When January 1st, 2008 dawned a year ago, the GW Sailing Team found itself in a position that was both difficult and familiar. Three years previously, the organization had been rescued from extinction by a group of enterprising freshman sailors, but the challenges faced by the team were daunting. GW had no boats, no coach, a small budget, and little success to speak of. What did exist, however, was a group of determined and dedicated sailors.  In January 2009, the team finds itself in the midst of a new and exciting transformation.

The turning point came in April 2008, when the team won first place overall at the Colony Cup, hosted by William & Mary. This was the first regatta ever won by the modern iteration of the GW sailing team, and the symbolic significance of this event has had enormously positive repercussions. In addition to besting a strong field of both varsity and club teams, GW gained a newfound sense of pride and purpose, and re-dedicated itself towards the ultimate goal of becoming a perennial contender in college sailing.    

This key victory did not go unnoticed on GW’s campus, and both the regatta and the history of the team were covered in a front-page article in the GW Hatchet. This got the attention of several high-level school officials, who later proved instrumental in helping us to procure six new boats for 2009. It was clear by then that GW Sailing was headed in a new direction.

Since last spring, our team membership has increased exponentially, and now includes large Racing (20 people), Recreational (15), and Learn-to-Sail (30) elements. We have, over the past year, beaten the majority of the club teams that we have competed against, some of which are funded by their school administrations and have varsity-quality coaching. Recently, we have also had very respectable results against large, well-funded varsity programs such as Georgetown University, The U.S. Naval Academy and St. Mary’s College of Maryland. These flagship programs are a model of what we aspire to, and their leaders have helped us immensely. In addition, as our numbers and confidence swell, we have begun to enter teams into a wider variety of regattas, including single-handed and all-women’s events.         

Earlier this year, before we purchased our new fleet, the GW Sailing Team was facing the grim prospect of losing its capacity to practice. In late August 2008, right before the start of our fall season, we were informed by the National Maritime Heritage Foundation, the owner of the boats we used, that they were granting exclusive use of all of their equipment to a local high school program. The GW sailing team, unable to outbid the newcomers, was thus deprived of its principle means of training its sailors, and was left in a difficult situation. However, help quickly arrived from a nearby source. The head coach of Georgetown University's Varsity Sailing Team, Michael Callahan, offered to let us use a few of his team’s boats to practice in during the week. Its is safe to say that his generosity saved our season, if not our team. The arrangement has worked so well, in fact, that once our new boats arrive, we will continue to practice with our Georgetown neighbors, and try to absorb some of the skills that allowed them to win the 2008 Collegiate National Sailing Championship.

GW Sailing 2008/09

  1. •Location: Washington, D.C.

  2. •Facility: Washington Sailing Marina

of Alexandria (Directions On Home Page)

  1. •Advisor: Mr. Joe Bondi

  2. •Coach: Mr. Jay Sterne

  3. •Fleet: Six 2009 Club FJ’s

  4. •Contact Email: gwsail@gwu.edu



Student Executive Board:

  1. •President: Will Ricketson ’11

  2. •Captain: Meredith Carroll ’11

  3. •Captain: Hilly Walrod ’12

  4. •Treasurer: Briana O’Connell ’12

  5. •Secretary: Katie Hilton ’12

  6. •Secretary: Sloan Dickey ’12


-Graphics Consultant: Matthew Ricketson


Our organization is made up of both a RACING TEAM and a LEARN-TO-SAIL program, both of which endeavor to expose GW students and DC residents to the world of sailing. 


For more information about how to get involved with both of these programs, CLICK HERE.

Recent History of the GW Sailing Team

(From Jan ’09 Newsletter)

A Program for All Skill Levels:

UPDATE: Fall 2009 Season Summary, 11/16/09


   The GW Sailing Team competed in the Atlantic Coast Tournament this previous weekend at Cornell, and in doing so, finished a highly successful and historic season. While racing records from decades past have been largely lost to us, it is likely that GW has never before advanced this far in college sailing’s fiercely contested Fall qualifier system. This is a progression that started at the Tom Curtis Memorial Regatta in early October, when GW shocked its conference by finishing 7th out of 18 schools, racing against the top varsity and club teams in our district. In doing so, we qualified for the War Memorial, the MAISA (Mid-Atlantic Conference) Fall Championship. This was our first berth at the “War” since the mid 1990’s, according to former team President Kathleen Hall ’07.

    We raced well enough at the War Memorial to advance to the Atlantic Coast Tournament, which was held this year at Cornell University’s impressive new sailing center. Qualifying for the ACT was exciting for us not only because we had reached the third and final round of college sailing’s Fall season “Playoffs”, (Probably for the first time in school history) but also because we would be racing against schools from all three East Coast Conferences: MAISA (Mid-Atlantic Intercollegiate Sailing Association) NEISA (New England) and SAISA (South Atlantic)

    Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate for much of the weekend, and our regatta team of Meredith Carroll ’11, Anne Laterra ’11, Hilly Walrod ’12 and Will Ricketson ’11 had difficulty getting into a groove. The first race in A-Division started off with a brisk 10 knots of wind, and GW rounded the first mark in third. However, a dying breeze and a multi-boat pile-up at the leeward mark pushed GW back in the fleet. All told, A and B divisions completed only four races each, all in very little wind. Day two of the event saw so little breeze that all racing was cancelled.

    GW ended up 15th out of 16 schools racing at the Atlantic Coast Tournament, and we certainly felt that it was far from our best showing of the season. However, it is worth noting that this placing does not paint the whole picture. There are 108 active and functioning college sailing teams in MAISA, NEISA, and SAISA combined. Based on our Fall season regatta results, we can place ourselves as the 33rd ranked team out of 108. Only 10 of the schools ranked ahead of us are club teams (By our count), the rest being varsity programs. Additionally, we are not aware of many, if any, schools ranked ahead of us that do not have a full or part time coach supporting their program. In short, the fact that we now find ourselves firmly in the top third of all east-coast college sailing teams is a very significant accomplishment.

    Two years ago, our team had no boats, little funding and not much tradition to stand on. It would have been easy for our sailors to go find some other activity to fill up their (nearly) nonexistent spare time. Instead, a bunch of ambitious, devoted and slightly crazy people decided to challenge the status quo and achieve more. We can now consider that status quo officially demolished.


    The George Washington University Sailing Team is incredibly grateful for the support we have received from students, faculty, parents, competitors, the student government, and the administration. We hope you will continue to follow our progress as we strive to expand and improve our organization.


-Will Ricketson, ’11, President, GW Sailing

11/16/09