A Message from Our 2025 Commodore

Hello sailors!

I am Mason Baird, and I am the new Commodore for 2025. For those who do not know me, I am a third-year civil engineering major from Charleston, South Carolina. Previously, I have served as the Dinghy Co-captain and, most recently, the Big Boat Captain. 

I fell in love with sailing at a young age. Starting at six years old, I began my time on the water at my local club, James Island Yacht Club. I spent the next nine years sailing every summer and eventually went on to instruct the junior program there. The days were filled with sunny skies, cool ocean water, and, most importantly, a strong, consistent sea breeze. 

It was here that I first heard of the Clemson Sailing Club. One of my instructors and past club Commodores, Sam Cabiness, told me about a group of college sailors at Clemson. At the time, I was regrettably a USC fan and couldn't imagine ever setting foot in Tiger Town. However, as time went by, I found myself applying and getting accepted to the University. Little did I know I would be making the best decision of my life.

Remembering what Sam had told me, I made it a top priority to stop by the sailing club stand at Tiger Prowl. There, I was invited by the race team captain, Ella Smith, to join the race team in a practice. It was at this practice that I was sold on the club. I had never experienced such a competitive group of sailors who did not care how well they sailed but were happy to be on the water giving it their best. Everyone was supportive and wanted the team to improve rather than just themselves. I was looking for my place in Clemson, and I found it.

Today, the club has over 475 members, and we have been voted the best club on campus two years in a row. The club continually pushes to get as many people sailing as possible, from our learn-to-sail programs to our highly competitive race teams. On top of this, the social side of our club is incomparable to any other. Whether it's Fridays @ 4, formal events, or tailgates, the club allows members to connect and make lifelong friends while at Clemson.

As Commodore, I would like to continue growing the legacy of this club. With the new dock installed and many new talented sailors coming into the program, the club is in a unique position to elevate our sailing programs and reinvest in the club as a whole. I plan to continue the development we have seen over the past several years for both our program's sailing and social sides. Doing this will allow us to continue to get more people on the water and keep everyone connected within the club.

I look forward to giving back to a club that has given me so much. With lots in store for 2025, I can't wait to see what we will do. If you ever need to reach out to me, feel free to email me at mlbaird@g.clemson.edu.

Your Commodore,

Mason Baird

Dock Update!

As most of you know, Clemson Sailing’s current dock has undergone numerous large-scale repairs due to corroding metal and saturated floats throughout the past year. After over a year of fundraising and planning, we are excited to announce that we are officially able to move forward with the dock project! Our down payment has been made, and the new dock is set to be installed in our current location by Kroeger Marine this June. This new dock will allow us to safely proceed with all of our sailing programs and gives us the opportunity to expand in the future.

We would like to give a huge thanks to everyone who donated and helped keep Clemson Sailing Club on the water! Without all of your generous donations, our new dock would not have been possible! Stay tuned for more updates as the building process commences! 

- Clemson Sailing Executive Board & Officers, 05/15/2024

A Message from Our 2024 Commodore

Hello Everybody! 

My name is Connor Witt. For those of you who don’t know me, I am a senior electrical engineering major from Reston, Virginia. This is my fourth year in the club, and after serving in both executive and officer roles, I am thrilled to take on the rewarding responsibility of being Commodore. This club has been the most impactful aspect of my college experience, so I am ready to give back to it as much as I can.

I remember coming out to my first Learn to Sail on a sunny Sunday morning my freshman year. Music was playing out of the shed, upperclassmen were relaxing out on the Hobie, and it was then that I knew I had found my home at Clemson. Finding any possible event to come to, I was determined to make Clemson Sailing my life. Now, after nearly four years, I have done just that, gaining many lifelong friends and experiences along the way that I wouldn’t trade for the world. 

We remain the largest club sport on campus, with over 425 active members, and we continue to refine and elevate our members' experiences. Our sailing programs (Learn to Sail, Learn to Race, dinghy race team, keelboat race team) are thriving, and our social events (formal, semi, tailgates, Fridays at four, etc.) are as exciting as ever. We are now developing avenues to expand these programs and increase our members' access to sailing. 

Currently, we are beginning a Learn to Big Boat program this Spring. This program will not only give Ripple the love and attention she deserves, but will also provide Learn to Sail graduates with useful sailing skills lasting beyond college. Secondly, our keelboat team has expanded to include a second J24! “Blind Date” was kindly donated to us by Jeff and Amy Woodard down in Charleston. With this new boat, we have opportunities to race more regularly and have officially become CORA members to compete in their regattas. Recently sailing well in the Frostbite Series and in SCOR, our keelboat team is on the come-up, so stay tuned! 

One of my goals for this year is to spend more time at the docks. To encourage this, the executive board has committed to holding at least one work day each month. Keeping our home in good shape is very high on my list of priorities. With improvements such as a new flower bed and a repair of our flag pole, we have big plans to increase our “curb appeal”.  

The main priority on the to-do list remains the Dock Project. After a year of university politics and miscommunications, we are ready to proceed with our dock plans. We have requested Army Corps approval and are ready to start building as soon as we have the permit. A great big thank you to all of those who contributed to our GoFundMe over the past year. Without your help, this project would not be possible.

With this new dock we will be able to safely continue our sailing programs and provide room for their growth. There are still lots of exciting developments ahead for the Clemson Sailing Club! I look forward to continuing on with ClemsonLife Day, the Spring Tiger Town Trophy, Sailgates, and all of the other wonderful traditions we have built here at Clemson. If you need me, I’ll be out sailing in the sunshine, but feel free to reach out to me at witt4@g.clemson.edu anytime. 

Enjoy it,

Connor Witt

Fall 2023 Dock Project Update

To the generous donors and supporters of our dock project,

I am writing to share with you the reason for the delay of the construction of our new dock. I understand any uneasiness concerning the timeline. I share this disappointment. We truly have been working consistently towards the goal, but as is evident in a recent publication in The Tiger, we have experienced unforeseen developments concerning our club’s position on campus which have delayed our united excitement for a new dock.

Please see that article here: https://thetigercu.com/16478/news/underwater-waterski-and-sailing-clubs-excluded-from-new-watersports-facility/

First and foremost, I want you all to understand that no part of your donation has left our donation fund. We have saved each of your gracious donations intently so that we can collectively achieve our goal; we have not spent one penny on anything else.

Next, to explain the delay. As you can read in the recent Tiger article, we have been excitedly awaiting a move across the cove to a new club watersports facility these past seven months. However, we were recently told by another watersports club leader that these plans that originally included Club Waterski, and Club Rowing, and our club no longer accommodated any clubs but Rowing. With the uncertainty surrounding this new plan, Campus Recreation had been hesitant to work towards Army Corps approval for the new dock until we are sure of our club’s placement on campus. This halted our progress and was the reason we paused our fundraising efforts.

As it became increasingly clear that the original plan to build a Watersports Facility including all three sports had been removed from University Facilities' short term plans, Campus Recreation began to take steps towards getting our new dock built, as they understand the urgent need to replace our current sinking dock. Two weeks ago, Campus Recreation received verbal approval from the Army Corps to build our new dock in our current location. This set our efforts to build a new dock back in motion. Since then, we have met with the contractor that will build our dock, Kroeger Marine. One of our past Commodores (2005-2007), Liam Cunningham, is a representative of this business and has worked closely with us to produce the best possible dock plans. In this past meeting, we reviewed the choices we made last semester including materials for the new dock and dimensions. Kroeger is now working on engineering drawings for the dock that will be submitted to the Army Corps for final approval, while Campus Recreation finalizes the legalities of our new dock’s placement with the Clemson legal teams.

If you have not donated but are able to, we could still really use your help. The ramp on our current dock has broken twice in the past few months. The second break happened over the Thanksgiving Holiday and is likely going to cost us four times more to fix than the first break; up to $2000. The current dock’s safety and function need to be maintained for our sailing programs over this next semester. Additionally, we also have not quite hit our financial goal for the new dock. If you are able and willing to help us through the final stretch of this project we would be so grateful. You can find the link to donate at the bottom of this letter.

All in all, we aim to begin the build by the summer. I hope this transparency showing what we have been going through makes it clear to you that we have not stopped working on this project, and excites you as it does me that we are back on track to making our new dock a reality. Thank you again for your generous donations; without them there would not be a new dock to fight for.

I would be happy to answer any questions you have about this process at cblinde@clemson.edu .

If you have not donated but would like to, you can do so here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/clemson-sailing-dock-fund?utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet&utm_content=undefined&utm_medium=copy_link_all&utm_source=customer&utm_term=undefined

Fair winds,

Claire Lindeman

Commodore