CISA was such an amazing clinic this year. In the past I have shown up to help feed the sailors with my parents, but this year a friend of mine asked me to sail CFJ’s with her and I couldn’t help but say yes. I had always heard about all the fun memories that my fellow sailors had at the clinic and I was extremely excited to make my own.
On the first day, I came to ABYC with a huge smile on my face. My skipper, Katie McAllister, and I were a little intimidated by the well-known sailors. Once we got situated, it was time for Harry’s dreaded workouts. I will never forget almost fainting that first day. It was tough, but we all overcame it together. After the 30 minutes of hell, we all went upstairs to meet the coaches.
The two CFJ coaches were Zack Maxam and Jimmer Montgomery. I learned so much from my coaches. On the first day, we did rudderless sailing. Katie and I got by with only minor 2 collisions which was an accomplishment considering we had both never done it before. Our coaches also had us tie rope to our tillers and we had to use the rope instead of the tiller extension. These two drills taught Katie and me how to sail with barely any tiller movement.
The second day, we focused on racing and using a spinnaker. I have used a spinnaker before this clinic, but I did it my own way. I learned the hard way that the way that I used to fly a spinnaker is extremely dangerous in heavy wind. The first time I tried I hit myself in the head with the pole at least four times. And the one thing I definitely learned that it hurts… a lot. After the first race, Jimmer came up to Katie and me and asked, “What the heck were you doing?” He explained to us the proper way of flying a spinnaker and I got the hang of it pretty quickly. But, the wind grew stronger, and soon enough we capsized. Sadly, we had to go in because I cut my chin on the boom. But I do think that I learned the most on the second day.
On the third day we focused on line sights and starts. We probably did over 50 starts. Katie and I mastered the new way of flying a spinnaker by the middle of the day, and we improved on our synchronized hiking.
On the last day, we spent most of the time talking about goal setting and teamwork. And, on the water, we did a lot of waiting around for the wind. But once it filled, we did many races.
I would like to thank the CISA board for accepting me and my skipper into their amazing clinic, I would like to thank BYC for letting me use a boat and trailer, I would to thank Gill for donating the awesome fleeces and the Maritime Sciences and Seamanship Foundation for the grant that eased the financial burden of the entry fee.