The Gamecock Sailing Club is a student-run sports organization looking to continue growing their community and the love for sailing at 麻豆小蝌蚪传媒.
Re-established in 2012, the sailing club consists of two levels of commitment: club and team. Club sailing is geared towards students looking to learn how to sail and spend time on the water with friends.
For students looking to get more involved, the sailing team competes in keelboat and dinghy race teams that compete around the Southeast at 鈥渞egattas,鈥� or events, against Georgia, Clemson, North Carolina State, Georgia Tech and more.
Sophomore club commodore (president) David Manley grew up sailing on the Chesapeake Bay, and said South Carolina 鈥渃hecked all the boxes鈥� for him because of its sailing team.
His favorite memory was when President Bob Caslen hosted the sailing team for ice cream party for beating Clemson his freshman year.
According to Manley, COVID-19 has mainly impacted the club by limiting travel for the race teams. Due to the 25-mile radius guidelines set on sports clubs, they are unable to travel to competitions, including the typical 麻豆小蝌蚪传媒 opener in Tampa, Florida.
鈥淚t鈥檚 an adjustment,鈥� Alice Hart, a junior student and the secretary and head of social media, said. 鈥淚 know Justin Furlough, head of the sports clubs, is working really hard to make sure that we can still be able to do sports.鈥�
They are looking to make the most of the 25-mile radius restriction by hosting sails, or "clinics" on wellness holidays throughout the semester on Lake Murray. These are a way for club members to spend time together safely and allow anyone new to sailing to learn the ropes with team members.
Junior vice commodore Eilis McLaughlin said her first experience with club sailing was 鈥渒ind of intimidating鈥� because she went on the club鈥檚 capsize day and was told to 鈥渇lip the boat over.鈥�
Despite the initial shock, McLaughlin said she 鈥渉ad a lot of fun [and] met a lot of people,鈥� which led her to get more involved with the club.
The community of the sailing team is 鈥渁 good group of hardworking people鈥� who are supportive and encouraging, according to McLaughlin. She explains that under normal circumstances, the team enjoys going to games and tailgates together, but they are also supportive of one another when it comes to schoolwork.
Freshman public relations student and social media co-chair Emma Gouiran said that regardless of year in school or where members are from, everyone [on the team] was "overwhelmingly nice from day one.鈥�
Hart said she missed being able to meet new club members this year due to COVID-19 guidelines. She said it was difficult to meet new members last semester because of the shortage of events. But, she hopes there will be more opportunities to safely get to know new members this spring.
When asked, Manley, Gouiran and McLaughlin all emphasized that they wanted students to know that no experience is necessary to join the club. Manley said new members 鈥渃an be a complete amateur[s]鈥� because experienced sailors are there to make sure newcomers 鈥渄on鈥檛 need to worry about drowning.鈥�
鈥淪ailors just want to spread sailing," Gouiran said.
If the team can 鈥済et the ball rolling鈥� and get on the water to practice and compete, they have the talent and potential to be 鈥渞eally good鈥� going forward, Gouiran said.
For students looking to get involved with Gamecock Sailing, the club post updates on its Instagram, . Practices begin on March 1, and keelboat clinics will be on Feb. 13, Feb. 25 and March 20; followed by dinghy clinics on March 30 and April 21.