Chapter 13

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I woke up bright and early the next day, ready for camp. I got dressed in tennis whites and threw my usual assortment of gear into my backpack before eating waffles for breakfast and mounted my bike to ride to Ocean Point Harbor.

It was an average morning. I had my tennis lesson with Margaret, then we ate lunch at the center field and jumped in the pool right before sailing. We splashed around in the deep end, playing games like, "who can do the best dive?" Margaret, being that she used to be on the Ocean Point Harbor swim team, was much better at me at this.

After our quick dip in the pool, we walked over to sailing. Ally was sitting on the stone wall with the clipboard in hand.

"Afternoon, girls!" She said cheerfully as she checked the boxes next to our names on the clipboard.

"Afternoon, Ally!" I replied as I walked back to the lockers. I entered the combination for my locker and opened the door. I reapplied my sunscreen and threw my bag inside, taking my life jacket off one of the hooks. I pushed my sunglasses farther up my nose. Time to sail!

The Adventure Sailors met at the center field tree again. We sat in a circle. Jackson had a whiteboard and markers. It looked like we were all in for a lecture.

"Okay, Adventure!" Jackson said, announcing that our meeting had started. We all looked up at him. He took the cap off of a blue marker and wrote in big letters at the top of the board, "Capsize Test."

Whoo hoo! Maybe this lecture wouldn't be so bad. Capsizing was a lot of fun, even if Jackson and Ally had to lecture the process of the test to the new sailors like Bradley and Lena.

"Today were doing our capsize test." Jackson announced. "Were going to rig one of the Bics, and sail it around the horseshoe. The horseshoe was the term we used for the area in between the Bic, Optimist, and 420/Pixel docks because it was shaped like a horseshoe.

"Can somebody tell me what capsizing is?" I saw Eliza's hand go up in a flash at Ally's question. "Yes, Eliza?" Ally asked.

"Capsizing is when the boat flips over onto it's side." Eliza said matter-of-factly.

"Correct!" Jackson nodded. "Now who knows what a turtle is?"

It was my turn to raise my hand. "Mattie?"

"Turtling is when the boat flips all the way over so that it is upside down, instead of on it's side like a traditional capsize." I smiled. I'm happy I've had plenty of experience sailing before.

"Correct again!" Jackson began to draw an image of a Bic capsized and another one turtled.

"Now, how do we recover from a capsize or turtle?" Ally looked around the circle of young sailors.

Emma answered. "Swim as fast as you can to the other side of the boat. Try not to let your boat turtle. Then place all of your weight on the daggerboard and the boat should right itself. It's trickier to right a boat that's turtled."

"Or you could dry-roll!" Alex put in.

"Alex, can you explain dry-rolling to the others?" Jackson asked.

"It's when you capsize but don't fall out of the boat. Instead you fall the opposite direction onto the daggerboard and right the boat without getting wet. It's a bit hard to do." Alex nodded, sure of his response.

"Let's head to the docks now. Were going to rig Margaret's boat." Ally ordered. "Life jackets on and zipped before heading onto the docks!"

We all headed down to the racks and took Margaret's boat off. We rigged it as a team, and pushed it into the water. One by one, Ally and Jackson told us to sail the boat around he horseshoe and capsize. Alex and Eliza were able to execute dry-rolls. Bradley turtled.

When it was my turn to capsize, I steadily walked up to the front of the boat and hugged the mast, throwing all of my weight backwards. The boat began to tilt, and eventually I landed in the water with a splash. The boat had capsized. I paddled as fast as I could to the other side of the boat, climbed up onto the daggerboard, and the boat eventually returned to its original upright position, but with a dripping wet sail. I climbed out of the water soaking but with a smile on my face. The adventures at camp were only beginning.


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a note from Ripple the SeaWing;

I can not believe it!!!! Mattie's adventure had only just started, but I'm already NUMBER ONE on the adventure list! With only seventy reads! Let's we if we can remain in the top spot, and let's hope Mattie hangs in there! There are rough seas ahead, my friends! See you soon! -Ripple

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