Club waiting for freshman, alumni to sail into their group

Austin Clary grew up sailing. Liam Cunningham did not.

As incoming Clemson University freshmen, both were looking for something to get involved in, and both happened upon the school’s sailing club. Neither has left the dock much since — unless by boat of course.

“The minute I walked down there, I thought, ‘This is going to be where I’m spending all my time,’ ” Clary said. “It’s a great way to get away from school and relax.”

Now a rising sophomore, Clary spent so much time tinkering with boats at the clubhouse on Lake Hartwell, just minutes away from campus, that his peers nominated and elected him as equipment manager.

Cunningham was not a sailor growing up but always thought it’d be exciting to learn. The great part about the Clemson Sailing Club, he said, is that they teach you everything you need to know.

Members can attend weekday and weekend classes at the clubhouse. Once they pass the competency tests, they’re given the code to the equipment room and allowed out on the lake.

 Nearly 100 members take advantage of this club every year, some more so for the networking and the fellowship than the sailing, said Cunningham, club commodore and now a rising civil engineering senior.

“We have a lot of members who don’t sail but like to come out here,” he said.

Every year the club hosts a fall oyster roast and invites alumni back. Every Friday at 4 p.m. they load up a keel boat — either the C & C 26-footer or the Windrose 25-footer — and head out on the water for some light sailing fun.

For those looking for more than a little leisure sailing, the club has a racing team of about 10 members who sail all over the Southeast against schools such as Virginia Tech and N.C. State University.

As Cunningham and Clary try to drum up student involvement in the club, they’re also working to get alumni involved.

They’ve begun a newsletter and have been obtaining email addresses of past members. They want alumni to be more involved, to know what’s going on at their old stomping grounds.

In addition, the club has started the Clemson Sailing Foundation and is beginning to raise money to buy new 420-class sailing boats to replace the existing ones, which are nearly 30 years old. New boats cost $6,000 each, and in order to be eligible to race, the boats must be bought at the same time. The club needs 10.

“My goal is to work to the point where the foundation is growing immensely, and my goal is to have a fleet before I graduate,” Clary said.

To join the club, or simply learn more about it, visit www.clemsonsailing.org.

Published June 23, 2008