TAMUG Sail Team - Fall 2003

The Varsity Sail Team at Texas A&M Galveston had a very successful fall season, raising the bar of excellence once again. The team traveled predominately to the East Coast this season with regattas in New York, Maryland, and Florida, in addition to the many district regattas in Texas and Louisiana. Although the school year is already half over, the sail team has made great strides towards being recognized nationally.

For the first time in over a decade, the Sail Team qualified for the Intercollegiate Sloops Nationals. The district qualifier was held at Houston Yacht Club in fairly new Flying Scot sailboats. The weekend consisted of light winds, as TAMUG made a dominating presence by winning every race but one.

In addition to the district regatta, the sail team also sent six sailors to Maryland for the Naval Academy Fall Intersectional. It proved to be a very cold weekend with fair winds, and all the sailors brought back valuable experiences to the Team.

The sail team met other goals by having a large participation in the District Single-handed Regatta, hosted by UT Austin and held at Austin Yacht Club. A total of eleven sailors, men and women, competed to qualify for the Single-handed Nationals. TAMUG was successful in qualifying two sailors to compete in the Men’s Intercollegiate Single-handed Nationals, Bill Self and Hugh Haggerty. The District regatta was sailed in mostly light and very shifty breeze, which made for patient and close racing.

The Sloops Nationals were held at SUNY Maritime College in the Bronx, New York on November 7-9. Sailors that traveled were Bill Self, Hugh Haggerty, Scott Stanton, Andrew McInnes, and Coach Gerard Coleman. The conditions were definitely colder than the TAMUG sailors were used to as everyone packed on all the gear they owned. The Flying Scot sailboats were all brand new with new sails that were all arranged by Graham Hall and SUNY Maritime. It was a great weekend of sailing as TAMUG sailed very consistently. Unfortunately, the team was disqualified in one race for touching a marker, which added more points to the final score and put the team at 6^th overall out of ten competitors.

The Single-handed Nationals were held at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida on November 21-23. The two sailors that qualified, Hugh and Bill, traveled with Coach Coleman for the three day event. The regatta was sailed in brand new Lasers provided by Vanguard Sailboats. Traditional Florida weather prevailed throughout the weekend with lots of sun and mostly light 0-10mph winds. There were sixteen competitors from around the country. The racing was extremely close as the most consistent sailor would do the best in the end. The shifty winds made for exciting racing around the course. At the end of the regatta, Bill Self finished 5^th and Hugh Haggerty finished 14^th. A well sailed regatta by both sailors as they competed against the best collegiate single-handed sailors in the country.

As this is a season of accomplishments, the TAMUG Sail Team topped it off by being recognized nationally in the Top 20 for the first time in TAMUG history. Being ranked 20^th, there is only one way to go, and that is up! The sail team is looking forward to improving even more in the spring season as the Spring Championships are just around the corner. Special thanks to Coach Coleman and the entire Sail Team for the hard work put in thus far. “Glad to be Here!”

~Bill Self