Photography by Alan Ouellette and USF Athletics
The University of South Florida’s women’s varsity sailing team rode the waves to a successful season in 2025, advancing to their 18th national finals in 20 years.
The team made this year’s nationals after a dominant performance at the South Atlantic Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association (ICSA) Women's Conference Championships. They secured the Ann Boyd Trophy in the fleet racing championship and finished second in the team racing championship. Those performances earned the Bulls the 2025 conference championship. Out of a 36-team field, USF exceeded expectations and were one of only two public universities to finish in the top 20.
Now, for the first time in 13 years, the ICSA Women's National Championship returns to St. Pete in May with a competition that will determine the country’s top 18 teams for the 2025-2026 season.
Head coach Allison Jolly has one goal this year—to lead the team to victory.
Given her impressive resume as an Olympic medalist—the first female skipper to win gold—an inductee into the Florida Sports Hall of Fame and the US National Sailing Hall of Fame, and a head coach responsible for multiple team victories, there is a strong chance her wish will come true.
You might wonder how someone as accomplished as Jolly remains grounded, or how many of the busy student-athletes she coaches stay afloat. She answered that question with a single word and zero hesitation—sailing.
Born and raised in St. Pete, surrounded by multiple bodies of water, Jolly stepped onto a sailboat at age 10 after a gentle nudge from her parents and soon began winning competitions, eventually emerging as a local standout.
Jolly adored the sport but never thought it was a way to make a steady living. In college, she majored in chemistry and minored in math, and chased jobs as a chemist and a computer programmer after graduation. However, during her 25 years of working in the STEM workforce, she never stopped sailing.
As passions always do, the sport pulled her back to her roots in 2002.
“I never wanted to pursue sailing professionally because I thought it would ruin my love of the sport if it was something I was being paid for. I had been all around the country,” Jolly recalls. “I moved again, and I went, ‘Oh. Wow. I don't actually have a job.”
A two-year gig as a high school coach followed and kick-started her teaching career. Twenty-four years later, she now guides student athletes to succeed in both sailing and in life as the varsity head coach for the women’s team at USF.
Due to the nature of sailing, she explains that when things don’t go your way, you adapt, refocus your mindset and redirect your thinking. The team incorporates that philosophy, which emphasizes adjusting one's approach in response to uncontrollable external factors through a combination of physical, tactical and mental training, into a unique three-pronged structure for the athletes. Academics sit at the top. According to Jolly, more than half of the varsity roster is eligible for Academic All-Americans, an award given to juniors and seniors who maintain a GPA of 3.5 or above and who have competed in seven regattas during the year.
“We often have many qualified teammates,” the coach states with a sense of pride, having earned the award herself. “Which is kind of a nice thing to put on your resume.”
The second part focuses on mental and physical well-being. Behind the scenes, a trainer, a strength and conditioning coach, a sports psychologist, a nutritionist, an academic scheduler and a compliance officer all dedicate their time to helping the students thrive on land and on the water.
“I know that in a lot of campuses, sororities and fraternities are a really big deal. I like to think of the sailing team as a sorority and a fraternity rolled into one because you spend so much time in both teams combined,” she shares. “We’re probably looking at 30 to 35 people that work together, have dinners together and are there for each other. They offer a support system when someone’s having a terrible week. There’s always someone to lift them up.”
Jolly admits the least important aspect of being a student-athlete is the sport.
“The sailing is gravy after the academics and the physical and the mental well-being,” she offers.
Jolly advises that it is imperative to adapt to the constant change—whether it’s the wind or new team members—and come out the other side with a newfound sense of strength, agility and endurance.
Currently, the team ranks 20th in the country.
“I'm happy that that's where we are right now. Specifically, because we lost our two starting athletes. Our two top sailors graduated last spring, so that meant we were starting with juniors and sophomores as the skippers,” she shares with a mix of pride and poignancy. “I was afraid we were going to take more of a hit in our rankings. But that's kind of the cool part about it. People grow into the roles that they need to assume. That's cool…to see that progression.”
Sailors know that the wind changes direction and speed each day, and how they react makes all the difference. Jolly jumped at the chance to highlight two standout examples who met the challenge during the ICSA Fall Conference Championships.
She explains that senior Madisen Hamai and junior Kailey Warrior won first place in the A division—an amazing accomplishment, especially since Hamai never stepped foot on a boat until her freshman year.
“It’s really cool to see how much she’s been able to engage in the sport and to see how quickly she’s risen to the top,” Jolly says with a beaming smile, offering another example of how sailing mirrors life. “Truly, it’s not about the sailing. It’s about the life experiences and growing.”
Jolly at the helm
An estimated 600 people are expected to visit USF’s campus in May to watch the talented teams battle for rankings. Jolly believes the home field advantage will benefit the girls’ performance.
“It’s nice that it will be warm down here during finals and that we will have familiarity with the waters,” Hamai says echoing Jolly’s thought and reflecting back on her time with the team. “It’s been an amazing experience being a part of this team. Especially my journey from not knowing much about sailing as a freshman, to the point of facing the wrong way in a boat, to now being part of a championship. Two years ago, I would have never imagined this happening.”
For more information on the team’s journey, visit gousfbulls.com/sports/womens-sailing and to learn more about the Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association, visit collegesailing.org
