By Portia Bode
Daily Titan Staff Writer

The waves are a solid 30 feet high and you’re going over the tops before dropping down on the other side. Boats are capsizing left and right. The wind starts to pick up again. With your feet strapped into the boat, your body leaning back as far as possible, your weight works as leverage to counter-act the boat from tipping over.

Arjun Cardoza prepares his boat. Photo by Jeff Lambert/Daily TItan Staff Photographer

Last February in Santa Barbara, CSUF’s Sailing Club president, Arjun Cardoza, and team member Ryan Wong, a business marketing junior, battled the waves in a sailing race against USC, UCLA, UCSB and other major southern California universities.

The thing about sailing is it’s based on the wind – if there’s no wind, it’s not that exciting; but when there is a lot of wind, it gets very exciting, Cardoza said.

Cardoza works hard to train the team in order to ensure it’s success after he graduates in May of 2010.

To prepare the members before they head out onto the water, they practice with oars and brush up on terminology.

For example, “starboard tack” means the wind is hitting the right side of the boat. “Port tack” means the wind is hitting the left side of the boat. “Starboard tack” has the right of way, Cardoza explained.

Athleticism is another aspect of sailing. Cardoza explained that there is a lot of shifting of body weight, , also called “keeling over”. Sometimes it happens quite abruptly, because the boat may turn over on its side. If the boat tips, sailors have to jump back in. Sometimes to counter-act the wind sailors have to place all of their body weight onto one side of the boat to keep the craft balanced. If they put too much weight to one side and the wind dies, then they fall out of the boat and have to jump back in.

The more afraid you are of getting wet, the more likely you are to fall in, Cardoza said.

The team heads out to Long Beach most Saturdays where they practice for four hours Cardoza said. To practice, they maneuver around two buoys.

Alyssa Twitchell, a junior economics major, joined the team this semester. She said she wants to stay in the club until she graduates and wants to take more responsibility in future semesters.

“It’s so much fun. It’s an adrenaline rush being out there. Racing with your team is an amazing, fun learning experience,” Twitchell said.

Alyssa Twitchell prepares the sail while Arjun Cardoza prepares the boat. Photo by Jeff Lambert/Daily Titan Staff Photographer

Twitchell represents the Sailing Club at the Sports Club Inter Club Counsel. She proposes the club’s budget at committee meetings.

Twitchell is also the club’s promoter.

Another important member is Dave Cooley, club treasurer and junior criminal justice major. He said that joining the club has been a “really good experience and it is great for beginners because you learn the basics.”

Cardoza, who founded the sailing team in spring of 2008 said, “I want this club to grow, I want to see it become something that has some presence on campus like some of the teams that we compete with (at other universities).”

Cardoza encourages people who are interested in sailing to join the club. They meet on Wednesdays at 5 p.m. in UH-207.