Save SMU Sailing!

[Webmaster]

Sailing is a terrific sport! Of the many favorable aspects of the sport, one I like the most is that people of all kinds can participate competitively in it. If you're a hulking ex-linebacker who can grind hundreds of pounds on a winch for hour after hour, there's a spot for you. If you're a 90 lb agile gymnast type or the chessmaster who can do complex geometry in their head while reading the wind and counting backwards from 5 minutes, there's a spot for you onboard too!

For over 30 years, the SMU Sailing Team has given student-athletes training and access to this terrific sport. And if the team is good enough, it doesn't matter what conference we're in; if you keep winning you can compete at the highest levels.

I'm a little fuzzy on the details, but it appears as though the sailing team lost its charter, and therefore the financial support of the university, a few years ago. This issue only just now came to light when a Sailing Club alumni happened to see that the Dallas Corinthian Yacht Club at White Rock Lake (where the team trains and stores its sailboats) was about to fire sail the club's boats, sails and equipment for nonpayment of rent.

The Sailing Team has to fight SMU for funding every year, but fortunately we have a good group of kids committed to doing just that. There's just the little matter of taking care of the past several years' obligations.

That's why we're asking PonyFan to help. If every PonyFans donated a couple of dollars, we can pay the back rent and get SMU's boats out of hock by this weekend. If not, this terrific program will literally cease to exist for the next generation of Mustang sailors, which candidly would be a disgrace.

Please take a moment to visit the Bring Back the SMU Sailing Team GOFundMe page here, and throw in a few dollars (or more) if you'd be willing to help:https://www.gofundme.com/2hqy8jw

[Water Pony]

Thanks for the post. I agree and donated. It is a great sport, which helps model attention to detail, strategy, skill development, teamwork, etc.

[gostangs]

Why can't they just pay for it themselves?

[smusic 00]

Right, why isn't there a fee to pay to sail?

[Water Pony]

FYI, Club Sports like sailing, lacrosse, etc. do have participation fees by the students. My son played LAX at SMU and we contributed. However, schools do fund certain expenses during the season but fund raising, as we did in LAX, remains important.

[Webmaster]

Two points

1. Obviously some of us still have "Death Penalty Mentality". Despite what the NCAA might try to convince us of, it's not really fair to ask the current student-athletes to pay the bills from the past years. And by the way, those (former) kids also paid to their dues to participate, what we're talking about here is covering the support SMU withdrew.

2. Using this logic, why isn't there a fee to participate in football? Or setting football and men's basketball aside as possible revenue generators, what about all the non-revenue sports?? I can guarantee you that the Sailing Club costs the university less than just about any other sport they do happen to support. And by the way, SMU Sailing was ranked nationally a few years back. So using a cost/prestige formula (most of ranked schools tend to be the East Coast and Ivy League schools we fashion ourselves after) and a but a wacky logic, you could make the argument that with the exception of men's basketball, sailing is among our more successful programs per dollar spent?

I suppose the reason I support the university and SMU athletics in particular is out of a sense of pride and the wish for succeeding generations of Mustangs to have the same (or better) college experience that I had. Those two reasons certainly hold true in this particular case.

[Webmaster]

And by the way, PonyFan sail420s, I'm calling you out!

I want to see a couple of $$ out of you. I promise to steal less Boulevard beer from you this fall so you should be able to afford to donate mega bucks.

[sail420s]

I submitted. I'll see if I can get something posted at TSC.

This is a great program to have on campus. Sailing is not an NCAA sport on any level. They didn't want to deal with the NCAA BS that we are all too familiar with. What that means is as a club sport, we still compete on the highest level. We race against fully funded programs with full time coaches...Navy, Tufts, Harvard, Stanford, USC...

It also takes strong leadership from the students. Somewhere along the line someone dropped the ball and did not reapply for the charter. The kids there now want to fix that and rebuild this great program.

I know other team's alumni (several TAMU sailors) that have also donated to this cause.

[sail420s]

[smustatesman]

I heard a rumor that Christopher Cross was to give a SMU Sailing bennefit concert August 26, 2016 at White Rock Lake.

[smupony94]

I heard a rumor that Christopher Cross was to give a SMU Sailing bennefit concert August 26, 2016 at White Rock Lake.

I would come to a yacht rock show

[mrydel]

The bus brigade has really put a pall on my desire for special donations.

[smustatesman]

Rumor is that recently, a contingent of Rio De Janeiro sailors, refused to sail White Rock Lake until they made it more user friendly (more like home). They requested that locals put excrement, urine, and dead bodies in the lake before they would participate!

[smitty329]

According to the Go Fund Me page the issue is a decrease in membership thus a decrease in support from the university - what efforts are being made to increase membership and regain the support of the university? I am all for helping to fix the leak but want to make sure there is focus on fixing the hull

[stc9]

I have got to imagine that the value of the 420s is worth more than $5k. If for no other reason the school should step up and cover this tab (giving the kids more time to fundraise) than to let these assets go and receive nothing for them. If the kids don't gather the money then the school can sell them for their fair market value (at least $5k for the group - they retail for over $8k each).

That is the argument I would put forth to the school to buy myself more time.