This is a printer-friendly version of an article from Zip06.com.

Hand's Carlisle Taking to the Open Waters

Before a trip to Maine with his father and grandfather two years ago, Travis Carlisle would have said his athletic passion was football. But these days, Travis seems more than content on trading in the cracks of colliding helmets for the boom and mast of a 420 racing boat.

Travis is a soon-to-be junior at Hand and a member of both the Tigers' sailing and football teams. Two years ago, his father and grandfather taught him how to sail the 4.2-meter dinghy while on a trip to Maine and Travis was quickly hooked. He joined the Hand sailing team as a sophomore and earlier this summer was one of four Hand sophomores who completed the U.S. Sailing Level 1 Small Boat Instructor Course so he could teach sailing at the Madison Surf Club. Travis then won the first weekend of the Seguin Yacht Club Regatta on July 17 and also on the second weekend of July 31.

According to the U.S. Sailing website, the U.S. Sailing Small Boat Sailing Level 1 Instructor Course is a four-day, 40-hour course designed to provide sailing instructors with information on how to teach more safely, effectively, and creatively. The goal of the program is to produce highly qualified instructors, thereby reducing risk exposure for sailing programs. Topics covered in the course include classroom and on-the-water teaching techniques, risk management, safety issues, lesson planning, creative activities, ethical concerns, and sports physiology and psychology.

"It was pretty difficult; you had to concentrate a lot," Travis says. "You had to pass three tests-two sailing and one motorboat test-to pass the entire course. The motorboat test was kind of hard, but sailing comes naturally to me now."

Travis spent his summer helping youngsters get over their fears of the open water and teaching them some of the basic principles of sailing. The course he passed made it easier to teach the young ones some of the basics, such as not sailing directly into the wind.

"I was so interested in sailing I wanted to make sure I could have little kids enjoy it as much as I do," says Travis. "I wanted to make sure I could teach them how to do things well. They have a hard time grasping not sailing straight into the wind and that you can't always sail straight where you want to go. Sometimes if they are on the water too long they lose concentration so you have to make sure they stay on task and sail well."

Though Travis is relatively new to sailing himself, understanding how he learned to sail is still fresh in his mind, something that makes him an ideal teacher for the young campers at the Madison Surf Club Sailing Camp.

"I think it helps and at the same time it is somewhat of a disadvantage," he says. "I haven't been sailing as long as some of the other [instructors], but I can remember that this is what I struggled with and this is what I did wrong and I can prevent that from happening to [the kids]."

With all the experience he has gained over the last few months, Travis has high hopes for his second go-around with the Hand sailing team. He admits this season was difficult because of some of the boat's new faces, but believes that Hand should see greater success in 2012 with a strong returning core.

"Sailing for Hand is all team racing, which stresses communication with other sailing team members," Travis says.

This year was the first time Travis sailed competitively, and while it was challenging, the competition struck a chord with his inner football player.

"When I got to the Hand team, the competition of sailing made it easier," says Travis. "I wanted to improve and always needed to get better with my team, just like in football."

Travis says sailing has surpassed football as his go-to sport these days. He says he'll likely be a JV wide receiver as a junior, yet has much bigger aspirations on the boat.

"I'm pretty passionate about both," he says. "I think I have a better career with sailing than football; I think slowly I'm shifting to sailing. I'm getting more experience sailing and all my coaches are saying I've improved dramatically. I'm hoping it takes me through college and possibly into some 470 Olympic sailing [which involves 4.7-meter boats]. Griffin Pilz [Travis's teammate with Hand sailing] is trying to get me involved in that and maybe one day we'll make it to the Olympics."