Stu McNay Interview

Joe Morris is currently a junior at Yale University, the team captain, and an accomplished dinghy sailor and interviews top 470 sailor Stu McNay for Sail1Design’s AirWaves. Stu and crew Graham are the #1 USA 470 team and hold an ISAF World Ranking of #6. Joe Morris interviewed Stu as part of a feature on college sailing in the USA called  "The Right Path for Top Youth Sailors: Is it College Sailing?"

There are many examples past and present of how the balance between collegiate sailing and Olympic sailing can be struck, and one such example is Stuart McNay. McNay graduated from Yale University in 2005 with a BA in Architecture as a three time All-American and a finalist for the College Sailor of the Year award. Along with his college sailing accomplishments, McNay is a USSTAG member and was the men’s 470 representative at at 2008 Olympics in Beijing along with Graham Biehl. Joe Morris asks the questions:

1. How and when did you get involved in sailing? What is the background of your youth sailing before college?

I started sailing in Opti's when I was 11, and sailed each summer from then on. Before college sailing, I sailed Laser Radials mostly, but dabbled in 420's in the Cape Cod youth circuit.

2. When did you first realize that you would like to sail in college? When did you first realize that you wanted to sail Olympic classes?

I knew that I wanted to sail in college almost as soon as I was aware of sailing as an Olympic sport. Jay Kehoe was coaching me in Youth sailing and he did a really good job of making me aware of the olympic path and college sailing, and how they can go together..

3. What were your reasons for choosing Yale over other schools that compete in sailing inter-collegiately?

Yale is one of the strongest academically so it was at the top of my list. I grew up in Boston, so did not want to go to college in my backyard, but wanted to go to college in NEISA or MAISA. I looked at Brown, Dartmouth, Georgetown, and Yale. Of those schools Yale had the best Olympic tradition, and, even though the team was in a bit of slump, I felt that it would help my sailing more than the others, and I would be able to sail varsity right away at Yale.

4. Was it difficult balancing an academically demanding school like Yale, and the intense competition of college sailing?

Yes, it was very difficult and once I graduated my life became so much less stressful. College sailing takes up a lot of time, and requires a very different mind-set than academics. For sailing you need to be patient, wait for wind, spend all day, and laugh with friends. But for academics, you have to plan carefully, work efficiently, and waste no time. I felt like I had to shift my values as I switched between each activity.

5. How and when did you train in 470’s during your college career?

I sailed in 470's over the summer between years of college, and once each winter in Miami for the Rolex Miami OCR. I did not sail during the college, but got in time when I could over the summer.

6. What skills were you able to transfer from college sailing to 470’s, and 470’s to college sailing?

470's taught me a lot about boat speed, and after sailing 470's I always came back much stronger to college sailing. It taught me to listen to the boat. College sailing taught me a lot about powerful boat handling, tactics in tight situations (ends of beats, runs, after a bad start), how to be aggressive with position, and starts.

7. Do you think that either discipline ever had a negative impact on the other?

I think the interaction was mostly positive. They reinforced each other. At the end of the day, college sailing is not an end, but a means to an end. Where the End is professional sailing or Olympic sailing.

8. What do you see as the three biggest benefits of college sailing? The three biggest cons of college sailing?

Pros:
-college sailing is lot of fun. You make life long friends, and you spend a lot of time with people who are normally outside of the sailing world. It diversifies us.
-college sailing teaches team racing
-college sailing gets kids to do more races than in 4 years, than most people do in their lives.

Cons:
-college sailing can make people become disinterested in sailing from too much sailing.
-college sailing can very insular and some times is hard to see the sailing world beyond it
-college sailing can be very hard on crews, because they go from being in high demand within college, to not having a niche in the sailing world after college sailing.

9. Do you feel that college sailing is a necessary stepping stone, or do you feel that it is an unnecessary sphere to spend so much training time in, when campaigning for the Olympics?

It depends on the person. Some kids from the west coast all ready have what they would have learned in college sailing, because of high sailing. For them college sailing does not bring them any closer to the Olympics. For kids who did not sail year round growing up, college sailing is great as they can catch up to kids who did sail year round.

College sailing is a different discipline from Olympic sailing... and if colleges had 'Olympic sailing programs' that would be best, but that is not the case yet! So the best option is to do college as it has a lot of great things to offer.

10. If you were to go back, would you combine your college sailing and Olympic sailing differently?

I was one of those kids who really needed college sailing because I did not sail as much as some others while growing up. It was a great chance to learn some fundamentals, and to catch up on lost time. I am so glad Zack Leonard got me sailing in 470's over the summers and at Miami OCR in the winters. It got me a head start on my US piers in Olympic dinghies and that proved really valuable later on.

Stuart McNay and Graham Biehl will be hot footing it to Europe for the Princess Sofia Trophy - Spain, followed by Semaine Olympique Francaise - France, Skandia Sail for Gold - Great Britain, 470 European Championships - Finland, Olympic Test Event - Great Britain, Sail Melbourne - Australia and wrapping up their year with the 470 Worlds in Perth, Australia in December 2011.

Stuart McNay and Graham Biehl teamed up in 2005 with the goal of winning an Olympic Medal for the United States.They completed the first part of their dream in 2008 by representing the USA at the Olympics in the mens 470 in Qingdao, China. The pair finished a respectable 13th but have realized their potential and are pushing on for a medal at the London Olympics in 2012.

More Information:
Feature - The Right Path for Top Youth Sailors: Is it College Sailing?
Team McNay - Biehl Website
Joe Morris

Images: Top - 2008 Olympics © Getty Images. Middle -Stu McNay. Bottom - 2011 Rolex Miami OCR  © Rolex/Dan Nerney
Source: Sail1Design.com