TAMUG Sailing Team Wins North
American Sloops Championship
The Texas A&M University at Galveston sailing team
finished their 2004 fall season with a win at the 2004
Intercollegiate North American Sloop Championship. The
regatta was hosted by the University of California at Irvine
and was held in Newport Beach, California at the Balboa
Yacht Club November 19-21, 2004. Other competing
universities included the University of Southern California,
Yale University, Tufts University, University of South
Florida, US Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, US Naval
Academy, University of Washington, Ohio University and the
University of Michigan.
The big team from the small branch-campus of Texas
A&M shocked the collegiate racing world with their win at
the Intercollegiate Sailing Association (ICSA) North
American Sloop Championship regatta.
“To
our knowledge, we are the smallest school in the nation to
ever win a National Championship in Sailing,” stated Coach
Gerard Coleman.
In college sailing, a sloop is a three-person boat
with a spinnaker. Each crew member contributes to strategy,
tactics, and boat handling. Each team competing at the
national level must qualify in their own district. There are
over 200 colleges and universities in the United States and
Canada actively competing in intercollegiate sailing. The
TAMUG team qualified for this event by winning their
district championship held in Fort Worth, Texas at Eagle
Mountain Lake October 29-31.
Sail Team members Scott Stanton, Andrew McInnes, Brad
Winslett, and Nick Moraski were the four team members who
traveled with Coach Gerard Coleman for the competition, but
all of them are very quick to state that this victory
belongs to the entire Sailing Team. All of them worked hard
throughout the year representing Texas A&M University at
Galveston at all the various disciplines at ICSA National
Championships (other disciplines include singlehanded men
and women, doublehanded coed and women, and team racing).
However, they brought home the trophy and the North American
Championship in the sloop discipline.
“This is the first National Championship won by Texas
A&M University at Galveston since the 1980s when the
offshore team won the Kennedy Cup,” stated Coach Coleman.
The team spirit is very strong amongst these Aggie
sailors. All of them are very hesitant to be quoted because
they all believe so strongly that the whole team was
instrumental in this victory. Two of the sailors said, “We
knew we could do it, we’ve always believed. We were able to
execute this weekend and bring home the trophy.”
Little or not, the big belief of this team won
through. Brad Winslett came to Texas A&M University at
Galveston because of the uniqueness of its ocean-oriented
business degree program and because of the sail team. He
stated, “I thought we were good, but I didn’t know how we
would do against such tough competition. After the first
race, I was thinking, ‘we can do this, we can really do
this.’”
The four competitors who returned from California
were greeted by a campus police “escort” and team mates with
posters of congratulations. The entire Team celebrated their
victory by dousing Coach Coleman with the traditional
“Gatorade.”
“We’re so proud of this team” stated Interim Vice
President and CEO Bill Hearn, “their spirit, team-work, and
‘can-do’ attitude are indicative of the students at this
small but resourceful campus. Congratulations to this team
of sailors for your outstanding accomplishment in winning
this National Championship.”
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For more information contact Teri Fowlé (409) 740-4830;
fowlet@tamug.edu
