Biology senior Brian Page may not sweat it out on the field or the court, but he does spend plenty of time on the water as a Sun Devil. Page is captain of the sailing team, which includes members who are staff, undergraduate and graduate students. The team began competing in races against other universities this semester. SPM caught up with Page to learn about the club and what, besides sailing, floats his boat.
SPM: Don't I know you?
Page: I'm not sure. One place people might have seen my face is when I was selected the sport-club athlete of the month back in September or October. My picture was up there on a poster.
SPM: You're also captain of the sailing team, which you said is pretty small.
Page: I think part of the problem is a lot of people don't know we exist. What sports do you think of when you think of Arizona and the desert? I wouldn't put sailing on the list off the top of my head.
SPM: We'd agree with that one. Tell me about the club.
Page: We have our sailing practices on Saturday and then we also do races about every other Sunday. The Arizona Yacht Club does races at Tempe Town Lake and so we participate in that.
SPM: Who does the team race against?
Page: We race in the Portsmouth class. It's basically just all the boats that there aren't enough of to make their own class. The one thing we just started this semester is competing in intercollegiate regattas. We went out to L.A. at the end of February.
SPM: How did the team do?
Page: So-so. Out of 20 boats we were nineteenth the first day and seventeenth the second day.
SPM: Hey, at least there's improvement! What are the races like?
Page: They're real fun, especially those intercollegiate races. It's something else when you're out there and there's 20 other boats on the start line all trying to jockey for a position. You literally will have boats right next to you on all sides, where you can't move in any direction unless somebody else moves first.
SPM: Do you ever have to play bumper boats?
Page: Occasionally we bump boats. Obviously you try to avoid it but sometimes there's just no way to.
SPM: What got you into sailing?
Page: My dad used to sail quite a bit. He used to be a nationally competitive sailor, so I used to crew with him on that for a while. When I came here, I was looking around at Welcome Week, and there was the sailing club!
SPM: What besides sailing are you into?
Page: Computer games, and I focus a lot on classes. And I really like Chinese food.
SPM: Is there anything you think people should know about the club?
Page: That we're there! Sailing is a fun sport. It's pretty easy to learn, at least the basics. Whatever you want to do, whether you want to be a really competitive racer or just go out there and sail around, there's something in sailing for you, and the club can offer it. (For more information, visit asu.edu/clubs/sailing.)
