Acknowledgements “I never lose. I win or I learn.” – Nelson Mandela I have many thanks to give for the completion of this portfolio and course. First, I would like to thank my family at my home away from home, Camp Sea Gull. Camp Sea Gull provided endless sources of inspiration and opportunities that I thoroughly enjoyed sharing. The people at Camp have given me more than I could possibly give them. I have learned so much about who I am as a person and how to become better by bettering others. I owe who I am today and the stories included in this work to those amazing people and that blessed place. Secondly, I would like to thank Dr. Lowell Frye. Dr. Frye has put up with my crap for over three years now and is one of the more influential professors I have ever had the blessing to learn under. His genuine care for his students, not only as academics, but as people, has inspired me to put forth my best effort and continue to try to get better. I owe him many more thanks for writing a letter of
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Transcript
Acknowledgements
“I never lose. I win or I learn.” – Nelson Mandela
I have many thanks to give for the completion of this portfolio and course. First, I
would like to thank my family at my home away from home, Camp Sea Gull. Camp
Sea Gull provided endless sources of inspiration and opportunities that I thoroughly
enjoyed sharing. The people at Camp have given me more than I could possibly give
them. I have learned so much about who I am as a person and how to become better
by bettering others. I owe who I am today and the stories included in this work to
those amazing people and that blessed place.
Secondly, I would like to thank Dr. Lowell Frye. Dr. Frye has put up with my
crap for over three years now and is one of the more influential professors I have
ever had the blessing to learn under. His genuine care for his students, not only as
academics, but as people, has inspired me to put forth my best effort and continue to
try to get better. I owe him many more thanks for writing a letter of
recommendation for my trip to Barcelona, Spain. That trip abroad changed my life in
so many indescribable ways and inspired me endlessly. I would not have had that
opportunity without Dr. Frye. Thank you.
Last but not least, I would like to thank my group in class, Benny Baranik and
Graves Anthony. We had many great discussions about our essays, but more
importantly, got to know one another in a deeper context. Many of the topics that
we wrote about are tough to talk about in every day conversation. Benny and Graves
not only helped me become a better writer through their constructive criticism, but
opened up in a way that helped develop friendship.
Table of Contents:
Acknowledgements:…………………………………………………………………………………………….. Pg. I
Table of Contents:………………………………………………………………………………………………. Pg. II
Pinehurst: The Anti-Community: ………………………………………………………………………Pg. 1-6
Can Kids Just be Kids?: ……………………………………………………………………………………Pg. 7-17
Time To Wake Up: ……………………………………………………………………………………….Pg. 17-21
Sailing Is Courage: ……………………………………………………………………………………….Pg. 21-30
I sat in my plane from Toronto to Frankfurt, opened up the journal that I promised
my grandparents that I would write and began to put some thoughts together. I
looked to my destination and what experiences would meet me there; I was heading
across the Atlantic Ocean to study abroad in Barcelona – my first experience outside
of the United States. As I started writing down the obvious cliché goals I wanted to
accomplish and sites that I wanted to see, I began to think back on why I was on this
plane in the first place and what made it such a difficult decision to leave
somewhere that was familiar and has some of my best friends, Hampden-Sydney
College, so spontaneously for a place where I hardly knew anything about two
months prior to the flight.
I looked back to my sophomore year at Hampden-Sydney College. A younger,
enthusiastic version of myself entered the year on a mission: to rebound from a
subpar academic year. I registered for 18 hours of class, three more than my usual
15 and six more than the required twelve. I knew in order to accomplish this some
sacrifices would be have to made. It was my first full year as a brother of the Kappa
Alpha Order and I was more than ecstatic to be a part of that group of guys and the
social events that would happen that year. “Think long term,” I would tell myself,
sitting in the library while my friends would be having the time of their lives. As the
semester dragged on, the temptation of skipping out on doing what was right
became greater and greater, but it was worth it when I made the Dean’s List for the
first time.
Like a broken record, I returned from Winter break eager and refreshed only
to find out that I had caught Mono… forcing me to immediately spend two weeks at
home and more later due to two other relapses, severely restricting the activities I
could do, due to the severity of my case. Some of my favorite things to do were taken
away from me: sports, drinking, traveling, and tutoring at Prince Edward County
Elementary School. All the work I just put into recovering my grades seemed to be in
danger too. I missed so many classes that I was forced to drop two classes, setting
me behind on my path to graduate on time. To make matters worse, my fraternity
had gone into a serious suspension and was on the brink of losing its charter. At this
point, I was seriously considering transferring and begun to research the process. As
I was scrolling through the Hampden-Sydney College website looking for the
directory, a tab called “Global Education” caught my eye. My grandparents had been
telling me for years that I should consider studying abroad; they, in their old age,
have traveled to countless other countries, including New Zealand, Scotland, and
Spain. I started comparing Hampden-Sydney with the other schools I was
considering transferring to. Neither the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,
College of Charleston, nor North Carolina State University had quite the same
opportunities that I discovered that we have at Hampden-Sydney.
I finally made it to where I would live for the next four months. My host
mother, Feli, who was a small, older single mother of three, let me in to a small flat
that would be my home. I gave her a small gift of appreciation for letting me live
with her - a dye cast model of a Pinehurst Resort golf cart. I couldn’t understand a
word of the rapid Spanish that she was saying, but I assumed – or hoped - she liked
it. The flat was pitch black. I used the wall to track my way down the foreign hallway
to my room, where I unpacked and then blindly found my way into the living room,
where my roommate was sitting in a chair, watching soccer. I introduced myself to
him and sat down on the couch only to feel squirming under me. I looked down and
saw my host mother passed out cold under a blanket on the couch – I almost
crushed her! I guess almost getting sat on by one of your foreign exchange students
motivated her to get up and give us a tour, so she walked us around and showed us a
few streets and places in Sant Gervasi, our neighborhood. Again, I had no idea what
in the world she was saying or where she was taking us. My Spanish was not as the
point where I could understand what she was saying and I was naturally hopeless
with directions. I got lost countless times in the first few weeks that I was in
Barcelona. I was that obvious tourist who walked around with a huge map and wore
a backpack sticking out like a sore thumb.
It took a while for me to accept that I was no longer blending in with my
surroundings. At Hampden-Sydney, I am just one of the guys, but in Barcelona I was
a confused, khaki-wearing tourist who butchered the Spanish language with a
southern drawl. I had never lived in a big city before. The hustle and bustle of
Barcelona intimidated me into jumping into a routine that wasn’t very adventurous,
since I was still working on getting to know the people who were studying with me.
It took a friend inviting me to go to Rome with them for me to truly see that to make
the most out of this experience, I was going to have to get out of my comfort zone
and actively be involved in the community.
Naturally, I am a homebody. I have been content to just chill with friends and
be minimally involved. I have not been actively involved in clubs at school – I was in
one club and had a small roll with my fraternity, but that’s about it. It took me a
while to force myself to go sit outside at a restaurant and people watch or go watch
the magic fountain of Montjïc or even hike up the famous Parc Guell. The more that I
thought about it, the more I realized that Barcelona was not unlike Hampden-
Sydney. While there wasn’t the bustling city dynamic of Barcelona, Hampden-
Sydney still provides plenty of things to do. The more I got acclimated and involved
in Barcelona, the more I regretted not being involved at Hampden-Sydney. I had
never been hunting, fishing, or rented a canoe since I’ve been here. The struggles
that I experienced in my first two years at Hampden-Sydney were brought upon by
me, I decided. A place is only as fun as you make it. There are plenty of things to do
anywhere; you just need to open your eyes and search with a positive attitude.
There are still plenty of things that I have yet to do in Barcelona just as there
are still things I have to do before I graduate from Hampden-Sydney. Without
Barcelona, I fear that I would have come back to southern Virginia with the same
lazy attitude as before, graduated, and looked back on my experience with regret.
There will be another chance for me to visit Barcelona and relive my stay there, but I
will never be 20 years old and in college with some of my best friends again.
Sailing Is Courage
Walk into the sail loft of Camp Sea Gull for boys in Arapahoe, North Carolina, and on
above the entrance you will see the words “Sailing is Courage” inscribed on a plaque.
When I first read those words, I was seven years old and my first sailing instructor
told me those words would be the truest thing I’d learn while at camp. He was right.
What I didn’t know was that the first time sitting on an old Sunfish – a fourteen feet
long dingy made for one to three people (Sunfish Boat Specifications) – would
capture my imagination and start an obsession that is only stronger fifteen years
later.
While I have always enjoyed sailing, I never had a good opportunity to
develop my skills until I became a sailing counselor at Camp Sea Gull. I had always
been able to get around on a boat but never understood what made the boat go
(apart from wind, of course). One of the best ways to learn a craft is to teach it. You
understand how to sail better if you have to find a way to help a seven-year-old to
understand it. As I began progressing through the ranks of counselors, I taught more
advanced sailing concepts, some that I had never previously learned myself. I
enjoyed learning the tactics, strategies, and physics of the sport as much as I enjoyed
teaching it. I found that the sport I had so instinctively grasped as a seven-year-old
is one of the most intellectual sports out there. I seek to be very involved in the
sailing community in the future to further develop the skills that I learned and
taught. To become great at something, one must understand how it works on a
scientific level and sailing is no exception.
Nomenclature:
As with any sport or science, gaining an understanding of the nomenclature of the
art is critical before diving into more complex topics. To comprehensively grasp the
physics behind sailing, one must be able to recognize the parts of the boat. At any
time if you are confused about a term, refer to the appendix at the end for a
definition.
Points of Sail:
One of the most challenging struggles that I have when teaching young kids to sail is
getting them to understand boat direction relative to the wind, or Points of Sail.
Points of sail describe the direction that the boat will head as well as the speed.
There are six points of sail and they all revolve around one concept: it is physically
impossible for a sailboat to sail directly into the wind – in fact, most boats need to be
about forty-five degrees from the wind in order for the sails to catch enough air to
push the boat forward.
I can’t count how many kids that I have taught who sit in the boat facing the
wind, not grasping this concept. The first point of sail is exactly this and it is referred
to as “Irons.” “Irons” is the angle directly facing the wind to which the sails are
luffing (flapping uncontrollably). This encompasses the forty-five degrees to either
side of the wind before the sails catch enough air to power up. To exit Irons, one
must “Back Down,” which is the action of allowing the current and wind to push the
boat backwards as you point your tiller hard to starboard or port. This act is much
like driving backwards in a car. The current pushes on the rudder and slowly points
the boat to an angle where once straightened out, you can tighten your sheet, the
line that controls the tension of the sail, and begin sailing again. One thing to keep in
mind: sail trim is crucial to each point of sail. The higher your boat points upwind,
the tighter your sails need to be to the boat. When the sails are tight to the boat, it
reduces the angle that the wind hits the sail, allowing for the sails to catch more
wind and provide more power. One technique I teach my students is to ease the
sheets so that they luff, then tighten them and stop right when the sails completely
fill with air. This will ensure you are at proper sail trim for the point of sail you are
currently on.
Once you’re at an angle that can catch wind in your sails and have tightened
your sheet close to the center of the boat, you’re at the second point of sail, Close
Hauled. This is the highest effective point of sail and closest that a boat can sail
upwind. Racers prefer the close-hauled point of sail because it gives them the
smallest angle with which to reach an upwind marker. Any other point of sail
requires a larger angle, which creates more ground to cover.
Fall off slightly and ease your sheet and you have reached the point of sail
called “Close Reach.” When asked which point is fastest, most students typically
answer one that goes downwind with the wind – Close Reach is the fastest point of
sail for most boats, believe it or not – due to Bernoulli’s Principle, which I will
explain later. This is one of the more exhilarating points of sail. In high winds, the
wind wants to push the boat over, causing it to keel over and forcing the skipper to
use his/her weight to balance the boat.
Keep falling off until you are completely perpendicular to the wind and you
have reached the “Beam Reach” stage, often simply referred to as a “Beam,” in which
your boat is at a ninety-degree angle to the wind. It is a fast point of sail that we as
instructors often teach students to use when in trouble because they can completely
release the sheet and the boom, the horizontal pole that connects the sail to the
vertical pole, or mast, will fly out away from the boat and out of harm’s way. We call
this “Safety position.”
The point of sail between a Beam Reach and sailing completely downwind is
called “Broad Reach.” Here, your sails are almost completely out and you can raise
your centerboard because you are sailing with the current and wind so drag is not
that big of a factor.
Finally, sailing completely parallel with the wind is called “Running Free” or
“Running.” While Running, your boat’s sails are completely out and there is no need
for a centerboard since you are sailing with the current and wind.
A lot of times I get asked by my students “why doesn’t the wind push the boat
down the water? (By this, they mean why doesn’t the boat move with the wind
rather than at an angle to the wind?) How does the boat go forward?” This
phenomenon is created by the drag or friction forced upon the water by the
centerboard. The centerboard (a long board that resembles a plane wing) reduces
the downward push on the boat and focuses the energy in a forward motion,
keeping the boat heading upwind rather than drifting down the water. Without the
centerboard, a Close Hauled and any upwind point of sail down to a Beam Reach is
impossible (Points of Sail).
Bernoulli’s Principle:
Recall the feeling when you stick your hand out the window of a moving car. You
flatten your hand and allow the wind to carry your arm up and down as you feel the
lift and pull. This is the closest physical sensation to what is called “Bernoulli’s
Principle.” Here, your sail acts just like a wing on a plane. As the wind flows over one
side of the sail, it fills the sail with air. At the same time, the air flowing on the other
side of the sail is moving faster and cannot push the sail as hard as the other side.
Therefore, the sail is forced perpendicular to the wind direction. As discussed
previously, this would normally push the boat with the wind, but the centerboard
creates resistance against this lateral force, creating only one direction for the boat
to go: forward (Wolfe, Joe).
Sailing Upwind:
Imagine you are sitting on your Sunfish and you want to sail to an island where all
your friends are hanging out for the day. The island is directly upwind from where
you are right now. You point your boat to the island and prepare to party with your
pals, but you’re not going anywhere. The sail luffs uncontrollably over your head as
you struggle to figure out why you aren’t moving. You recall from your sailing class
the points of sail and remember that it’s impossible to sail directly into the wind.
How are you supposed to get there then? You can only sail about forty-five degrees
close hauled from the wind, so sailing to the left or right will put you way past the
island on either side. After some deliberation, you have a brilliant idea: if I sail in
one direction for a little while and tack, I can angle my boat to a point where I can
sail to the island. You just figured out the fundamental technique of sailing; Beating
upwind, as this action is called, is how sailors reach points that lie directly upwind.
This repeated zigzag motion allows the boat to eventually reach an angle with which
it can successfully sail to the upwind destination (Tacking Invervals).
Sailing can be one of the most relaxing and most exhilarating sports in the
world. There is nothing more relaxing than cruising on a calm summer day,
watching the sun set over the water as you drink a beer with some of your best
friends. The rhythmic rocking of the boat and the soft splash of the water against the
hull sooth all the senses and put one in a meditative state. Yet, the sheer thrill and
competitiveness of a high-intensity regatta can seldom be matched. Imagine one
hundred boats fighting tirelessly for position on the starting line while trying to
avoid contact with other boats. There are countless tactics and strategies to think
about and the speed can satisfy any action junkie. Sailing is a beautiful sport and
there is so much more to learn about it. The technology continues to improve as the
physics is further studied. Recently in the America’s Cup, a maneuver called
“Hydrofoiling” was introduced to the sailing and racing world. Hyrdofoiling is when
a double-hulled catamaran with two centerboards that resemble upside down “T’s”
use a combination of angles, speed, and water pressure to physically lift the boat out
of the water to reduce the surface area that the boat is touching the water and
therefore increase speeds to unheard of levels. Sailing is constantly improving and
developing. New developments such as hydrofoiling are only a glimpse at the future
of this amazing sport.
Appendix:
Bow: The front end of the boatStern: The back end of the boatPort: The left side of the boat when facing the bowStarboard: The right side of the boat when facing the bowFore: The front of the boatAft: The back of the boatMast: The vertical pole that supports the sailMasthead: The top of the mastBoom: the horizontal pole attached to the mast, also supporting the sailTack/Comeabout: A change in direction in which the bow crosses facing the windStarboard/Port Tack: Called “Starboard tack” or “Port tack,” defining which side of the boat that the wind is crossing first. On a Starboard tack, the wind crosses the starboard side first. On a Port tack, the wind crosses the port side first. Gybe: A change in direction in which the bow crosses with the windMainsail: A three-cornered sail fastened to the mast and boom that most powerfully pushes the boatJib: A smaller, three-cornered sail on the fore of the boat, fastened to the masthead and bow, used on larger boats to increase power and controlSpinnaker: A large, three-cornered sail, set foremost of mainsail.Sheet: The lines that control the tension and angle of the sails. The tighter you trim the sheet, the closer the sail is to the boat. The looser you ease the sheet, the farther away the sail sits from the boat.Centerboard: The vertical board in the center of the boat that prevents horizontal drift when sailingRudder: The vertical board on the stern that controls the direction of the boatTiller: The handle attached to the rudder that is used for steeringPointing up: The act of steering a sailboat closer to windwardFalling off: (No, not literally falling off) The act of steering a sailboat away from windward.
Works Consulted:
"Physics Buzz: The Physics of Sailing: How Does a Sailboat Move Upwind?" Physics
Buzz: The Physics of Sailing: How Does a Sailboat Move Upwind? N.p., n.d. Web.