Ever wondered what it is like to sail through the wind and waves? For the members of Mount Carmel’s sailing team, they know exactly how it feels.
Timmy Carter is a freshman at Mount Carmel and a member of the team, but he has been sailing for a long time now. He is very excited to be part of something unique.
“I wanted to help establish a great program,” Timmy says about why he joined. He also enjoys the camaraderie among his teammates.
“There’s a lot of camaraderie that I enjoy. It’s really fun.”
Wyatt Knight, a sophomore, is now in his second year with the team. Though he has years of previous experience in sailing prior to arriving at MC, he had been intrigued by joining an actual sailing team because it is different from other sports. “I like being out there with the boys, being on the water, and having a good time,” he said.
Carter agreed, saying that the fun is a big part of the experience.
Knight and Carter are joined on the fall season squad by senior Leslie Cleveland, juniors Claude Henderson, Bryce Mason, Patrick McCorkle, and Kenny Takruri, sophomore Kyron Wright, and freshmen William Kinsey, David Medina, Matthew Smith, and Vincent Thomas.
“We’re not at competition yet, but we’ve had a lot of new guys join, and it’s great to see them learning how to sail,” Coach Baffoe said. “Sailing is a unique sport, especially for a South Side school like Mount Carmel, and seeing these guys work together is amazing.”
The team practices at the Jackson Park Yacht Club, where the equipment they use is also stored. The boats do not belong to the school, but the team is very fortunate to be able to borrow them from the yacht club’s youth sailing program.
“We’re really lucky to be able to use these boats for free,” Coach Baffoe said. He added that most of what MC sailors are learning comes from other instructors who generously give their time to the team, including Karen Harris, President of the Jackson Park Yacht Club Foundation and Vice Commodore of JPYC, Kate Mattiello, a certified sailing instructor and junior at Jones College Prep, and Bob Szyman ’65, MC alum and MC sailing ambassador.
Coach Baffoe emphasizes that sailing teaches essential teamwork skills.
“When they’re on the boats, each person has a role and has to work in sync,” he said.
Teamwork is crucial during sailing exercises and races.
Knight explained, “You have to raise the sail, get the ropes, and make sure everyone’s ready when you turn the boat,” Knight said. “If not, you could tip the boat over and that is never good.”
Carter mentioned that the team communicates before races to discuss strategies.
“We can’t really talk to each other [from separate boats] while sailing, so we make game plans ahead of time.”
As for the future, the team hopes to start competing soon.
“We were supposed to scrimmage Fenwick [on September 22], but it got canceled due to weather,” Coach Baffoe said. “Hopefully, by next spring, we’ll have more competitions lined up.”
In the meantime, Caravan Sailing is putting in practice time- on Saturday mornings building teamwork and getting experience on the water so that they are ready when competition time arrives.
