ST. PETERSBURG — Sailing is a sport that requires adaptability.

Changing winds, current and temperature: all variables out of your control.

USF women’s sailing knows it comes with the territory.

“As a sailor, you have to be prepared for anything to change,” said Lily Theisen. “We get hit with lots of curveballs.”

The biggest for the Bulls came last year due to COVID-19. Their season abruptly came to an end in March.

If anyone knows how to adjust course, it’s head coach Allyson Jolly.

“This is my sixteenth season here as the head coach of USF women’s sailing team,” Jolly said. “All but my first year, we’ve gone to nationals. It was so disappointing not to be able to go last year.”

Sixteen years ago, Jolly was set to retire after a career in computer programming when a coaching opportunity opened at USF. She knew it was meant to be. Returning to the same waters she learned to sail at age 9.

“This is the best of both worlds because of my passion for sailing and teaching rolled into one, it’s one of those opportunities of a lifetime.”

Jolly knows how to navigate unchartered territory. In 1988, she competed in the first women’s sailing event in Olympic history – winning a gold medal.

“Knowing she was able to make it to the Olympics and that’s a rare thing especially for girls in sailing, and in sports in general, having women representation, it makes me feel confident to compete and be strong as an athlete and stand up to people who think otherwise,” said Theisen.

In 2016, Jolly was inducted into the Florida Sports Hall of Fame. Her class included Super Bowl winning coach Jon Gruden, and hockey hall of famer, Phil Esposito. But to her athletes, she is more than a sailing icon, she’s a mentor and friend.

“She’s easy to trust, she’s present and she cares about us,” said Carolina Rovira. “Not only can we come to her with sailing stuff, but career ideas or problems in school.

That bond is a big reason why the Bulls are bound for Nationals. It marks Jolly’s 17th appearance.

“It’s been jumping through hoops to really get to sail so it would mean a lot that in the face of adversity, we still made it to nationals and we still made it to what we worked so hard for,” Rovira said.

But win or lose, Coach Jolly hopes her team takes away something bigger.

“We have not only very different personality types, different athletic abilities, different majors and they all work together on the team,” Jolly said. “I hope they take that out to the workplace, into their life, just because someone is different, we can still relate, and sometimes you relate to the people you are most unlike so I think that’s a really valuable lesson they can take away.”

The USF sailing team earned a third place team finish in the SAISA Conference Championships, hosted in St. Petersburg by USF. Their finish qualified three USF boats to the Women's National Championships in Annapolis, Md., next month.