With more than 55 members and a tutorial from an international coach, Marquette’s club sailing team is becoming much more competitive.

“This year should be very exciting. We are working very hard to build on our sailing skills,” team captain Steve Catlin said. “Over Labor Day weekend, we had a clinician come who was the head coach for the Swiss as well as the USA sailing team to work with us for two days. We have been practicing ever since with outings scheduled Monday through Thursday every week until the ice comes in.”

Marquette traveled to Iowa this weekend where they finished fifth out of 12 teams, one point out of fourth. It finished in second in the first race of the day and continued to stay amongst the leaders throughout the meet. A sailing meet, called a regatta, consists of a series of races that vary in number depending on the windiness and other weather conditions.

“The weather was beautiful and we brought 11 members who all had a great time,” said Catlin. “I decided to use this regatta as a testing ground for a few of the crew combinations in our team, so we switched the sailors around a bit to give newer members a try.”

The previous weekend Marquette had traveled to Madison, where weather conditions did not allow enough races to be run for the regatta to count.

“Our club and our sport are very unique. We are co-ed and bring the sport and lifestyle of sailing to people without the high prices of pursuing the sport outside of the team,” Catlin said.

The sailing team has grown tremendously in number. They have gone from 12 members in 2007, to 55 last year and even more this year.

“We have more members than last year, though we don’t have an official count for the semester. I am expecting upwards of 70 individuals.” Catlin said. “Having such a large sample pool has given us a great opportunity for depth and more competitive practices.”