A race ends one of two ways: The joy of victory, or the feeling of a missed opportunity. At least, that’s how Gamecock Sailing Club member Naomi Schneiderman sees it.
“I’ll either be really excited and proud of us, or I’ll be a bit disappointed,” Schneiderman said. “Sometimes in myself, feeling like I could’ve done a little bit better.”
Schneiderman, a second-year sports management and biology student at USC and Maryland native, said she’s been sailing her whole life. She recently joined the club dinghy racing team, which is a small, agile boat, and said sailing on Lake Murray is a distinct and sometimes challenging experience.
“You really never know what to expect,” Schneiderman said. “In the fall semester it’s usually not a lot of wind, so it can be a bit difficult to sail. And then in the spring semester we usually have a lot more wind, like 15 knots usually during practice, which can make it very chaotic sometimes.”
Spanning approximately 50,000 acres and only a 40 minute drive from downtown Columbia, a thriving community of sailors and clubs has developed around the lake over the years.
Ryan Gaskin, who races with the Lake Murray Sailing Club, said sailing on a lake presents unique challenges compared to a coastal environment.
"As a San Francisco Bay sailor, I thought that I had really wired heavy-air sailing. That’s sailing with lots of breeze, and I was pretty good at it,” Gaskin said. “But when I started sailing back here ... I found out it wasn’t just heavy-air sailing where the breeze is blowing 25 knots and you wreath the sail and go on. It’s gusty, and winds move around a lot.”
Schneiderman said sailing provides a fulfilling change of pace from normal USC and Columbia life.
Former USC professor and longtime Columbia Sailing Club member Roger Dougal took up sailing during his time as a student at Texas Tech, and said he’s been hooked ever since.
“I brought my first sailboat with me from Texas to Columbia, and then I discovered the Columbia Sailing Club and bought a larger boat,” Dougal said. “For the last 35 years, I’ve been racing that same boat.”
Generally, sailboat racing entails going around a course marked by floating buoys. Lake Murray Sailing Club member Bud Buckwell, who often oversees races, signaling the start with a horn and tracking competitors' progress, said success in a contest often comes down to whoever has the best and quickest understanding of wind shifts.
Buckwell said identifying and reacting to the shifts before other competitors is critical to smooth sailing, building a lead and rounding the floating markers before opponents, ultimately determining who wins.
Columbia residents Ryan Gaskin and Lauren Christan compete in a Flying Scot race on March 22, 2025 on Lake Murray. Gaskin and Christan are members of the Lake Murray Sailing Club, open to members of any age and skill level.
Dougal, who studied and taught electrical engineering, said that there’s a clear reason sailing often appeals to engineers.
“What I've discovered is there's a lot of engineers in sailing because it tends to be a technical sport,” Dougal said. “The shape of the sail that you can adjust with specific controls, (how it) affects the boat speed where you put people on the boat, how they're positioned, how you move through each maneuver on the boat is really important.”
For Rich Horton, a fellow member of the Columbia Sailing Club who serves as Vice Commodore and helps to manage the club, sailing is a family affair. He often sails and races with his wife, he said. All four of their children have also learned, with one sailing competitively.
Horton said the charm of sailing comes down to it serving as an outlet away from typical routine.
“It’s sort of an escapism, fantasy for some people and dreamers,” Horton said. “The romance of engaging in this pursuit that’s been done for centuries.”
Gaskin and Lauren Christian, another seasoned member of the Lake Murray Sailing Club, often race together on a Flying Scot class sailboat. Christian said age isn't a huge factor in sailing success.
“Ryan’s over 80, I’m under 40,” Christian said. “We’re still extremely competitive and actually frequently evenly matched. If I’m more physical than him, he’s got more experience.”
Gaskin said a great part of sailboat racing in comparison to other competitive sports is the lack of a gender gap.
“Men and women can compete on pretty much an equal basis,” Gaskin said. “We get to associate with women and have the same interest without the usual distinction between the sexes. It introduces a whole new social dynamic, it’s just a lot of fun."
Dougal still enjoys the exhilaration of racing, but he’s also grown to love teaching his crews. Dougal spends time volunteering with the Gamecock Sailing Club, and said he makes sure to get out on the water with less experienced sailors and helping them develop a similar passion for the sport, growing pains included.
“We make mistakes all the time,” Dougal said. “If you ask me which moments I remember on the racecourses, some of the most memorable ones were where we made a mistake.”
Dougal calls his boat “tutakrnaut”. If you’re wondering how to pronounce that, Dougal said that’s the point.
The name is a phonetic riddle and a play on Shakespeare, meaning “to tack or not to tack.” Tacking is a sailing term referring to a method of changing course. Dougal said he enjoys the process of new crew members eventually figuring it out.
“I had one young lady sail with me for most of a season before she found out, and none of the rest of the crew would tell her what the name was,” Dougal said “Finally at the end of the season, she's like, 'Ah, I know what it is.'”
Horton said sailing is much more accessible than its reputation suggests.
“Imagine you’re down in Charleston on the waterfront looking out at the harbor (and see) these really big boats, beautiful and amazing. That’s just a small part of sailing,” Horton said. “People own very small boats that are inexpensive. They’re made of fiberglass, they don’t really wear out, so old boats are available. For somebody on a limited budget, it’s still very doable.”
Schneiderman said that despite the technical and often seemingly intimidating nature of the sport, anyone interested should pursue picking it up.
“A lot of our sailors join the team not knowing how to sail at all,” Schneiderman said. “They become some of our strongest and best sailors.”
More information the Gamecock Sailing Club can be found on its Instagram and Garnet Gate, and more information on the Columbia Sailing Club and Lake Murray Sailing Club is available on their websites.