CAROLINA SAILING World renowned racer Greg Fisher, director of the College of Charleston Sailing Program, gives a talk on the finer points of racing dinghies. Photo by Dan Dickison.
Fostered by Facebook… and Friends Want to get stoked about sailing? Try Tuesday evenings in Charleston where fun is the emphasis—not winning By Dan Dickison
D
rive over the Ravenel Bridge from Charleston, SC, to Mt. Pleasant any Tuesday evening these days and you’re apt to be distracted from the road. Down on the water, just off the Yorktown aircraft carrier, a bunch of sailing dinghies mill about. It may look like most other
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evenings during the year when the College of Charleston’s nationally renowned team practices, but this is different— way different. Out there, using the same fleet of 420s and FJs, is a group that includes newbies and veteran racers alike. With participants ranging from 16 to nearly 60 in age, everyone’s enjoying a bunch of short races, and no one is keeping score. That’s just how it was intended, explains Jacob Raymond, the assistant dockmaster for the college’s sailing center (the host of this activity) and an instructor in its community sailing program. “What we want to see is people enjoying the sport with easy access to it. That’s what this is about.” If anyone gets credit for enacting the Tuesday evening racing series, it’s Raymond. He’s a big proponent of making sailing accessible and affordable, and he knew the time was ripe for this. Back in May, he and his co-organizers, which include local sailors Jared Chrysostom and Patrick Rogers, made some calls and got a handful of teams to come out. Chrysostom then set up a Facebook page—College of Charleston Community Sailing Racing—and everyone began inviting friends. According to Raymond, “We tried to get people out last year, but it was pretty casual and we had limited participation. This spring, I started talking it up at various regattas and events and Jared put us on social media. In just a few weeks, it grew from four boats to eight to over 20.” Customarily, participants begin arriving at the J. Stewart Walker Sailing Center around 5:00. If you show up without a crew or a skipper, Raymond and his colleagues try to match you up with someone. Each team rigs its own boat and then sails it just outside the marina complex where the organizers set up buoys in a short, windward-leeward format. Depending upon the timing and the weather, they’ll conduct anywhere from one to eight races. To keep things moving, they use the condensed, three-minute starting sequence familiar to college sailors. And the best part? The whole thing is truly economical. If you’re a member of the College of Charleston Community Sailing Association www.southwindsmagazine.com