More than fancy shoes

With each passing day of warm weather, more and more boat shoes are popping up around campus. But speak to any member of the Princeton sailing team, a proud group of about 30 students, and they will tell you that the majority of those who adorn their feet with these shoes are just wannabes. In early March, the members of the Princeton Sailing Team put on their authentic boat shoes and set sail for the club's 77th year of racing.

The club team is a part of the Middle Atlantic Intercollegiate Sailing Association (MAISA), which includes 42 schools from seven states along the East Coast: New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, the eastern part of West Virginia and the District of Columbia. MAISA is just one of the many districts that comprise the Intercollegiate Sailing Association. Over the past 20 years, MAISA has become one of the country's most competitive districts.

Princeton, in fact, is directly responsible for the early success of MAISA. In its nascent years, the University's team won three dinghy North American titles in 1940, 1941 and 1963, and finished second or third nine times. MAISA sailors consistently place among the best in the nation's Intercollegiate Sailing Association national championships.

Princeton sails out of the Raritan Yacht Club in Perth Amboy, N.J., a 45-minute drive from campus. Raritan Bay, in sight of the southern tip of Staten Island, is considered by many to be one of the best training sites on the East Coast with winds consistently ranging between 10-15 knots during practice. Some other influencing factors found in the bay include deep water channels, lighthouses and boat traffic. It is not rare for a Princeton sailor to see oil tankers and barges trying to maneuver down these narrow channels.

The club also boasts two electric hoists which help the team move its fleet of 12 two-person Flying Junior dinghies in the fall and spring to and from the two winter storage boathouses on Lake Carnegie. Those boathouses served as the team's main training facility until it mid-1990s when they moved to Raritan.

The sailing team's fleet was purchased in 1997 thanks to generous donations from alumni.

Former Raritan Yacht Club Commodore Eric Leitner now coaches the Princeton sailing team, which practices twice a week in both the fall and spring, leaving campus at around 1:30 p.m. and returning at 7 p.m. Practices and most of the team's regattas take place in two-person dinghies, so the team members are matched up with a partner. One person acts as the skipper and the other as the crew. This pairing makes it possible for someone with no sailing experience to join the team.

And not every team member is a serious sailor. As the team's website says, "Our flexibility lets you treat [sailing] as a hobby or as a way of life."

"Most of all, the team requires and looks for dedication in its prospective members," sophomore commodore Tracey Harrop said, "because as you can imagine, practice combined with weekend-long regattas require large amounts of time, and like any sport, sailing well requires immense amounts of time practicing."

Recent regattas

Most recently, Princeton competed in the 2005 Ocean County College Spring Open last weekend at Toms River Yacht Club. Princeton finished sixth out of 19 in the regatta with 164 points. Ocean County College won the open with a point total of 40.

Over Easter weekend, Princeton hosted the Princeton Women's Spring Open at the Raritan Yacht Club. Princeton, which competed against Hobart/William Smith, Columbia and Kings Point, finished last in the "A" and "B" division and last overall. Sophomore Liz Gough and freshman Julia Peppiatt, a 'Prince' staff writer, were paired in the "A" division and Harrop and sophomore Adriana Willsie raced in the "B" division.

Harrop recently took over the reins of commodore from junior Powell Fraser. The commodore is at the top of the hierarchy of the sailing team's officers. Other positions include secretary, treasurer, regatta captain, fleet captain and practice captain.

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"As commodore, I oversee the entire operations of the sailing team, and coordinate and communicate with various groups which oversee the team, including the Club Sports Office, our alumni board and the Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association of North America," Harrop said.

Peppiatt, the regatta captain, helps choose which regattas the team attends during the season. Additionally, she decides who goes to which regattas and makes sure that they will have the proper transportation and housing that they need.

The fleet captains, juniors Fraser and Brandon Parry, are responsible for the maintenance and transportation of the 12 dinghies and two motor boats the team owns.

Heading into the 10th weekend of competition in the spring season, the sailing team is off to yet another regatta this weekend. The team will compete in the Maryland Spring Open on Saturday and Sunday against 21 colleges including Ivy League foes Penn and Cornell.

Harrop stresses that the squad, despite being formerly named the Princeton University Yacht Club, is not as preppy as the name and stereotypes tend to suggest.

"Although the name might sound preppy, college sailing is not the lounging around, fancy sport most people might imagine," she said. "especially when coming off the water in full waterproof sailing gear having battled water, wind, and salt all day."