Sunday, we took the motor home up to Kinston to meet Slade and Candace and pick up Anna and Evan for two weeks in Beaufort. They are enrolled in the Junior Sailing Program presented by the Friends of the NC Maritime Museum.
This will be Anna's third year and Evan's second year in the camp. However, this year, because of the bridge construction on Gallants Channel, the camp is held on Taylors Creek.
Monday, the first day of camp. And one of the biggest rain events recently here in Beaufort. There is no sailing today, but a lot of classroom instruction.
As soon as we get our life jackets on it thunders. Are you kidding me? I'm pretty sure one of the campers is cursed. We had to watch 2 hours of Start Sailing Right video. When we gave up on staying conscious during the video the FJs headed upstairs to throw hats on each other's heads, throw m&m's in each other's mouths and throwing balls of rope into the lampshade on the ceiling. It was a looonnnngggg afternoon. By the end of the evening we had gotten 5 inches of rain!!!
Tuesday, the weather breaks and the kids get to get on the water a little. They do their swim test and practice rigging and de-rigging the boats and eventually get out on the water sailing for a while.
Evan got to go sailing because he is an opti and they get to finish de-rigging faster than us. We spent 45 minutes learning to rig. Then 45 minutes doing capsize recovery and then an hour of rigging and de-rigging for more practice. Guess what happened then? THUNDER!
I am the Parent Liaison for the afternoon session this year. The primary purpose of the Parent Liaison is to help answer parent questions and let the instructors focus on the teaching. There's really not a lot to it, but I really enjoy being able to watch the kids progress from knowing nothing at all about sailing to becoming pretty good sailors by the end of two weeks.
Wednesday is a big day. We start out on the power boat with Anna's new friend Hunter. We start out tubing, but I'm afraid the tube has seen it's better days. We have to re-inflate it after each ride.*
* We did not re-inflate, we just went riding on it deflated. The bad part was that the parts we sit on were inflated but the edges weren't. Just imagine riding on a blanket with 2 pillows stacked on top of each other to sit on. Now add the part where Papa is trying to throw you off. Reminder- you're still pretty much just sitting on the water. I'll just say, we flipped EVERY TIME.
We eventually give up and everyone starts wake boarding. Anna helped Hunter learn how to do it and eventually she is up on the board doing very well.
Hunter is born to wakeboard! She never got pulled over the front like Evan and I did our first times AND she can go Regular or Goofy footed. I am sooooo jelly! ;)
Then we hurriedly transition to Sail Camp.
So we are out sailing (the FJ's first sail!!!) and then guess what happens. C'mon, guess. I know you can probably get it. IT THUNDERED. So more throwing hats, and pictionary, and blasting music and rap battles inside. YAY!
Then we hurry from sail camp over the bridge to West Marine and pick up a new tube. IT IS EPIC! 2 Tiers!!! Evan and I can't wait to ride it. On our way home we pick up some chick-fil-a sandwiches and then hustle back over to the sail camp for free sail. Evan takes Madeline out on an opti
while I take out a sunfish.
I come in a little earlier and hang with Mimi and Ms. Jean 'cause I'm exhausted. Then Evan and Madeline come back to the dock and Evan wants to try out a sunfish however, because he has never sailed one before he has to go with someone who has experience just in case. Guess who is asked to go? ME. So I take Evan out but he wants to sail, so I end up sitting in the cockpit that is filled with water and very small (It's meant for your feet and feet only). So yeah, sister of the year award goes to....
This has really been a day on the water - tubing, wake boarding, sailing, getting a new tube, and sailing. By the time we get home, all we can do is crash on the sofa.
Thursday turns out to be another epic (as in Noah) rain event here in Beaufort. I thought it had rained Monday, but today it really rained. I think I saw some animals downtown getting on a big boat!
Notice how you can't see curbs. They're under about an inch of water by 5, now it's 9 and is still pouring.
However, it did start out good. This morning, we were all so tired from yesterday that we just chilled. Then another day of fun at Sail Camp - for about an hour. Then thunder, then lightning, then light rain, then heavy rain, then heavier rain, then it really started to rain.
However, the big news for the day is that Evan changed from the advanced Opti to the Flying J, skipping the Sunfish completely. Quite an accomplishment - and quite a sail.
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| Evan and partner use the rail. Believe it or not, they did not capsize. |
As we drove home from Sail Camp, the roads are flooded. The police are everywhere blocking off roads - even downtown was closed to traffic because of flooding. This is more rain than we see in most hurricanes.
Mills (our instructor) is usually super serious counselor decided to pull an opti out into the 'river' in front of the sail camp. Then it started to float away so he had to go and pull it back up to the porch.
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