As some students lace up their cleats or warm up their throwing arms, others are shouting “port,” “starboard,” “aft,” and “bow.”

Why? Because several St. Paul Academy and Summit School students spend autumn sailing.

A part of the Lake Calhoun High School Racing team, sophomore Barbara Bathke and freshman Tess Hick sail with other high school students in the fall.

Bathke and Hick each sail a 420, a boat accurately named for its 420 centimeter length.

“[The 420 has] a mainsail and jib and two people sail on the boats. One person directs the boat using a tiller that controls the rudder and they are called the skipper,” Bathke said.

She added that “They also control the speed by letting the main sail in and out. The other person in the boat is called the crew and they control the jib sail.”

“I am a crew. I basically hang upside down and sing Disney songs and occasionally yell, hey, we’re about to run into another boat,” Hick said.

With a rigorous schedule, sailing is a fun but challenging fall sport in Minnesota. “We practice everyday and have regattas every weekend,” Bathke said. A regatta is the sailing version of a meet or match in other sports where each team sails in several races, competing against other schools.

Another SPA sailor, sophomore Jack Indritz, also has a crammed schedule. “We practice three days a week, for three and a half hours per day, and our regattas usually go for eight hours on Saturdays, but sometimes we have bigger ones all weekend, and some during the week,” Indritz said.

Indritz competes with the White Bear Sailing School. “This is my fourth year on the High School team. I have won conference regattas, two conference championships, and in 2013, my best friend and I were Co-Ed state champs,” Indritz said.

For Bathke, the junior varsity teams sail in conference regattas at Lake Calhoun, Lake Minnetonka, and White Bear Lake while the varsity teams travel to other places like Illinois to race.

“[At a regatta there are] normally courses around two or three buoys. The races requires the sailors to use many different points of sail, or using the wind at different angles,” Bathke said.

Indritz, sailing for eight years, doesn’t only enjoy the technical aspect of sailing, he also values the relationships he has made through sailing. “I have sailed with really cool people like exchange students from Europe,” Indritz said, “I used to sail with a friend on the British National Sailing Team,” he added.

Most people think that it is too cold to sail in Minnesota,” Bathke said, but “[my sailing team and I] push through the cold because it is so much fun.”