Team: Club sailing
Felix Nusbaum ’25
Hometown: Rye, N.Y.
Major: Math
Varya Kluev ’25
Hometown: Tenefly, N.J.
Majors: Statistics and English
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Noor Naseer (NN): When did you both start sailing?
Felix Nusbaum (FN): I grew up sailing — my dad taught me how — and then I went on to race in high school.
Varya Kluev (VK): My first time sailing was freshman year here. I didn’t know that it was a sport prior to coming to Williams.
NN: Wow, those are two very different experiences. Looking back on your four years on the team, how do you feel like you’ve grown?
VK: I mean, it’s definitely a new set of skills. I feel like I’ve become a better sailor since my first year on the team. But it’s also nice to have that experience as someone who’s a senior and a captain. If I see other people who are nervous or struggling in some way, I can tell them, “No, it’s not that bad. It gets better.” It’s been so much fun.
FN: For me, it’s kind of the opposite. In high school, it was a really intense team. There were a lot of really good sailors that got recruited, and then coming here, I was in more of a teaching role. That’s been a lot of fun for me, though. It’s kind of more enjoyable and less high-stress.
NN: If you had to pick one word to describe the team, what would it be?
VK: I want to say something along the lines of “passionate.” A lot of people like repping the team, which has been very cute to see because we’ve grown a lot in the last four years.
NN: That’s actually my next question. How have you seen the team change or grow over the last four years?
FN: I think when we got here, there were maybe 10 people on the team and maybe three of us knew how to sail. We’ve gotten more and more people each year. This year, there was a ton of interest in the beginning, and now we have a solid group of, like, 30 or 40 people.
VK: I think we’ve also worked to establish ourselves in the Williams athletic community more, because I feel like freshman year, no one knew what sailing was. The team has grown and advertised itself better, so I get the sense that it’s more of a thing.
FN: Also, in NEISA [New England Intercollegiate Sailing Association], our performance has gone way up.
NN: Do you have a favorite regatta?
FN: Middlebury for me. They have the nicest location and a great fleet. They’re also just so nice. They grill burgers and hot dogs and stuff. They’re the only ones that do that.
VK: Their lake is so cold, though, having fallen into it. I would say anything in Boston. We have Harvard or MIT gatherings, and it’s on the Charles. It’s really cool to be in an urban place on the water.
NN: What are you most looking forward to in the spring?
FN: It’s always weird if we’re going to be able to practice or not in the spring because we have to wait for the water to warm up. But regattas start in March for us.
VK: Also, the people that weren’t able to participate in the fall could join in the spring, so it’s fun to see how the dynamics shift.
NN: Do you have any favorite team traditions?
VK: We have the donut man, which I know is probably our coach’s favorite. The donut man is a race that we do every fall towards the end of our season in practice. People dress up in costumes, and we take our boats and sail to the Dunkin Donuts that is on the lakefront. One person has to get out of the boat [and] run and get donuts for everyone on [their] team. We all have to eat it while keeping the boat at the dock, and we have to sail back.
