There was a moment this past fall when I was leaning horizontally out of the boat with my head six inches above the water when it struck me: A month before I had never been in a boat. And now I was in a collegiate sailing race, competing on the UCLA sailing team.
Sailing at UCLA is club sport, meaning that although it is not NCAA competition, the team does compete against other universities. These schools include the University of Hawai’i, USC, Stanford and UC Berkeley.
When I came to school for my sophomore year I decided I wanted to try a new sport. Club sports offer more competition to students but require more of a commitment than intramurals. Teams have tryouts and regular practices, and they travel to other schools for games.
I was going to play rugby. I borrowed my friend’s cleats and had all my other friends begging me to tell them when practice was so they could watch me get destroyed and brutally dragged through the mud. When I showed up for the first practice, I found I had been spared. It was two-hand touch.
I had a great time. It was decided; I was going to be a rugby player.
That is, until I went to sailing tryouts. I showed up at the Marina Aquatic Center to give sailing a shot, and it did not take long to realize I had found my new sport. There was a barbecue. It was co-ed. I went out on the water for the first time in a 14-foot FJ, manned by two people, and had a great time taking the boat around the marina.
Somewhere my grandma breathed a silent sigh of relief that her grandson wasn’t going to attempt to be a rugby rookie, and my friends threw temper tantrums when they heard they weren’t going to get to watch my untimely death.
Ironically, it’s all thanks to John Madden that I’m a sailor instead of a rugby player. During my freshman year I lived on a floor with a guy who had been sailing all his life, and now sailed for UCLA. We played at least four games of Madden a week on his Xbox and every game he would subtly mention, “Hey, you should come out for sailing.”
After a year of subliminal messaging, I figured I owed it a chance. I gave it one, and I haven’t regretted it for a second.
My favorite kind of race is one in heavy wind, where the only things in the boat are my legs hooked under the hiking strap.
In my second regatta on the team I got introduced to this situation. After jockeying for position behind the starting line we headed up the course and the boat started to keel. In order to keep it flat and not capsize, I had to lean all the way out of the boat while still controlling the sail.
That was the moment I realized sailing is a sport. When my muscles started to get tired and I realized the difference between us continuing to zip along the course or be in the water was my ability to stay hiked out. It was exhausting and such a rush.
And then we came out of the water and camped out around a bonfire by the lake where we were racing. That’s the great thing about college sailing. There is strong competition in the water and then there is an infectious, relaxed vibe surrounding the sport once the racing is over.
Last year I found myself sailing all over California, racing in San Diego, Santa Barbara, Long Beach and San Francisco. I even won my first race at a regatta hosted by UH in Oahu. Camping on the beach watching lightning strike offshore, rugby could not have been further from my mind.
College is the perfect opportunity to pick up a sport like sailing. Before college I had heard of the America’s Cup, but that was it. I had never done it before, and I probably never would have done it afterward. But having picked it up in college, not only do I like racing now, but I can sail for years after I graduate.
Last fall when I told a friend of mine that I was on the UCLA sailing team, he told me that it was the most random thing he had ever heard. In a way it was, but in a way that is why it is the perfect thing to have started in college. Thank you, John Madden.
E-mail Gordon at bgordon@media.ucla.edu if your life path has also been governed by legendary sports icon John Madden.