Last Day at Courageous

This is a picture of me
steering the boat!

On Wednesday Save the Harbor/Save the Bay had a fishing tournament, and it was great! I was on a boat with Mark, a previous Harbor Hero, and the guest I brought, my little sister Lian. We drove off into the harbor until we couldn't see any land around us! On the way there it was very cold and bumpy, I almost fell off the boat! We used live bait which the owner of the boat said was the best kind, but we ended up not catching any fish at all. Regardless I still had fun because I did something I had never done before. Also the captain of the boat let me drive it on the way back!! At first he let me drive the boat at 15 mph, and then he sped up to 45 mph, and that's when it started getting real fun. My colleague Eric ended up catching the biggest fish and won the tournament!

Me gearing up for the big race!

Friday marked our last day at the Courageous Sailing Center and we had a boat race! There were two different kinds of boats that we got into. The regular type of sailing boat and these ones called Quest boats. The Quest boats capsized in the water which means the passengers were able to swim and jump off. If I were to known this ahead of time I would've tried to get on that one-- I love to swim since I've started working for Save the Harbor. We raced from the center all the way to our office on the fish pier. It actually took a long while even though we could see the office from where we had started the race. Every time we got closer, I felt like the finish line was moving further and further!

Stay tuned for more!
Vince Vila

Sailing at Courageous!

Memories from the sailing center.

As we come closer and closer to the end of August, some program sites are beginning to close. For instance, Courageous Sailing Center's programming ended this Friday. A few of the Save the Harbor staff came to Charleston, and they invited us to sail with some of the kids. This is something I have never done before. For starters, it was not just your average, relaxing sailing trip. We were in a massive race with over 30 boats, and small winds. My team had three youngsters, one expert, and myself, a newcomer to sailing. They gave me one starting tip, watch out for my head. You really had to pay close attention or else you'd get hit in the head really hard. Also, some boats began to capsize, and people liked to do that for fun so they can dip into the water. Though I wanted to get wet, we took the time to prepare for the race.

I'm going to miss these kids!

I learned some things in the race. I learned what irons were, tacking, and switching jets. I was mainly switching jets as we sailed because it is very easy to do. I talked to them about marine life, and taught them about invasive species. The kids knew about this however because they've taken science classes at Courageous. They made me the student and taught me how to steer the boat. I stopped because I crashed into another boat, but it is nothing new apparently, they said it happened all the time. I am going to miss the kids at Courageous, and the studies, but it was a very fun time learning how to sail, and actually going sailing for the first time!

Talk to you later!

Qalid Hassan :)