The team’s surprising success during our first few seasons is just the tip of the iceberg. For this upcoming semester, we have the opportunity to compete in regattas not only in California, but also across the country - experiences that will allow us to compete for national rankings against our country's best sailors. We pride ourselves on our talent and enthusiasm...our only obstacle is money.

The Chapman University Sailing Team is a completely self-run organization; we are not yet a varsity sport. Instead, we are a registered club sport, which means that we do not get nearly enough support from Chapman. With new boats costing upwards of $6,000, regattas nearly every weekend totaling thousands of driving miles annually, and the necessity of purchasing plane tickets to Hawaii and the east coast, our monetary needs can seem daunting. As our situation stands, all expenses come out of the pockets of team members. Varsity teams at schools such as Stanford and USC are granted budgets of hundreds of thousands of dollars annually. While it is exciting to compete with schools such as these, it is also nearly impossible to keep up with them on our limited resources.

Our projected budget for this season is nearly $20,000, spread over fewer than 20 team members. Until the school picks us up as a varsity sport, we must continue to rely on the charity of generous donors like you. Any contribution you can make will help us tremendously, and now is the time to take advantage of our tax-exempt status for those much-needed deductions.