This year marks the 10th anniversary of LT’s Sailing Club. They are celebrating the achievements and obstacles they have had along the way to be 10 years strong, however, they aspire for more: seeking to grow their community to continue from their decade of success. 

“We would love more people to join the club and the team,” President Plumm De La Cruz ‘27 said. “It would be amazing; it’s always been a struggle.”

The road to 10 years wasn’t easy; they’ve dealt with numerous challenges that put the future of sailing in jeopardy, especially early on, when LT was reluctant to back them.

“We had to fly under the radar: we had no support from the school, or any inclination that we would get future support from the school,” founder Casey Gignac ‘18 said. “Rather than supporting [us], they made it harder to survive.”

Lack of support stemmed from concerns with the liability associated with the potential dangers of sailing in the water outside of LT. In order to gain some semblance of recognition from the school, the Sailing Club was formed, which dealt with school officials’ concerns by removing every activity that would happen on the water. Despite not doing anything on the water, the club holds two meetings a month, consisting of discussions and activities related to sailing at the SC library. The Sailing Team, on the other hand, is not officially affiliated with LT; they sail and compete on the water.

“On the water, [sailing] is not recognized by LT because of the liability,” De La Cruz said. “We were talking about it for a little while, but it’s just such a big thing.” 

Problems continued to arise when club sponsor Dave Root resigned from the role, leaving a vacancy in his place.

“When he stepped down last year, in the fall, we were trying to find a new [sponsor],” De La Cruz said. “We had three possible candidates, then they stepped down, so it was a long road to find a new one.” 

Despite the challenges, LT sailing is still going strong, continuing to find new innovative ways to generate interest and build on its future.

“We went to future freshman night, and instead of just having a table, I brought my boat,” De La Cruz said. “Then a new idea that I had is going into some of the feeder schools that come into LT, and bringing my boat there to show them.”