College Sailing Team Spotlight
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Location/Enrollment: Cambridge, Mass., 4,384 undergrads, 6,510 graduates
Sailing Site: Charles River
Facilities/Boats: Walter C. Wood ’17 Sailing Pavilion, located on MIT campus, is the oldest university sailing pavilion in the world. It has 16,000 square feet of dock space, a boat shop, classroom with two high-definition TVs, locker rooms, offices, and excellent spectating from the dock and roof.
Coaching: Fran Charles, Sailing Master; Matt Lindblad and Matt Cohen, Co-Head Coaches
Team Status: Varsity
The MIT Engineers are hardworking, there is no doubt about that. Matt Lindblad, a co-head coach of the team, says despite being at an extremely prestigious school, the student athletes are just like every other group of diligent, passionate sailors. “The biggest difference is that they leave practice and spend the rest of their time working hands-on with world famous professors in state-of-the-art facilities.” Lindblad often forgets just who he is working with because his sailors are so modest, but he’s reminded when they’re hired by NASA, Microsoft, or Google.
Fran Charles, Lindblad, and Matt Cohen bring their own list of accomplishments—ranging from Olympic Team member to World Champion to National Champion—to a group of sailors that are not always serious racers when they arrive on campus, but after four years become nationally competitive skippers and crews.
MIT sailors master the art of racing in crazy shifty, conditions on the Charles River. The other key to the program’s success is sportsmanship and leadership.
Did you know?
MIT has won 11 ICSA Coed National Championships, more than any other school. Ralph L. Evans Jr., class of 1948, won silver at the 1948 London Summer Olympics in the Firefly class.
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