Boston College Athletics
Getting To Know...Lucy Wallace
May 04, 2011 | Sailing
May 4, 2011
Where are you from?
Middleton, RI
Did you sail in high school or was it just something you did over the summer?
I did in the summers growing up, but I actually lived overseas during the school year. We came back to Rhode Island in the summer and there really wasn't anything to do unless you got involved with sailing or something to do with the water, so my parents forced me to sail until eventually I liked it. I ended up sailing three years in high school and during my senior year I decided I wanted to sail in college.
Where does the sailing team practice?
We practice in Dorchester Bay out of the Savin Hill Yacht Club. It's about a 20 minute drive to practice every day.
Do you host your own regattas?
We host more of the lower level competition but for higher-level competition, we usually travel all across the country.
What is a typical day for a sailor?
We leave school at 2 p.m. and return to campus at 6:30. We spend about two and a half hours on the water Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. There are multiple regattas each weekend so the majority of the team is competing each weekend. You are at the races all day Saturday and the majority of Sunday. For each weekend, there are 18 races per division per weekend, which makes for a long weekends.
BC sailing has had a lot of success before you were here and since you were here. What makes BC such a successful sailing program?
I think a lot of it has to do with our coach, Greg Wilkinson. He was recently named sailing coach of the year, which recognizes the best coach across the whole sailing community whether it is a collegiate or Olympic coach. A lot of it also comes from the strong recruiting program BC has, because it isn't just learning from the coach, but also learning from the really good sailors we have.
What distinguishes Coach Wilkinson from other coaches?
Coach definitely treats the BC sailing team as a varsity sport where most other schools do not show the same dedication to practice or desire to improve. Coach Wilkinson is very adamant that we are varsity program at Boston College and expects us to show the same amount of commitment that other varsity programs here show.
How do you become a good sailor?
A lot comes from what you have learned while growing up. You have to understand the sport, most of which is mental. You have to learn how to read shifts in wind based on what the water looks like and be able to react to how other boats change their strategy; there are a lot of instincts involved.
As a senior, is there anything you hope will continue with BC sailing after you have left?
Taking advantage of who is on the team and learning from your teammates is a huge asset. Coach Wilkinson has been here and will continue to be here, but utilizing the incredible talent we have around us and passing that down to underclassmen is very important.
