News & Views for Southern Sailors - Southwinds Magazine

BY DAN DICKISON
The docks at the Charleston Community Sailing Center. The center
has increased its activities every year since it was established in
1999, and now provides a range of instructional youth programs
while also managing the high school sailing competition for nine
local teams.
With 70-plus boat-owning members on the rolls and more
than twice that many associate members, CORA exists principally
on paper, online and in the heart of its proponents.
Without a clubhouse or a fleet of support boats, its members
stage races and regattas and social gatherings throughout
the year, including a series of offshore distance races.
Maybe you gauge an area’s vitality in the sport by the
kind of fundraising that sailors do in that place. If so, rest
assured, Charleston is in good standing. Sailors who’ve participated
in this city’s annual Leukemia Cup Regatta have
raised over $1.5 million for the Leukemia and Lymphoma
Charleston Sailing School
“Learn to Sail with Confidence”
Society over the years. During the most recent edition in
early October (the 15th annual), those mariners pushed the
bar impressively high, raising another $132,000.
And when it comes to raising the bar, few sailing teams
have done that like the College of Charleston’s squad.
Originally established in 1976, the team has been a dominant
force in NCAA competition for the last two decades,
winning top prize at the collegiate national regatta three different
times. As of this writing, the Cougars are ranked No.
1 in the nation. And you can add to that the fact that Dr. Ken
King and a team representing Charleston just finished third
in US SAILING’s annual Offshore Championships in
Annapolis, MD.
Of course, all these highlights don’t really matter to
most sailors, right Take a guy like Chris Starr, who likes to
pilot his 32-foot Pearson sloop around Charleston Harbor
on weekends. Starr, a computer science professor, doesn’t
race his boat. He mostly just day sails with his dog. So, does
any of this sailing context make a difference to him
“Yes!” says Starr emphatically. “I’ve got an amazing
range of choices because of all this. I can race if I want; I can
join the cruising club; I can go to a number of different boatyards
if I need to…I love knowing that we’ve got CORA
here for that kind of sailing, and we’ve got one of the top
collegiate sailing teams in the country right here. I’ve got so
many choices in things like marinas and other places to go,
it’s really a phenomenal resource for sailors.”
A year-round sailor, Starr says he’s grateful to live in a
place that’s conducive to that. “Because of our surroundings,
if it’s too windy in the harbor, I can stay in the rivers. If it’s
nice offshore, I can go there. Add that dynamic to all the other
resources we have, and to me, it makes this place unique.”
So maybe it isn’t all about size and volume. Maybe, like
that old adage instructs: ‘It’s not the size of the ship in the
storm; it’s the motion of the ocean.”
Charleston definitely has some impressive motion
going on.
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Bareboat & Skippered Charters
Powerboat Rentals
Yacht Deliveries
Charleston City Marina • 17 Lockwood Dr.
843-364-4123
www.charlestonsailingschool.com
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News & Views for Southern Sailors SOUTHWINDS November 2011 43