The ISU Sailing Club has had to miss several regattas this year due to low membership. The club currently has 16 members, six of whom compete in regattas. The other club members sail recreationally.

Tyler Leggett, the club’s president and junior in aerospace engineering, attributes the low membership to “a lack of interest and a lack of knowledge.”

“People don’t think there is anywhere to sail in Iowa,” Leggett said.

Scott Little, the club’s vice president and sophomore in chemical engineering, agrees with Leggett.

“I don’t think a lot of people know we have a sailing club,” Little said. “It’s a surprise to a lot of people.”

Sailing season begins when school starts and runs until there’s ice on the water, Little said. In the fall, regattas begin after Labor Day and go till mid-November.

“We only have so much time to sail” before the weather gets bad, Little said. “It’s cold out there on the water.”

When the weather is bad, members go out in dry suits and wool clothes, Little said.

“The weather is a definite factor — it hinders our sailing in general,” Little said. “We don’t go out if it’s really windy.”

The club competed in Iowa City, Madison, Wis., and in Pella at Red Rock Lake this fall. The club competes against other schools in the Midwest such as Illinois, Minnesota and Northwestern, Leggett said.

“There were two or three regattas this fall that we couldn’t attend,” Leggett said.

Six members of the sailing club compete in regattas. Four people are required in order to compete in a regatta.

The club has trouble getting four people to dedicate their time to compete, Little said.

“We missed one regatta in Chicago because people dropped out,” he said.

Low numbers prevented the club from competing in any regattas last year. The club also missed the last month of the fall season after a mishap in Iowa City.

During the Davis Cup regatta in Iowa City this September, two of the club’s boats were involved in separate accidents, Little said.

During regattas, the host school provides boats for the competing schools, but sometimes they don’t have enough for every team. The ISU club took several of its boats to the Davis Cup. After each competition, the clubs trade boats. While other teams were controlling the ISU boats, they collided with other boats, causing damage.

Those boats are still in Iowa City being repaired. There will not be any charges to the ISU club for the repairs because Iowa offered to fix the boats.

“Races get kind of hectic sometimes,” Little said. “Our only safety concern is drowning, and we always wear life jackets.” The club also requires all members to pass a swimming test before they join.

The club practices twice a week at Big Creek — just north of Polk City — but plans on moving its practices to a lake on the north side of Ames, in Ada Hayden Heritage Park.

“We spend a lot of time driving down and back [to Big Creek],” Leggett said. This lake would be a much shorter drive for the club, which might help increase membership, Leggett said.

The park is being developed by Ames Park and Recreation, and is anticipated to open in spring 2004. The park will include a walking track and a footbridge across the lake.

The club has taken measures to increase membership, but has received little response.

“We participate in Club Fest and post fliers around campus two times a year,” Leggett said.

Membership fees are $45 per semester, or $115 per year, including the summer.

“In comparison to other collegiate clubs, it’s not that expensive,” Leggett said. “We are open to all members of the community, but community members can’t compete in regattas.”