Friday, January 25, 1991
State
an
CAL
?
The Battalion
! Making waves
1 Team sails to victory, receives
magazine top-twenty ranking
KEVIN IVY/The Battalion
Mark Zuteck and Jon Crucian sail at Bryan Utilities Lake Wednesday despite the cold weather.
By JOHN LOSE
Of The Battalion Staff
This top 20 Texas A&M sports
team doesn’t need a court, goalposts
or even a coach —just a little wind, a
boat and a lot of water.
The A&M sailing team finished
13th out of 20 competitors at last
year's national championships, giv
ing it a top 20 ranking from Sailing
World magazine.
Team members hope to improve
upon that finish this year.
“This year will probably be our
last big shot at nationals for a while,”
senior team member David Hiebert
of Fort Worth says.
A&M has had a sailing team as
part of the A&M Sailing Club lor
about 20 years.
“They had some good teams back
in the ’70s, and then they kind of
dropped off in the early ’80s, but
we’ve really picked up in the last few
years,” Hiebert says.
The A&M sailing team is con
cerned only with racing, team cap
tain Ron Rogers says.
The team separated from the
A&M Sailing Club to devote more
time to racing and to compete with
regional powerhouses like Tulane
University in New Orleans and
Spring Hill University in Mobile,
Ala.
“There are no pleasure outings,”
Roger says. “Most of our time is
spent in either racing or fund
raisers.”
The A&M sailing team is com
posed of about 30 team members,
divided into A and B divisions. Less-
experienced sailors make up B divi
sion.
Rogers says new team members
usually have some sailing experi
ence, but the team does accept peo
ple without experience.
“We can teach someone to sail in
about a year, and in about four years
they could sail nationwide,” Rogers
says. “How well they do really de
pends upon their personality.”
Rogers, who grew up sailing, says
racing is based on teamwork and
camaraderie.
Rogers sailed at the University of
North Texas, but returned to Col
lege Station and joined the A&M
sailing team.
Hiebert, however, was a nationally
ranked sailor when he was in high
school.
“I could have gone to any of the
big sailing schools on the East Coast,
but 1 decided to come to A&M be
cause my brother went to school
here and I like it here,” Hiebert says.
Freshman team member Bryan
Calk, who has been racing since he
was 12, also competed nationally
while in high school.
“I thought about t.u. and Baylor,”
Calk says. “I didn’t like Baylor’s cam
pus, and t.u didn’t have much of a
team.”
Calk, who also skippers boats in
the A&M team’s A division, says col
legiate racing is different from regu
lar sailboat racing.
“The courses are shorter and
there’s like 20 races a day, where
with other regular races there’s
three Saturday and two Sunday,”
Calk says.
The A&M sailing team competes
in SEISA, the Southeastern Intercol
legiate. Sailing Association, along
with 25 other sailing teams. The top
two teams in each regional division
advance to the national contest.
Rogers points out traditional
school rivalries associated with “big
sports” don’t apply in collegiate rac
ing. Teams from small, private
schools usually field excellent teams,
he says.
“We typically do team racing
which matches two teams of six peo
ple and three boats,” Rogers says.
“The races are more tactically
oriented, and you’re able to make
See Sail/Page 5
Protesters keep
vigil at Capitol
until war ends
AUSTIN (AP) — A group of anti
war protesters who began a round-
the-clock vigil at the state Capitol on
Jan. 16, the day the Persian Gulf war
began, say they expect to remain
there as long as fighting continues.
Bill Basinger, 21, and Michael
Porterfield, 24, both of Austin, said
that about a dozen people make up
the core group maintaining the vigil.
Others help by providing supplies.
“We know there’s a lot of hurt
right now,” Basinger said. “People
say that we don’t support the troops;
it’s absolutely not true. We support
them 100 percent. In fact, I think
we’ve been doing more than our
share to support them, writing them
letters 24 hours a day.”
There are no formal shifts on the
vigil, but Porterfield said, “People
come and go — there’s always some
one here ... We don’t leave unless
we’re sure someone is here.”
Capt. Sid Barton, acting chief of
the Capitol police, said the vigil had
caused no problems.
Correction
The phone number for infor
mation and reservations at Festi
val Hill was incorrect in Thurs
day’s Life Style magazine. The
correct phone number is (409)
249-3129.
The Battalion regrets the er
ror.
Aggies celebrate Indian cultures, traditions
By BRIDGET HARROW
Of The Battalion Staff
A celebration of Indian cultures
and traditions begins Saturday at
Texas A&M with the observance of
India’s independence day.
Saturday’s Republic Day cele
bration marks the 41st anniversary
of India’s birth as a sovereign repub
lic, says Vikramsimha Torpunuri, an
organizer of the event.
“We will have a flag-hoisting cer-
mony, singing of our national an
them and presentations by both an
Indian and American student,” Tor
punuri says.
Saturday’s celebration is a prelude
to Monday’s day-long activities. A
cultural and art exhibition will be
from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the first
floor of the MSC.
The exhibition will have many
booths, each displaying a different
aspect of India, from artifacts to em
blems.
“We collected a lot of information
from the library,” Torpunuri says.
“Some of it will be displayed in the
form of posters, as a sort of all you
wanted to know, but were afraid to
ask about India.”
Fifteen-minute cultural programs
will be performed every hour during
the exhibition.
Torpunuri says classical south In
dian dance forms such as the “kuchi-
pudi,” a!nd the “bhratanatyarn” will
be depicted, and classical music will
be played on Indian instruments
such as the sitar and mridangam.
Exotic Indian tea also w'ill be served.
Evening highlights of India Day
include a dinner for 300 people and
m won Video!
MARLON MATTHEW
BRANDO BRODERICK
an instrumental performance of In
dian classical music by distinguished
sitarist Allyn Miner.
Miner has a master’s degree in si
tar performance and a doctorate in
musicology from Banaras Hindu
University.
She presently is a lecturer on In
dian music at the University of
Pennsylvania.
Admission for the dinner is $7,
but all other India Day programs, in
cluding the sitar concert, are free.
“People who do not know about
India think it is a strange and an
A STIMULATING EXPERIENCE.
(If you’ve never 4711 ’d, come to JCPenney and learn how. While supplies last, get a free T-shirt with any 4711 purchase.)
Center for Retailing Studies
presents
"CAREER BOWL II"
Sunday, January 27th
College Station Hilton
10:00-11:30 Brunch
11:30-3:00 Sysmposium
Tickets $5.00 Blocker Lobby
Tickets will be sold
Sunday at the door
Holiday Express
SPRING BREAKW
★ Cancun
★ Puerto Vallarta
★ Acapulco
★ Winter Park
-from $379.
For information call your
local A&M Reps at:
847-7054 or 775-1634
or our toll free number:
1-800-235-TRIP
tique land,” Torpunuri says. “What
we want to project is the India we
know. It is rich in culture, traditions
and heritage, but it also doing well in
science and technology and other as
pects.”
India Day is jointly sponsored by
the India Association, the Hindu So
ciety, the Indian Ladies Club and the
Society to Promote Indian Classical
Music and Culture Among Youth
(SPIC-MACAY).
“What we hope is anyone that par
ticipates in India Day, at least once,
will leave'with a better understand
ing of India,” Torpunuri says. “We
hope it changes perceptions of In
dia.”
India Day programs are as fol
lows:
• Republic Day celebration, 5
p.m. Saturday in 201 MSC
• Cultural and art exhibition, 9
a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday on first floor
of MSC
• Exotic Indian dinner, 6:30 to 8
p.m. Monday in 212 MSC
• Allyn Miner, sitar concert, 8
p.m. Monday in 201 MSC