All competitors must begin somewhere, and for the Loyola Sailing Team, the long road to success is just starting to come into view.

The team traveled all the way to Austin, Texas this weekend to compete against 10 other teams in the McCarthy Cup Regatta hosted by the University of Texas.

Chartered just last semester, the group left its first ever team-racing regatta without a trophy, but it did obtain something more important for the time being: experience and fun.

“We didn’t win, but I think we did enjoy ourselves more than any other team out there,” Madeleine Duggan, finance junior, said.

The regatta featured three-on-three matches, where three boats from two competing teams have to juggle both passing opponents and helping out any teammates who may be behind.

Head Coach Paul Barnes said that coordinating on a large scale like this with such a young team can be hard, especially when not all members have fully developed sea legs.

“We have one member who has competed in events like this before. For everyone else, this is one of their first chances to see what it’s like,” Barnes said.

Sailing across Lake Travis were a diverse amount of both official and unofficial teams ranging from college students to high schoolers and kids to adult alumni. Competitors’ ages varied greatly, but they all were talented.

“Yeah I got beat by some pretty gnarly kids who looked about eight years younger than me, but oh well, I learned a lot today,” Peyton Watson, environmental biology junior, said.

Though they were kept from victory, the high-spirited group maintained a sense of enjoyment and was glad to have the opportunity to learn.

“It’s cool to see how exactly to take the fundamentals of sailing to their highest point and its fun to develop your skill,” Oliver Marston, history junior, said.

Duggan and Music Performance Senior William Alber were able to place third in a couple of races.

Inclement weather prohibited the team from participating in the second day of the event, unfortunately barring them from testing out their newly obtained knowledge.

In the coming years, Barnes hopes to develop the racing program even more and remains unshaken by Loyola’s performance.

“This has been what you would call a practice regatta. Once we get used to actually being in a regatta we will come with hopes to win,” Barnes said.

The aspiring team will compete in few more local events around New Orleans to close out the school year and is looking forward to making strides toward improvement.

Dylan Jones can be contacted at [email protected]