Gibson Island Race

By Tyler

            Over the summer, I spent most of my time learning to race sailboats. I was racing for my local yacht club, and it was my first summer that I have done racing. All of the summers before, I had been learning how to handle the boats I sailed. I had been sailing since I was 3 years old. We would attend events called regattas, which are a series of races in one day. One regatta was held at Gibson Island.

When I first showed up, I realized I knew most of the people there and knew that I would have some tough competition. All of my friends were there, and they were good sailors. My friends and I sailed boats called 420s, which are two person boats. Some people also sailed Lasers, which are one person boats. There were about 30 420s and Lasers. We launched our boats and headed to the race course. The Lasers did their races first, and then the 420s. The wind was about 14 miles per hour. I was sailing with a friend that I had known since I was in kindergarten. He didn’t have any racing experience either, so we were learning together. He sailed 420s for 3 years.

            In our first start, we didn’t do too well, and the wind was dying. We finished 11^th. After the race, we figured out that one boat was trying to follow us, and we sped ahead of them.

 In our second start, we were second to the first mark, and then the wind died to five miles per hour. Two boats passed us because they could handle the light wind better. When we got to the second mark, six boats were lined up side by side, and no one had enough space to cross the mark because of one boat that was on the very outside edge. Everyone called for space to get around the mark, and there was a lot of contact. It was that one boat’s job to give us room to round the mark, and he didn’t. My friend Harrison had sailed up next to me and he was yelling at me for space to round, but I couldn’t give him any space. I managed to cross, and I sped ahead of everyone there, and finished sixth. After the race, Harrison asked me if I knew who didn’t follow the rules in that one mark rounding. We asked around, and eventually gave up.

My next few races weren’t very good. We finished 11^th again, and then 17^th twice. We scored tenth overall, and it was our best regatta all summer. At the club, I saw my good friend whom I haven’t seen for a long time, and we talked. She ended up beating me by one place. Maybe I’ll beat her next time. I found the people that followed me, and we also talked. I beat them by 17 places, and they weren’t very upset about it.

Two of my friends placed in the top three positions, and Harrison got fourth. He was frustrated that he wouldn’t get an award, and he wanted the awards to show the top five, but they didn’t. After the race, we towed back to the yacht club, and I let my crew drive on the way back, even though everyone else knew how bad he was at driving and they told me to drive. It was his third time driving, and he did well.

I look forward to going back to race at Gibson Island next summer, and I hope I do even better than before. Since my family just bought a Laser, I knew I could practice when I wanted. Maybe I’ll race it at Gibson Island. I can’t wait for next summer.

The Tree

By Tyler

            When I first joined St. Martins during spring in 4^th grade, I saw a lot of trees around the driveway, but I noticed one tree at the end of the driveway where I was dropped off. It was the first thing I saw. It had pretty white flowers on it. The next school year, the leaves turned yellow, and fell onto the basketball court at the end of the blacktop.

 Kids would break the rules and climb on the tree during recess, and the teachers would tell them to come down. In the spring, bees would make a colony on it, and scare the kids away. That tree would make a great photo if it was taken from the middle school building. Sometimes, we can see it out of our classroom’s window, and it would seem to make class prettier. When we play manhunt (which is hide-and-seek tag with teams), we hide behind it, and when we play hunger games (tail tag with teams on the whole school campus), we meet under it.

The tree usually doesn’t have all of its white flowers on it, but when it does I admire it very much. The tree is usually the first to grow leaves, and white flowers, on it in the spring. During fall the leaves turn orange and fall everywhere. During winter it protects the court at the end of the blacktop from snow.

That tree will always remind me of my time and good friends here at St. Martins. After I graduate, I will visit and always look for that tree, and remember everything.