Sail Away! With CUA Club Sailing
Image Courtesy of Catholic University Fitness and Recreation
By Claudia Carrion
Did you know? CUA has a club Sailing Team, and you do not have to buy a boat! The school provides four six-foot sailing ships parked at the Washington Sailing Marina; anyone in the club can use them.
Eilis McCormick said the sailing ships are sometimes called “420 or dinghies.”
Founded in 1994, the Sailing Club has 21 co-ed members and counting. Eilis McCormick, 21, and her team meet every Thursday to discuss practices scheduled on Fridays and Saturdays to sail on the Potomac River.
Members of the team decide whether to sail during the entire year. Seasonal changes do not affect the club from practicing.
The sailing team gathers in Hannan Hall room 132 at 7:00 p.m. on Thursdays.
“Thursdays are to get everyone informed and ready to sail on the weekends, sometimes we do have the regatta,” said McCormick. “Our club is laid back, everyone is welcome to join, we have four boats, and we rotate for turns while others work on other sailing skills.”
Other skills include learning sailing phrases and speaking like a true sailor, “birdtalk,” is what McCormick called it. Moreover, members are taught to handle the ships on their own and all the safety requirements beforehand.
On Fridays and Saturdays, a van comes to a designated location at the school where the team agrees to pick them up.
“Not all 21 of us come on the practice days, I would say an average of six people would be there,” said McCormick, “Other people just have conflicting schedules or they’re swamped, but we accommodate everybody.”
McCormick noted other than the sailing ships, her favorite thing about the sailing club is the social environment it provides.
McCormick, a senior and Commodore (president) of the club, studies biomedical and engineering and is set to graduate this May. Another president will be needed once she starts a new chapter and leaves the CUA community.
To join the Sailing Team Club, you must enter through the Nest by filling out this form click here! Or email McCormick at [email protected].
