The inaugural Lane sailing team set sail in their first ever competition on Sept. 26, in a regatta hosted by Lake Forest. The team finished fourth out of 14 teams, and successfully completed Lane’s first regatta in the school’s 107-year existence.

Aidan Lallas, Div. 879, and Jemima Korbel, Div. 958, led the charge to form the new Lane Sailing team. It is already the most intermixed co-ed sport and the newest addition to Lane’s athletic department.

The team began their season in the fall of 2015, competing in multiple regattas around the Chicago area.

The team has 11 sailors who will sail in both the spring and fall season, only five of whom have prior sailing experience, according to Lallas.

“Actually most of the people on the team don’t have any experience,” Lallas said. “If you decide to join we will teach you everything you need to know. Some of the people that have joined that had zero experience are actually doing very well.”

The sailing team carpooled or rode the train to practices at Columbia Yacht Club in the fall in preparation for their three fall regattas. The team placed fourth, 10th and last place respectively in each of three regattas.

Two of the regattas were hosted by Lake Forest and one was held at Lane’s practice facility, Columbia Yacht Club.

Each regatta consists of multiple“420” sailboats (4.2 meters long) with two people in each boat. One teammate acts as the Skipper, who steers the boat, and one acts as the Crew, who receives instructions from the Skipper.

Both Korbel and Lallas were encouraged by family members and fellow students to start the team.

Like Korbel and Lallas, Athletic Director Mr. Hofman has also received requests from students and parents to create a sailing team.

“We’ve had emails from parents wondering if there was a sailing team, and we said no it’s just a club, but we didn’t have too much information till I was reached out to by the student,” Hofman said.

Lallas has been sailing for the past 5 years now.

“I have been sailing at Columbia Yacht Club schools since I started, and I talked with the head person there, and he was really into helping me out,” Lallas said. “So we just decided to email Mr. Hofman, and Mr. Hofman was really for it and made it really easy.”

Although the team is affiliated with Lane, it is not sponsored by Lane the same way the other teams are.

“We do not fund it. It is an athletic team in name only,” Hofman said. “We do not have the resources to fund the sailing team, but we are considering the kids varsity athletes, and they will receive athletic letters.”

The coaches and coordinators of the team are affiliated with Chicago’s own Columbia Yacht Club, located downtown, at Dusable Harbor. Kor-
bel, Lallas and others have sailed with Columbia Yacht Club in the past. That is also where they will practice, every Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday — but only two of the days are mandatory, according to Korbel.

The team has approximately seven regattas scheduled for the spring sea-
son, according to Korbel. They will feature other city and suburban sailing programs such as Payton, New Trier, Jones, Saint Ignatius, Latin and others.

Although football, wrestling and hockey are all co-ed sports, they do not have many females participating. Sailing at Lane is unique in that it has a balance between male and female participants. This brings into question whether or not this could cause controversy.

“Unfortunately through my own experience there have been some times when there is a girl and guy boat, and the guy does tend to be sexist.” Lallas said. “Sailing is a sport where both guys and girls can be equally skilled.”

“I usually am the Skipper,” Lallas continued, “but I was in a boat with a boy once and he said that he should be Skipper because he didn’t believe I could handle being in charge, and also said that girls are better at taking orders.”

Korbel sees potential benefits to a co-ed team.

“I think it will positively affect the team because it is a good way to make better and different friendships for the opposite gender,” Korbel said.

Despite occurrences like this, the sailing team competed well for a first year team, and had great chemistry in the fall. They look to do the same come the spring season, especially with new additions to the team.