Every semester, University of Rhode Island students take to the shores with the sailing club.
The student-run organization is currently headed by two second-year students, President Abby Gordon and Vice President Claire Zarybnisky.
Both joined the club in their first years and took up the mantle of president and vice-president this semester after the previous club leaders graduated. As an underclassmen-heavy club, there was a lot of room for growth in the upcoming semesters.
“We’re for the most part all about trying to get people out on the water, trying new things,” Zarynbnisky said.
Gordon’s favorite time with the sailing club was last year’s regatta. Zarybnisky said her favorite sailing club moment was their trip to Newport’s sailing museum.
The sailing club is a relatively unique club for a university to have. Access to water and to boats is not something that many schools have. The sailing club even helped to bring Gordon to URI.
“It was a big selling point for me,” Gordon said. “It was one of the reasons I came here. I was looking for a sailing club. I do think that it is a selling point for URI.”
One thing that both students stressed was how much the employees at the sailing center help bring everything together. They help with boat rigging on sail days, act as safety personnel on whalers and occasionally come to Wednesday meetings to teach some basic sailing training.
Another thing that Gordon and Zarybnisky said was that the act of overturning the boat is not necessarily a bad thing. They see many people have a mentality that, ‘if I capsize, it means I failed.’ They don’t see it that way. They see capsizing as a means pushing yourself beyond the limit.
“Much of our recruitment just comes from people bringing their friends on our outings. We love having more people,” Zarybnisky said. “It’s probably one of my favorite parts of the club. Much of our recruitment and growth come from people in the club.”
One of their first outings had as many as 30 people, she said.
The sailing club does more than just sail. The club had two kayaking outings, one even at nightfall. Zarybinsky said “Kayaking is by far my favorite extra activity we have.”
“It’s really good to get off campus, there are not a lot of opportunities to do that. It’s fun to meet new people,” new member first-year Abbey Gifford said. “Being out on the water is part of our culture. If you’re out there you feel more connected to it. I think it’s important.”
The sailing club has aspirations to expand as well.
“We’re always looking for new people,” Gordon said. “We get a lot of emails halfway through the year asking about the requirements for the club. I say, if you can come to anything we will be so hyped to have you there. It’s a chill club.”
Sailing club meetings are at 6:00 p.m. every Wednesday at Pastore 259 and outings are on Saturdays and Sundays depending on weather. More information on the sailing club can be found @urisailingclub on Instagram.