to end the event in a 3-way tie for fourth overall. Turns out the eight sailors attending the Soiland weren’t the only grads in attendance. A total of 17 previous College of Charleston sailors competed in the event with the eventual win coming from the hosting Southern Yacht Club, with several grads on board. In addition to this event, we also supported the J22 team of Ezra Zankel, Becky Bestoso, and Creighton Armstrong for the SAYRA Championships, hosted by CofC, where they placed second overall. This is obviously just the beginning for CofCYC sailors with the ambition of pursuing and accepting additional invites to yacht club team races and events. The club encourages its members to seek out any and all regattas of interest, to which it will strive to provide financial support with a goal of fully financed sailing.
With the commitment from a few passionate graduates, and the direction of CofC Sailing Program Director, Greg Fisher, the College of Charleston Yacht Club has established itself as a real entity with the desire to compete and succeeded on the inter-club sailing scene. It’s members enjoy the benefits of sailing with friends and fellow alumni under a burgee of their own while contributing to the success of the college sailing team, all for a minimum cost per year. Hopefully in the future, the club will continue to receive team racing and fleet racing invitations and come to be as well know and synonymous with championship sailing as its sister organization, the College of Charleston Sailing Program. See you on the water.