The Boston College sailing team rarely gets the attention it deserves.
Despite being ranked in the top five in the nation and having qualified for the national championship for two straight seasons.
The team competes throughout both fall and spring, staying on-campus for almost the entire month of June to practice and train for the national championships, yet there is no buzz around campus about the sailing team.
"It's kind of weird; a lot of people don't know what sailings all about and don't really concede it as a varsity sport or any kind of sport. It's more people's perception of it than anything else. Hopefully if we win nationals, that will start to change," said team captain Alan Reid.
The women's and co-ed teams have had tremendous success over the past few years, and the program continues to grow, both within in the school and on a national stage. BC has had to overcome the disadvantage of practicing in poor, cold weather and not being able to begin practice until the teams' spring break trip to either Florida or California. The Northern teams have been helped recently by NCAA rules that restrict the number of practices each squad is allowed, but still, the weather is not conducive to sailing.
"Being up here in the cold, all the regattas are here, all the big intersectional regattas are here and every team has to deal with the cold eventually," said Reid. "I guess it is knowing that you have to go out, and practice, and that if you don't practice when its 10 degrees out, then the teams down south are going to get more of an advantage."
BC has thrived recently; in the past three years, the team has held the No. 1 ranking. The co-ed team finished the fall season ranked No. 1 and the women's squad finished ranked No. 3. They compete in the New England Intercollegiate Sailing Association, a conference that includes Dartmouth, Harvard, Yale, Tufts, and other New England-based schools, and is the best sailing conference in the nation.
Spring Break
