The Sandspur

Issue date: 4/22/05 Section: Sports

Media Credit: RC SID

I think of myself as a pretty good sports fan. I've been to soccer games, basketball games (men and women's) tennis matches, and even driven all the way to downtown Orlando for a swim meet. But, I'd never watched a sailing race (or should I say "Regatta"). So, I got in touch with Livia Barton, the sailing team captain, to talk about her sport.

Livia has been sailing since she was 8 and has been teaching sailing for the past 6 years. This summer she will be the head of all of the waterfront programs at the Block Island Club on Block Island, an island just south of Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard off the coast of Rhode Island.

Livia told me a little about life as a Rollins sailor, and some of the details of competition. A sailing regatta takes about a day, starting at 9 and going till 7 pm. Each race takes between 20 and 30 minutes. Livia says the team is pretty tight knit because they spend all day together during regattas, not to mention the 72 hours it takes to get to some of their "away matches". The team has traveled to such schools as Yale, Dartmouth, New Orleans, and Texas, but those are exceptions. More often Rollins races against teams such as Tampa, Southern Florida and Florida State. They are part of the South Atlantic Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association (SAISA), which is part of the Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association (ICSA) of North America. Sailing is not governed by NCAA rules, but rather we have our set of rules and regulations. There is both a fall season and a spring season, both equally competitive but the spring results determine which teams go to Nationals.

Each school provides the boats, so teams have to be prepared to race in different boats. This usually doesn't present a problem, but Livia told me about an occasion when an unfamiliar boat caused a bit of a problem. Livia told me the following story "one of our freshmen, poor kid, learned a great lesson. They were sailing at Univ. of South Florida and had to go in and wait out a thunderstorm. When they went back out, he forgot to check the plugs on the boat. He noticed that he was sailing unusually slowly and eventually he realized that the boat was sinking. He had to get towed in, and all of the teams watched as his boat was draining water for at least an hour, definitely embarrassing. He will definitely check his plugs every time he goes sailing in the future, important lesson learned the hard way."

Rollins only has 8 boats, so only 8 teams can come to the home Regattas. Livia says having the "home field" definitely provides an advantage and teams that have sailed together longest and know each others actions have an advantage over those who don't.

Rollins has had a good team over the past few years, finishing 6th this year and 3rd a few years ago. The team is losing some good seniors this year but Livia says there will be some good juniors and sophomores next year.

And the team is always looking for more members; Livia says that very few people come in with lots of experience. She told me that sailing here is an amazing experience with the beautiful weather and setting.

I still haven't seen a Regatta, but I know more about sailing than I did a few days ago, and maybe next season I'll be a fan.

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools