Alpha & Tango 2, Day 10: Challenge Day Sail & Scrub Island Pool Party

Written by Riley Addison

Edited by Meredith Evridge

As the sun rose over the horizon, it illuminated all the catamarans and monohulls that were our neighbors in the Anegada mooring field. We could almost see the ocean floor, the water was so clear! It was another borderline early wake up, but for good reason. Today was Challenge Day, which meant that the captain and mate would take a step back during the sail, leaving the handiwork and troubleshooting to the budding sailors. They had had plenty of practice up until this point, and this can be a quite valuable experience for our campers. During this particular sail, they have a chance to work on their leadership skills, teamwork, and sailing, and see what they still need to focus on in the remainder of the program.

Leaving Anegada presented a rather long sail. It was another beautiful day out on the water. The sail was smooth and relaxing, which was a good indication from our staff’s perspective. The campers did their sailing duties well, the skippers of the day working together with their team. There is nothing like gaining a fresh perspective. The kids learned just how much they can rely on the staff members, when really, the collective knowledge of the campers is usually enough to get a task done! It was great for them to learn that. After sails were up and we had a couple hours still to go, the tunes were playing and keeping everyone energetic and alert. Some kept the skipper company at the helm while others chilled, made friendship bracelets, or made interesting snacks.

We’d spend a short time at Marina for a deep clean of the boat. Arriving there, we picked up mooring balls and the Challenge Day sail was complete! The staff were all quite proud of how much these campers have learned thus far. As we embarked on the deep clean of our boat, a fresh breeze was present, and kept us cool. We made sure the boats were clean enough to pass inspection later. After scrubbing, we went to Scrub. This is a lovely resort with two pools, a hot tub, and a floating trampoline. They have beautiful showers (free of saltwater!!) so this was our luxurious reward after we passed inspections and had a chance to call home. A dinner of baked ziti was prepared and enjoyed, but we rushed the dinner clean so we could all get to the pool party on time!

Walking up to the pool area, the DJ was playing fun music that immediately got our hips a-swaying. Kids could order drinks by the pool, splash about, and take a turn down the water slide. We had a thrilling game of limbo that the campers were surprisingly good at!

Around 8:30, we all decided to call it a night, so we headed back to boats for a boat meeting and bedtime.