It was an odyssey. Twenty-six days of sailing, two days of surfing, eight days of travel; two kids and two hospitals, a race riot on a ferry boat, killer fish, an impossible mission, two new sails, old sails becoming older with every day of 15 knots plus, five yacht clubs, seventeen movies, innumerable flights, hotel rooms, grocery stores, restaurants and bars; one mud pie, ten trophies, one perpetual, thousands of lessons learned, hundreds of life experiences, countless friends, and one National Championship. The next time someone asks what you did for summer? Just tell’em “I went sailing.”
The report from the USODA Nationals is really impossible to put into words. Beginning with our trip to the Virgin Islands in June, the logistics, lessons learned and experiences had have simply melded into a blur of emotions and images. One key lesson that keeps coming up is “Never, Never, Never Give Up.” It’s something I witnessed over and over with kids from other teams, among the West Side team and even among the parents. Every point matters, every moment matters and every exchange makes a difference. The achievements are sometimes not so evident and the takeaways not always obvious, but the confidence gained and belief in oneself generated by living it shines through.
The sport is expensive, time consuming, and always humbling, but it teaches so much more than expected and delivers ever more than promised. It’s my lesson learned that the sailors are walking taller because of the collective experience that only sailing provides. It’s sad that Madison Avenue taints our best expressions, because it is expensive in so many ways, but priceless nevertheless.
Congrats West Side and all the competitors that made it possible.
Craig Wilson
