The mission of the IUP Sailing Club is to involve the IUP community in recreational sailing; to allow beginners to master basic skills leading to US Sailing certification; and to provide experienced sailors the opportunity to develop racing tactics and compete in collegiate regattas.

The club was formed in Fall of 2011. With no boats and few experienced sailors, the club officers lead by founding president Justin Thomas embarked on a Puddle Duck Racer building project.  In August 2012, the club acquired six JY15s through the support of the IUP Student Cooperative Association and the leadership of Erin Carlson and Taylor Billman.

The club began sailing out of the south shore of Yellow Creek State Park, with certified US Sailing instructors Karl Richter (’16) and Julia Campbell (’16) providing lessons to novice IUP sailors.

The Sailing Club was recognized with an Excellence in the Classroom award at the IUP Student Leadership Banquet (March 2014) and club officer, Karl Richter, was given the IUP Chacivity Award (April 2014), recognizing Character, Civility, and Integrity.

The club has also been active in community service, sponsoring Get-Outdoors-PA outreach sessions with the park to introduce the public to sailing.

In 2012 and 2013, the club hosted Pitt Sailing at Yellow Creek for informal races at Septemberfest. Partnering with the non-profit, Friends of Yellow Creek, and the state park, the club is preparing to reopen the Yellow Creek Sailing Base on the north shore of the park.

The Middle Atlantic Intercollegiate Sailing Association accepted IUP Sailing as an Associate member, and the club became eligible for formal competition. In May 2014, sailors Richter and Joe Cristello represented IUP for the first time ever in a sanctioned ISCA race at Annapolis, MD.