Competing against 18 full rig sailors, freshman Christopher Stocke cruised into the National Sailing Competition in Chicago this past December and brought home a second place victory.
Each sailor had to place in regional competitions in order to qualify for the national event. The competition took place Dec. 4 through Dec.6 at the Chicago Yacht Club off the shores of Lake Michigan.
USF St. Petersburg’s award winning sailing team recently placed fourth in the National Match Racing event in San Francisco, Cali., this past fall, but his second place win in Chicago is a personal victory for Stocke.
Sailing competitions are won by whichever team takes home the lowest amount of points, so teams scores are based on how they ranked for each race. “For example, a third place is a score of three,” said Stocke, a criminology major at USFSP.
Although this is his first semester sailing with the team, Stocke is no sailing amateur.
“For 11 years I’ve been on the water an average of three to four days a week and regattas on the weekends,” Stocke said .
He first began sailing at the Sarasota Yacht Club Summer Camp when he was 9 years old.
“After the first session I knew I loved to sail,” he said.
He has won several other sailing competitions, including the High School Singlehanded Nationals and the Orange Bowl Regatta, which is the largest youth regatta, known all over the world.
As part of the USF St. Petersburg sailing team, Stocke has had the opportunity to sail many waters.
“The team travels every weekend during season,” he said. “When I travel with the USF team, my favorite destination is the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.” Despite his travel opportunities with the team, his ultimate favorite place to sail is “my home waters on Sarasota Bay,” he said.
Stocke will continue with the USF Sailing Team throughout college, and has plans to pursue his passion for sailing once he graduates.
“After college I plan on trying to compete in the 2016 Olympics, being held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil,” he said.
But Stocke said that he couldn’t have accomplished all of this on his own. His brother, Will Stocke, is also a student at USF St. Petersburg and part of the sailing team.
“I owe a lot of credit to my brother, Will, for pushing me hard all through my sailing career,” he said.
Email: life@crowsneststpete.com
