UNITED STATES
COAST GUARD ACADEMY SAILING
THE ACADEMY
The United States Coast Guard Academy presents an unrivaled opportunity to attend an elite professional college that charges no tuition and guarantees a challenging and rewarding career upon graduation.
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Ranked among the nation's most prestigious institutions of higher learning, the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, is proud to educate future leaders of America's multi-mission, maritime military force. Each year approximately 200 graduates are commissioned as Coast Guard officers to help ensure the safety, security and stewardship of our nation's waters.
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Coast Guard is one of five Federal Service Academies. It is the smallest of the Academies, with only 1,069 students enrolled. This allows for a close community where you will know and bond with your fellow cadets in a way that is not possible at the larger service schools.
8:1
student-to-faculty ratio.
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16
cadets per class average.
62+%
of cadets play on varsity teams.
65%
graduate in a STEM major.
100%
job placement. Graduates are obligated to serve for 5 years and 85% stay longer!
THE SAILING TEAM
The top ten ranked Coast Guard Academy Varsity Sailing Team competes in the ICSA. The team is among the most competitive schools in the New England Conference. The team is fully funded and all competition and travel expenses are payed for. The team focuses on dinghy and offshore sailing. Five full-time coaches work with our sailors year round to develop process driven, competitive athletes.
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OUR SAILING SEASONS
College Sailing has two seasons: Fall and Spring. For our dinghy sailors the fall is a development season where we focus mainly on fleet racing. In addition, the team practices the other collegiate disciplines of singlehanded sailing, and match racing. These more individual disciplines have their Nationals at the end of the Fall.
In the Spring, our dinghy sailors split time between fleet racing and team racing. The spring season culminates in our conference championships and the spring National Championships.
On the offshore side, Fall is a combination of buoy, coastal, and offshore racing. The team sails a lot in our Leadership 44s and larger boats during this time. The Spring is more focused on buoy racing mostly in our fleet of J70s.
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The Offshore Team's competitive schedule extends into the first few weeks of the summer. During this time the offshore squad is focused on ocean racing, both training for and competing in prestigious regattas such as the Newport to Bermuda Race.
PRACTICE SCHEDULE
Monday: Off
Tuesday: 1600 - 1800
Wednesday: 1500-1800
Thursday: 1600-1800
Friday: 1500-1800
VENUE
Our team sails on the Thames River, a quick five min walk from up campus. The river provides shifty, flat water conditions in addition to current. The team also sails in New London Harbor, and the Long Island Sound (only a short sail or tow away) to get more straight line, choppy and big wave conditions. Having the ability to stay north of the bridge (in the river) and go south of the bridge (in the Sound) allows for CGA sailors to train in almost every condition they will ever face in a sailboat.
CGA Sailing is fortunate to have the Jacobs Rock Seamanship and Sailing Center to call home. Our building consists of a women's and men's locker room, a large classroom space, coaches offices, a sail room, and workshop. The building also offers a large observation deck which makes us one of the best viewing venues in NEISA! Outside our building, our boats are stored on many floating docks easily accessible by ramp.
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TEAM SIZE
Our team consists of around 60 sailors every year. The break down is usually 30 Dinghy and 30 Offshore.
ASSETS
We are proud to have an expansive fleet consisting of: 20 FJs, 20 z420s, 5 ILCAs, 10 J70s, 10 Colgates, 7 Leadership 44s, 1 J44, 2 Melges 32s
OUR COACHES
Doug Clark
Director of Sailing
Lincoln White
Head Offshore Coach
David Thompson
Head Dinghy Coach
Ali Blumenthal
Assistant Dinghy Coach
Sam Stokes
Assistant Offshore Coach
"I came to the academy because I wanted to take on a challenge and for my job to be saving people and the planet. What I love about being here is both the great times and connections I have with my closest friends and the adventures, travel, and fun with the sailing team!"
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- Emma Snead '23
COMPETITION SCHEDULE
Our team competes in a multitude of regattas all around the country. The dinghy team is usually competing in 3-4 regattas per weekend during the fall and spring. Some of these regattas are in-conference (within the New England Conference) and others are out-of-conference in places like Charleston, SC and Annapolis, MD. Being able to compete in so many regattas per weekend allows for a ton of sailors to get opportunities to compete.
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On the offshore side - the team competes most weekends in the fall with large teams traveling to 1-2 regattas. During the early spring, the team competes in larger keel boats and then transitions to interconference J70 events later in the season. May and June the offshore team preps and trains for the summer ocean racing season.
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Being a varsity team - all travel expenses are payed for by the academy. Our athletes only need to worry about doing their homework and showing up to sail.
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Having five full-time coaches is a huge asset to our program because our athletes almost never travel to events without a coach. Regattas are an important piece to a sailors development and having coaching at every event is a priority for our team.
VISIT CGA
Visiting is the best way to decide whether the Academy is the right school for you! There are many opportunities throughout the year.
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Bears Day: Bears Day visits are best for high schoolers who have started the process of looking at schools. It is a one day visit. We suggest coming in either the fall or spring so you can come watch a practice after the scheduled events.
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Cadet For a Day: These overnight visits are for high school seniors. We will be able to pair you with a sailing team member to shadow and attend class with. You will also be able to come watch a practice and meet the team. We encourage seniors to schedule these visits during the fall season.
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If none of the admissions sponsored visits fit in your schedule, we are always happy to accommodate other visits as best we can. Please reach out to one of the coaches if you have a different time in mind!
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*** One thing to note! The team does not practice on Mondays so it is best to avoid that day if you would like to see a practice! ***
AIM SUMMER PROGRAM
The Academy Introduction Mission (AIM) is a one-week summer program exclusively for students entering their senior year of high school. AIM is regarded as the most realistic of the service academy summer orientation programs.
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We highly encourage all students interested in coming to CGA to consider applying for AIM. It allows you to get an accurate feel of what swab summer (the summer before your freshmen year) will look like. It is an intense and educational program. We always like to stress that while the program will give you a good feel for swab summer, it is not necessarily a representation of what the rest of your time at CGA will look like. We suggest arranging an admissions sponsored overnight visit to get the true feel of what the day-to-day life of a cadet looks like.
Please visit the link to learn more about AIM and how to sign up!
INTERESTED?
Fill out our "Recruit Me" form linked at the top of this page. We will contact you and discuss your interest in CGA! We're excited to start the conversation!
