Jr. Sailing Series - Breck

When I was asked to write this article, so many different funny times, traditions, memories, and friendships immediately came to mind. So as I’m sitting here writing this article, I started to remember all the crazy times, friendships, and memories I have created at sailing camp. Not only has sailing taught me some very valuable life skills, but it has also given me a second family.

The Junior Sailing program is one giant family in my mind. Everybody comes from different places with different stories, backgrounds and we all are there just trying to have a good time, and let me tell you, we have a good time. My father, who is now 48, sailed in the WRYC Junior sailing program when he was my age. My father made many lifelong friendships through the camp and to this day, he still talks to some of them. Just like him, in my second year at the camp, there was a boy from Sweden, he and I had nothing in common except for a love for sailing. Through this, we became best of friends and we were inseparable. We sailed together every day and although he has moved back to Sweden, I still consider him a close friend of mine.

Every family has its own set of weird traditions and the junior sailing camp family is no exception. I know of so many weird traditions that have been passed down throughout the decades. Some of these weird traditions were the funny awards we got at the end of the camp or the shows we used to get in the morning. At the end of the two weeks, the counselors would give out funny trinkets that remind them of you. For example, one individual got the knotty sailor award because she was obsessed with knot tying. However, my favorite tradition was the performances. If you forgot something of yours at the club and the counselors found it, as camp tradition, they make you perform for the group whether it be singing, dancing, acting out a skit, or even telling some funny jokes. There was also a daily weather report given by one of the older campers. It was typically about how the earth getting closer to the sun is causing the sharks to become controlled by aliens and come after us.

The Junior Sailing Camp at The Ware River Yacht Club has given me an experience like no other. I have met kids halfway across the planet, created lifelong memories, and danced in front of many to get my water bottle back. I hope you consider joining me and many others, and as Captain Jack Sparrow said from the movie Pirates of the Caribbean, "That's what a ship is, you know—it's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that's what a ship needs. But what a ship is, really is, is freedom."