A LETTER TO PROSPECTIVE SAILORS FROM CAPTAINs Anna Kovacs & Cole Abbott:  

Dear Prospective NU Sailors,

We are the current 2024 captains of the Northwestern University Sailing Team, and since joining, we have sailed around the country and found our community. We both applied to college knowing we wanted to sail, and chose to come to Northwestern over several schools of comparable academics and sailing programs. Here’s why.

For a sailor with previous racing experience, our team offers a lot of opportunities. NUST draws from a very diverse base of students. We mix highly talented sailors who have raced all their lives with those who have never sailed before college. This means that coming in with sailing experience allows you to both push your boundaries, and to share your knowledge with others. We compete in the Midwest Collegiate Sailing Association (MCSA), and our conference is a place where an experienced, passionate sailor can really shine. High school sailors who chose to come to Northwestern and join our team have the opportunity to compete and grow greatly in both our district and across the country, as our team frequently travels and qualifies for nationals.

Among schools with similar programs that you may be considering, one of the things that sets us apart is our location. Our campus is on the shore of Lake Michigan, and our boathouse is right on campus, which is very unusual, and very convenient. (Hopefully you saw our gorgeous new boat house just outside the visitor's center on your tour!) Additionally, Chicago is called the Windy City for a reason. It’s a rare day that we don’t have enough wind to sail, and we get a wide variety of different practice conditions from light and shifty, to heavy and steady – depending on the direction.

Finally, our sailing team has a really remarkable community, the likes of which we’ve never experienced before. Our team is competitive across the country, but we also take people who have never sailed and set them down a lifelong path of sailing. Whether you have been sailing your whole life or never stepped on a boat before, we encourage you to come to tryouts if you are interested in developing your sailing skills as a part of the Northwestern University Sailing Team. We live together, sail together, and spend the best years of our lives in a tight community.

-Anna Kovacs & Cole Abbott