My name is Laura Rozier and I’m a freshman on the Northwestern Sailing Team. Other than spending one summer in middle school learning how to sail JY14s on the Long Island Sound, I had never really been on the water before joining NUST. Following the advice of my PWild counselor–a sailor who had nothing but good things to say about her experience on the team–I decided to try out and, as luck would have it, made the team.
Looking back on the day I found out I was going to be a sailor, it’s funny to think how little I knew about what I was getting myself into. To be perfectly honest, the main reason I tried out was to find myself a social group in college. The sailing part of the team made me nervous, more than anything.
Now, I’ve learned to love sailing as not only a social outlet, support system, and family, but as a sport. I found myself showing up to 2 or 3 practices every week in the fall, and at least 2 a week in the spring. I continued to work on my balance, jib control, and roll tacks, and slowly but surely, the bruises on my legs got smaller and my movement across the boat became more and more natural. I enjoyed being on the water more each time I sailed, and now look forward to practicing as often as I can.
This quarter, I went to two regattas: Big 10 Team Races at Michigan and Women’s Qualifiers at Minnesota. Both were a blast! Going to regattas let me prove to myself that my work in practice had really paid off, as well as bond with my teammates on an entirely different level than on campus.
This year has been one crazy ride, and I am so thankful to have had the sailing team by my side the whole way through. Without them, my time as a freshman could never have been so memorable, rewarding, or wonderfully absurd as it has. Can’t wait for next year!
