Kids Aboard Boating, Fishing & Watersports Magazine
For Children & Families
Posted Monday, November 27, 2006
Hey, my name is Ashley Saylor. I'm sixteen, in the tenth grade and I love sailing!
Water is in my blood. I literally grew up sailing. One of my dad's favorite stories to tell happened when I was about four living in North Carolina. My dad and I were sailing a Snark on the Albemarle Sound, and the next thing he knows, I'm not on the boat anymore! Instinctively, he reaches behind him and snatches my lifejacket, pulling me back on the boat. With a beginning like that and a name like mine, it seemed destiny that I would grow up sailing.
A couple of years later, my family moved to Jamestown, Virginia. We lived five minutes from the James River, historically famous for the first permanent English settlement in the "New World." My dad couldn't stand being near the water without a boat, so he soon convinced my mom to let him buy our first sailboat. His find was an older Hobie 16 catamaran. My dad and I had the most fun on that boat, but my mom was more inclined to leisurely (translate-flat and stable) sailing. At this time, my family bought a twenty-two foot cruising sailboat. Believe it or not I really didn't enjoy sailing in particular anymore. However, we took many trips as a family and had fun together.
After a few years sailing on the James River, we packed our bags again and left for "Middle Georgia." Not exactly the ideal place for sailing, or so one would think. We did find a couple of lakes though, and soon joined a club. This was the beginning of my racing experience, for every other weekend I was literally dragged to the club to race. When I was about ten and in the fifth grade, my parents bought me a Sunfish. It needed work, and I can still feel my first experience with an electric sander. I think I described it as, "My brains are turning into a milkshake!" Anyway, when my dad and I were finished, my boat looked and sailed as good as new. I did my first races as "captain" on this boat, although I mostly just day-sailed. I became officially hooked on sailing.
After awhile, the opportunity arose to buy a newly designed boat, a Raider. I sold my Sunfish and bought the first-ever Raider-the prototype. This boat, soon named Hard Drive was two times as heavy as the later production models, since it was made outside of a mold out of any materials available. However, this made it extremely stable-a great learning boat. At this point, I began to race more extensively. I even traveled some, and while I didn't win any races at the time, they were still a great learning experience. Eventually, I started doing well in my races, so as a family, we decided it was time for an upgrade. I sold my Raider #1 and used the money to help pay for my new boat. However, I was still a little short on money, so Mr. John of Raider Sailboats cut me a deal. I had to help "lay up" or fiberglass my boat. And with the smell of resin and fiberglass seemingly melting off my nose, I dreamed of sailing the boat I was helping to build. While the work was strenuous and messy, it was an experience of a lifetime that I don't regret.
This brings me to the last year and a half in my life. I travel often with my Raider, trying to learn and soak up as much information as much as I can. About February of last year, after saving up enough money, I bought a spinnaker. I then made up my mind to do the Mug Race, a forty-one mile race up the St. John's River, from Palatka, Fl to Jacksonville. It's renowned for being the world's longest river race. It was scheduled for the first weekend in May, so I had approximately six weekends and one big practice race to train a crew and learn how to fly a spinnaker. Neither my crew, Killian, nor I had ever even been on a boat flying a spinnaker, so it really became a crash course on Spinnaker Flying 101. After many hours of sailing, "shrimping," and getting totally soaked, the Mug Race came up on us before we knew it. I always joke that the only reason people keep doing the race is that during the course of the year they forget how brutal it was the previous time and do it again! However, after 12 hours on the water and no wind, Killian and I proudly brought home the Fred Austin Memorial trophy, a trophy for the first youth captain and crew under the age of 18 to finish.
Another aspect of sailing I have begun, and one that has possibly brought the most fun for me has been the Special Olympic sailing program, which uses Hobie 16's for training. For the first time in years, I began sailing on catamarans again. In the program, each one of us "partners" gets a Special Olympic athlete to sail with. The partner steers and trims the main while the athletes work the jib by command. We travel to races in regional, and even international events. The last international event was held overseas in Ireland. The program is lots of fun for everyone involved and growing all the time. I often wonder who learns more from this program, me or the athletes?
My latest venture into the sailing world has been a new Laser Radial. I have just started racing it, as I want to get experience in the one-design sailing culture. The first day I sailed my new Laser happened to be the first weekend in January. Here, someone came up to me and said, "Laser sailors are absolutely crazy." I didn't realize how true that was! We are crazy, in a good way. We're the only small boats out there in the middle of winter "frostbiting." But when sailing, you forget about the cold, stinging wind, and big bulky dry suits, and just do what you love! I thought it would be miserable, but I haven't had so much fun sailing in a long time.
I sometimes wonder why do I love sailing and what keeps me going? I don't think it's anything that a non-sailor could truly understand. All they see are the bruises, soar muscles, waiting for wind, and hard work just to try to go fast. But it's so much more than that. I struggle to sum it all up in just one paragraph. I guess one reason is that when you're sailing you just feel so close to God and all His creation. And the element of capturing something so intense, awesome, and powerful as the wind is just mind-blowing! I hope one day, I will be able to use my God-given abilities to get through college. And who knows? Maybe further! My life's motto is, "Always dream!"
