Stories by Mikai

Sailing on the Top of the World
I wrote this for school on our trip over the summer (this was a different boat)


     In the summer of 2011, my family and I climbed onto a new, exciting, and fun sailing experience. Before I went on the trip, I felt unsure if I would like it and I was a bit worried I wouldn’t know how to react to any unexpected circumstances. I had been in heavy, stressful storms on other boats when I am asked to quickly do something I don’t know how to do. Regardless, we began the trip in the San Francisco airport at four o’clock in the morning, leading us to a very small airport in the US Virgin Islands. We then took a ferry to the timeless world of the British Virgin Islands where the adventure began.

     At seven o’clock in the morning, I silently wake up to the sound of my parents and siblings walking out the door of our hotel in the British Virgin Islands. I lazily get up and walk with my family to the Charter company where we rent “Smoke’n’Roses”: a 47 foot long Catamaran. We check in at the lobby where my dad asked me to go with my mom to the grocery store to buy food for two weeks. This turned into us loading a full-size wagon of groceries into a very small, broken refrigerator on the boat. My parents spend several hours with the staff troubleshooting the broken refrigerator, while my siblings and I unload our bags into our rooms. I have been given the life-changing, miracle gift of my own room. I finish unloading my bags and walk outside where the two week long journey has just begun. I swing off the mast into the warm blue water where I feel a life-changing experience beginning on the endless blue water aboard a warm, breezy sailboat.


     Here we were, sailing along, hours, days, and maybe even weeks after we left port. I’ve completely lost track of time, it feels like its been only a day or two since we left port, when my parents announce that we only have one day left. I’m shocked it’s almost over, but I decide to enjoy my last day on this amazing adventure. As my parents announce the end, we begin hoisting the sails for the last time sailing in the British Virgin Islands. I call my siblings up to the safe cockpit where they wait for my dad and I to put up the sails. My dad hands me the wheel, telling me to steer straight into the wind as he begins hoisting the sails. I keep the boat on a steady course straight into the wind as I wait for the sails to take over the powerful engines humming in the background. After the main is hoisted, my dad comes back into the cockpit of the boat where he unties the ropes and begins hoisting the jib. Finally, after he has hoisted both of the white, flapping sails, he tells me to fall off the wind direction, just enough for the sails to fill up. The wind speed picks up and I cut both engines. I adjust the rudders just enough to keep a straight course, and announce to my siblings that it is safe to go back to the front of the boat. Our speed is picking up, course chosen, family happy, I feel like I’m sailing on the top of the world. I feel the waves crashing onto our boat, causing it to bob up and down. I hear the little dinghy being dragged behind us, crashing up and down as the waves grow bigger and taller. Although the ride is sickening, I ignore my churned stomach and enjoy these last moments of sailing on the top of the world. No school, no work, no stress, and best of all; no negativity. There is nothing that can possibly go wrong, no way that anyone can be disappointed or worried. My mind is empty, no worries, no problems, no time, only the wonderful feeling of sailing in the breezy, humid, blue waters of the British Virgin Islands.


.   .   .

     Back at port, after navigating through the narrow passages back to the Charter company’s dock, it’s all over. I finish packing my bags and walk outside of Smoke’n’Roses, looking around, I remember all the fun I’ve had on this boat; the humid winds while we were sailing, the warm salty ocean I jumped in, and best of all; the endless nights I spent laying in my bed watching the sun vanish behind the infinite sea. I would watch the boats pass, the flashing buoys, the bright moon and the bright stars, and the shimmering reflections on the water. All of these memories add up to an amazing and very unique vacation. I’ve learned many new sea-terms, learned how to sail a Catamaran, and most importantly, I got the life-changing experience of sailing on Smoke’n’Roses.


.   .   .

     Taking off from the small airport in the US Virgin Islands, I look down at all that has been a part of this vacation. I see our hotels, the docks, the seagulls, the salty, blue water, and Smoke’n’Roses; the 47 foot long Catamaran I spent two very memorable weeks on. The flight home takes me back to the sound of each wave crashing, the feeling the boat bobbing up and down, the sight of blue ocean water, and the warm, humid wind blowing through my hair. Most of all, I remember the feeling of having no worries, no problems, and no time. There was not a single thing that could’ve possibly gone wrong on this trip. I close my eyes and drift off, dreaming and reliving my journey and each of its moments over and over again.

1 comment:

  1. For starters, a good story. Now bring us up to date, if you are not out in the water swimming. The Whole World wants to know what you are doing. So, just what are you doing? Hope you are getting to know the people for all those Countries you are visiting. First, know then, then know the others with their boats in the Harbors. JACK

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