What a fun day on the water! It started with a private charter on both boats with a private school’s choir. They chartered both boats for a crew race. This is where we race the boats for the enjoyment of the passengers. They were quite competitive with the students and chaperones all getting “crew” shirts in different colors. I had the beige team on my boat. The wind was pretty light, barely enough wind to get far into the Chesapeake Bay, but we made it around the race course first. We had great ‘Crew” that helped heel the boat over for maximum speed. As we motored back in from the race, the “Crew” on our boat sang loudly to the other boat, “We are the Champions” in 5-part harmony. It was fantastic!
On our sunset sail that evening, the wind had picked up and we had a delightful sail into the Bay. This young lady comes back to take her turn at the helm. She is beaming from ear to ear. She cannot wait to steer this boat! I asked her name, where she was from and if she ever sailed before. She told me that her name was Amanda, from Coral Springs, FL (90% sure), and that she was 12 years old. She proceeded to tell me that she sailed on the boat with me, as captain, last year… and that she loved it. “I won a gymnastics competition and my mom asked me how I wanted to celebrate, and I told her I wanted to sail on the Woodwind again. I sailed with you before and it was so much fun!” Her mom started beaming from ear to ear. Amanda was so cute, almost as tall as me, 5- foot, sailing the boat with that gorgeous smile. We talked more and she won a pretty major competition in gymnastics. She got the gold medal in the Eastern Regional Gymnastic Championships. (The Level 9 Eastern Championships was held in Landover, Md., with the Western Championships in Boise, Idaho.) Here’s her pic with the gold medal from her championship! Be on the lookout for Amanda Gaskins for the 2016 Olympics! She is an amazing young lady.