Eye on the Ball: Islander helps others in two sports

Cole Colby, 17, has been coming to Shelter Island all his life. I’ve known Cole since he was a baby and have enjoyed watching him grow into a remarkable young man.

Last week, while having dinner at the Tavern with my family, we happened to meet Cole, his mom and dad, Betsy and John, and his younger sister, Marnie. One of the losses I’ve had since retiring from Gardiner’s Bay Country Club (GBCC) is not spending enough time with fine families like the Colbys.

Six years ago, when the Colbys moved to the Island permanently, Cole and Marnie went to the Ross School in East Hampton.

Graduating this spring. Cole will be heading off to Syracuse University in the fall.

On the Island, the Colbys are members of GBCC and are up for membership in the Shelter Island Yacht Club where Cole has been working. Although I was his golf teacher and pleased to see Cole became a good golfer, I didn’t win his love for the great game.

His sailing coach was the victor when it came to inspiring passion in a sport. Cole loves to sail and, as you might know, when you’re passionate about something, you usually excel. His love for sailing has resulted in numerous awards through the years.

For the past two years, he’s been captain of the Ross School varsity sailing team, and this year, he’s captain of the combined Ross/Shelter Island varsity sailing team. He said he enjoys teaching his fellow students the ropes, even though many of them had never stepped on a boat. Once they know how to manage a boat, he coaches them on maneuvering in races.

“Sailing is like athletic chess,” Cole said.

Last summer, when he found out that the Shelter Island School sailing team would not receive funding because of lagging participation, he approached the Ross School’s director of athletics and the sailing program director at Breakwater Yacht Club to include Shelter Island in the Ross program. From the first day, the Shelter Island students were included in practices and regattas.

This move was a little extra work for Cole. After class, he would leave school, pick up the Island students from the South Ferry and take them to the Breakwater Yacht Club in Sag Harbor. After practice, he would bring them back to their homes on Shelter Island.

That story alone is one of the reasons he is special. Although I’ve mentioned that he’s won many awards, this past autumn, the Breakwater Yacht Club gave only one award to a junior sailor when Cole was named Junior Sailor of the Year. At Ross, he received Most Valuable Player four times, and the Coaches Award twice.

An amazing resume for such a young man, but it’s not all about sailing when it comes to Cole as a sportsman. When he’s not on the water, he’s on the snow, skiing. In fact, some weeks he sails during the week and skis on weekends. His love of the sport translated into earning the highest grade his school has to offer for senior projects this year, Although it might sound simple, it was not. From scratch, with no guide to help him, he spent a year making two pairs of skis.

Cole started explaining to me how he made the skis, not knowing that I am the guy who only made a lousy shoe box in woodworking class, so he totally lost me. He began describing the core being made out of poplar and maple, then plastic polymer material, with the outside in fiberglass, kevlar and steel edges … I didn’t have the foggiest idea of what he was talking about so I stopped him.

But his presentation to the school is recorded and for those of you interested in what he had to go through for this project go to vimeo.com/154233778. Among the people who he credits for their help are Islanders Anders Langendal and his family.

On winter weekends and holiday breaks, Cole is an assistant ski coach teaching 6-to-8-year-old skiers for the Killington Ski Club at the Killington Mountain School. This is a winter term academy where kids start very young before moving into the other programs. If they’re good enough, they’re accepted into the winter term. Frequently, these kids go into Division I college ski teams as well as competing on the Olympic level.

He genuinely loves being a ski coach for these little ones, he said, especially when the kids all call him “Coach Cole.”