Club fails to sail

The annual Hoosier Daddy, a regatta staged each fall by the IU sailing club, will not take place this year as scheduled because the new student leaders did not file a request in time, team officials said.\nConfusion surrounding the invitational is the latest struggle facing the club under the helm of senior and IU Sailing Club president Carl Salzmann, a three-month member of the organization.\nThe group's faculty adviser Robert Kessler said the event, which traditionally spans a mid-October weekend, was canceled when the club did not file required paperwork with IU Recreational Sports.\nSalzmann said he was not aware that such a procedure was necessary until it was too late to formalize the event, which the club and regional competitors in the Midwest Collegiate Sailing Association thought was in place for Oct. 14 and 15.\nThe club uses Lake Lemon as its base for practices and past regattas. However, the IU women's rowing team booked Lake Lemon for an Oct. 15 scrimmage with the University of Cincinnati, which Recreational Sports honored after it failed to receive a timely request from the sailing club for the use of the water that day.\nClub treasurer and IU student Tyler Andrews said he "pleaded" with Rec Sports to allow the event to take place, but the lake was already booked. Andrews said informing the sailing association and sailors at other universities was disappointing, especially after organizing a race committee and staffers to oversee the approximately 70 athletes from 17 institutions expected to participate.\nStacey Hall, director of club sports, said Rec Sports cannot make exceptions to its deadline policy because the organization lacks the time and staff to go through late entries.\nRec Sports and the Club Sports Federation hosted an April workshop to assist clubs with the transition of officers, but sailing club members said this year's leaders were not in place at the time and were unaware of the seminar.\nWhile challenges threaten this year's version of its annual event, the sailing club is working hard with sailing groups to host an improvised Hoosier Daddy on a Michigan lake later this fall.\n"There's no reason we couldn't do this (the Hoosier Daddy), or at least reschedule it for another day," Andrews said.\nSalzmann said the misunderstanding is the latest example of Rec Sports hindering student sailors.\nKessler, a Department of Kinesiology coordinator, said Rec Sports aids sailors with safety training, insurance and a budget. The Midwest Collegiate Sailing Association -- the regional governing body for college sailing -- mandates members be formally recognized by their respective universities, he said.\n"Membership fees to a club sport would be incredibly high without the support of Recreational Sports," Kessler said.\nThe club currently charges members $50 to join and hopes the figure of eight active sailors triples within a year. \nThe club will continue to balance its competitive and social goals, Salzmann said. While practices are held three to six times each week, members need not compete in races. Sailing allows students to forget about everyday concerns, and that's what drives the members to work so hard, he said.\nThe nucleus of Andrews and fellow students Nick Baciu and Wiley Sharp highlighted IU's showing at Wisconsin's Fall Fury Sept. 9 and 10. Though the club finished the competition, its performance was disqualified because one of four participating sailors was not affiliated with IU.\nDespite a new adherence to Rec Sports rules, the club fears it will qualify for the lowest level of funding at the next classification process. However, the setback with the regatta won't defeat the sailors.\n"The club will go on, but the Hoosier Daddy is our big event," Salzmann said.