Despite the popularity of club sports at Iowa State, most shut down for the summer, giving members a chance to take a break for a few months. This doesn’t stand true for a club most of Iowa State might not be aware of, the ISU Sailing Club.

The sailing club is about 40 members strong with 20 members sailing on a regular basis.

The club trains and practices at Big Creek Lake near Des Moines, and competes at various races throughout the school year and summer months.

Collegiately, the club participates in the Midwest Collegiate Sailing Association, with their season running from August to November and then from March to May.

Along with Iowa State, the association houses about 15 other schools including the University of Minnesota, the University of Illinois and Northwestern.

John Snyder, associate scientist of materials science and engineering, is a current member of the sailing club and has been so for about three years.

Snyder said that he’s really enjoyed his time with the club.

“It’s a great way to spend my weekends in the summer,” he said.

Snyder just finished a competition two weekends ago at the University of Iowa along with recent ISU graduate Angela Nelson. He finished fourth in competition during the first day and third during the second day.

Nelson finished the first day of competition with a third place finish.

Both competitors said they see the benefits of being involved in a group like the sailing club.

“It has brought me leadership opportunities, a chance to teach others how to sail and to learn myself since I didn’t know anything before,” Nelson said.

“When you’re a member of the club, you can also use the club’s equipment which is always nice.”

The next scheduled competition for members of the sailing club is Nationals, July 9-11 on Pymatuming Lake, which is along the border of Pennsylvania and Ohio.

Two competitors will be attending from the sailing club.

Snyder and ISU alumnus Ryan Richardson will be competing in the International FJ class of the event. The International FJ class involves two sails, two people and a 13 1/2 feet boat.

The two men will also be competing at the Sam Meyers Memorial Regatta July 7-8 as a tune-up for the main event.

Snyder said that the two men are renting a faster boat and he’s hoping that this will give them an advantage even though they aren’t familiar with it yet.

“We’re hoping the regatta the day before gives us good practice,” Snyder said.

“If we don’t feel like we got enough practice in, we’ll go out again before the competition.”

As far as joining the sailing club, Snyder said that they’re “always looking to recruit”, and they welcome anyone.

For more information contact Snyder by email at [email protected] or Nelson at [email protected].