Besides the sea of corn fields, Iowa isn’t known for it’s nautical significance. That’s why it may come as a surprise that the Iowa State Sailing Club won the 2017 Big 12 Championship on Sept. 17.

The sailing club was on the verge of being discontinued just a year ago with diminishing numbers and a lack of adequate funding for the club, but now the sailing club is at its peak in Cyclone history.

A dynamic duo of experienced sailor Gus Nagro, and ROTC member Thomas Peterson are leading the way for Iowa State’s sailing club. The two come from the same high school just outside of Chicago. When they joined, only nine members were in the sailing club. Now the number is reaching the 40s.

The club itself is both competitive and recreational. The regattas are the competitive aspect, but the club often has day trips of recreational sailing at Saylorville, Ada Hayden and Big Creek. Experience is not a requirement upon joining the club, but will be quickly obtained through the teaching of the more practiced sailors.

Iowa State’s sailing club is currently without a coach, something that more established sailing programs have. However, that hasn’t hindered Iowa State’s recent success. Nagro, the commodore of the club, regularly will ask other clubs for guidance.

Going into the Big 12 Championship, Iowa State came in confident coming off of successful regattas. This was their first time meeting a lot of the conference schools, especially the ones in the south. The very first race, Nagro and Peterson’s boat got off to a fast start, and won the first race by a sizable margin, setting the tone for the next 21 races in the regatta.

Nagro and Peterson’s boat would go on to place first in 18 of the 22 races, and placing in the top-three every race. The two gave credit to each other, and stressed how important teamwork was for their success.

The regattas feel both like a competition and a mini vacation for the club members. The atmosphere at the regattas is very enjoyable, often having live music, or other forms of entertainment, and of course conversing with other sailing clubs.

“At the end of the day, we’re all there for a love of sailing,” Nagro said. “And that makes it a lot of fun for everyone there.”

Iowa State isn’t as well established as a lot of the other regional sailing clubs like the University of Iowa, Northwestern and Wisconsin. Iowa State’s sailing club isn’t funded like the other schools listed. Vice Commodore Peterson, talked about the well established programs.

“If you look at Madison [Wisconsin], they have brand new sailboats and a dedicated coaching staff,” Peterson said.

The club itself is growing at a phenomenal rate, and is the most successful that the club has ever been. The rise to prominence is thanks mostly to a handful of experienced sailors, like Nagro and Peterson, that have been recruiting more students to join the club. They hope that the increase in numbers will then translate into an increase in funding.

Usually the first question that comes to mind when thinking about a sailing club at Iowa State is: where do they practice? The only bodies of water on campus are College Creek and Lake LaVerne.

“If you come out at a full moon on midnight,” Nagro said. “And only then will you be able to cut through the fog and see us practicing out there with the swans.”

On a serious note, the ‘Lake LaVerne Yacht Club’, hopes to continue their upstart success at the Davis Cup hosted by their rival club, the University of Iowa, on Oct. 13.