Brackish Waters

Every weekend after lunch, a bunch of friends would gather at a hut near a small dock. Dressed in long sleeves, pants, life jackets and not forgetting caps and booties, they helped carried one another’s boats and placed them on a trolley, maneuvering it towards the water. Once in the water, the *rudder and the **center board gets put in place and one by one, they set off on their respective optimists, and each sailed towards the open waters.

They laughed and joked as they raced among themselves around 3 designated buoys that were placed in a triangle shape. Sometimes their instructor just let them be, sailing around on the brackish water, keeping an eye on them while steering his motor boat.

Sometimes they would spot jelly fishes swimming about and being cheeky kids, they opt to slice them in half with their center boards which extended to the bottom of the boat. Then they would just laugh it off.

One of the best parts of sailing was when their instructor would bring them pass the bridge or tell them to park their boats in a single file and tie them up, then hop onto the bridge’s pier to rest. They had always looked forward to going pass the bridge because as they pass it, it offers them shade and shelter from the unforgiving sun. Resting at the pier is even better because the salty breeze is a welcome relief for the young sailors, having been out all afternoon under the sun.

Washing up had always been the most fun moment during the whole sailing process. Each takes turn to hold the hose and aim it at their friends and also wash their boats at the same time. Splashing around, getting the whole area wet and also not forgetting to rinse themselves clean from the salty water they played in before washing up.

It was a typical weekend afternoon for them, and this kid misses it a lot even though she doesn’t like the salty waters now.

*rudder: the steering mechanism of the sail boat

**center board: a long board which is way longer than the height of the boat and is placed in the center through a slot, pertruding at the bottom of the boat, helping it to move straigt