Sailing club hoping for strong winds in ’95
After two years of stormy weather, the UCLA sailing team hopes
for smooth sailing ahead. After three preseason meets, the team
resumed practice at the beginning of this quarter in preparation
for a challenging regular season and a possible postseason
berth.
Sailing is a unique sport in which the norms for team and
individual competition are tossed aside. Rather than featuring a
typical two team match, teams compete against each other in a race
on a designated course. Several boats, up to three, compete for
each team, with each individual boat comprised of two members, the
skipper and the crew. The skipper is responsible for steering the
vessel and making all final decisions pertaining to the race. The
role of the crew is to assist the skipper in the adjusting of
sails, to brief the skipper on the position and speed of other
boats and to warn the skipper of obstacles along the course.
The boat itself is a 14-foot, two-man vessel. Currently, UCLA
uses three boats which it rotates, meaning that different people
man each boat in each race, with some team members competing at the
varsity level and others competing for the junior varsity.
Besides the requisite coordination, agility and strength which
typify success in most sports, success in sailing depends heavily
on the tactical aspect of the sport.
"The tactical side is a huge part of sailing, probably half of
the sport," former club president Dan Caplan said. "When you’re on
the water, you adjust to affect boat speed. Strategy is necessary
for interaction with other boats and for choosing the best
direction to follow on the race course."
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Besides Caplan, a junior and three-year member of the team, key
members include current club president Angel O’Mahoney, a sophomore
with over ten years of sailing experience and Ossi Sarella, also a
sophomore with five years of experience.
"As far as being successful in sailing, experience plays a huge
part," Caplan said. "Several members have experience as yacht club
and junior program instructors. Several people on the team have
taught sailing for a number of years."
Hopefully, the added experience will bode well for the Bruins
this year as they hope to advance to the postseason after a
two-year hiatus. In sailing’s postseason format, the top-five
Southern California teams qualify to compete in the Pacific Coast
Championship. In turn, the top-five finishers there compete in the
collegiate national championship.
"Part of our problem is that the team is not funded," Caplan
said. "We compete against schools where sailing is a varsity sport
with full-time paid coaches. We didn’t do that well last year
because of that, but we’ve been improving over the last couple of
years.
"Our chances this year are looking good. This looks like the
first time we could qualify in several years."
The first competition for the Bruins will be Jan. 28-29 at Santa
Barbara. UCLA will be hosting the second race of the year on Feb.
11-12 at the UCLA Aquatic Center in Marina del Rey. Anyone
interested in attending the race or participating can contact the
Aquatic Center at (310) 823-0048.