USM Sailing was begun in 1994 by a group of intrepid student sailors who thought USM, being located in Casco Bay, Maine, was a natural place to have a sailing team. Originally formed as a Club Sport with one boat and a handful of students, the Sailing Team now enjoys Varsity Status at USM and remains consistently near the top of the academic standings amongst USM Varsity Sports; over half the team have earned USM Scholar Athlete awards during the past year.
In the early days, the team was located in a building that was a part of the Southern Maine Technical College's campus in South Portland. Beginning with one Lark, the team had 4 Larks, decent participation, and a coach by 1996. In 1997, the team moved to Centerboard Yacht Club in South Portland in order to share a fleet of 420's with the CYC for the purpose of hosting regattas, and the Wellehan-Casco Bay Cup was born, won in 1997 by URI and 1998 by Maine Maritime Academy.
By the fall of 1999, USM Sailing is planning to be located at the new Portland Community Sailing Center, at the Portland Yacht Services yard, in Portland, across the harbor from CYC and Southern Maine Tech. We hope to have our own fully owned fleet of 18 420's by that time, and fundraising is well underway toward that goal. The PCSC will host not only USM Sailing but also Junior and Adult courses as well as providing a home to several High School Sailing Teams in the Portland area.
