Elliot Drake has the highest of aspirations.
“I want to be number one in the nation just like our Oregon football team,” Drake said. “I want people to know that.”
It is a bold statement and a lofty goal, but it is within his sights. For the second consecutive year Drake, a 20-year-old junior at the University of Oregon, has qualified for nationals in single-handed sailing.
This year, the avid skipper will be competing in the Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association of North America (ICSA) nationals contest in St. Petersburg, Fla., on Nov. 5-7. He failed to place in the top 10 last year after going to nationals in Corpus Christi, Tex., but this year he sees himself finishing at the top.
Drake started sailing when he was young, learning on his parents’ 24-foot sailboat. By the age of eight he was sailing by himself and taking lessons on the Willamette River. He was also a major competitor in an under-14 sailing circuit in the area.
“I looked at going to colleges on the East Coast, but when I knew I could sail at Oregon I came here,” Drake said.
In his freshman year, he placed second in the qualifying stages, coming up short by just one spot to go to nationals. But after last year of going and seeing the competition, Drake is ready for another shot.
“It is different with competition who sails all over the country; it was interesting to see,” he said.
Single-handed sailing is sailing by oneself against other skippers.
“I am a lot better at single-hand because I have a lot of experience, but I sail other events too,” Drake said.
The University Sailing Club competes in other types of sailing styles in addition to single-handed. The Ducks’ primary race is in an event called fleet racing. The event works as follows: There are four racers on a team, two per boat. The first boat competes in two races and then the second boat competes in two more. The total score of all four races in comparison to other teams’ scores determines the winner.
Just this past weekend the team attended the Stoneyburke Regatta in San Francisco hosted by the University of California at Berkeley. Fourteen Oregon racers traveled to the Bay for the regatta, making up three teams: a women’s squad, a coed boat and a varsity boat.
The club travels all over to compete in different sailing contests, roaming the Northwest, California and other venues on the East Coast. The Ducks also participate in the Northwest Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association (NWICSA) that includes club and varsity teams from Oregon, Washington and Canada.
Oregon also sails in what it calls “inter-sectionals,” where it competes against a multitude of other schools — just like in San Francisco at Stoneyburke — racing against two Washington schools, California, and the universities of Hawaii and Texas.
“We travel 22 weekends per year and our season is pretty much year-round, minus summer,” said Cara Kuhlman, the women’s team captain. “We have events that start in September that go through January and then a spring season.”
The club practices, competes and hosts out at the Eugene Yacht Club on Fern Ridge Reservoir, about 20 minutes from campus. They practice twice a week, aside from when the reservoir is closed for drainage in the winter.
There are five qualifying events for nationals per year. On October 9 and 10, the Ducks hosted the sloop-qualifiers out at Fern Ridge, with Washington coming out as the number one squad.
Next weekend the Ducks will host the Outlaw Regatta on Saturday and Sunday, which will determine all teams’ rankings within the NWICSA district.
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