Sailing is now a very high-tech sport, but races are still the same as they were years ago. When I was ten, I had the privilege to go sailing with my father's friend on Lake Wallenpaupack in Hawley, PA. Two years after that, my friend sold his boat to my parents. Now we are part of the Paupack Sailing Club (PSC). Sailing is great, especially on Sundays when we race. The races usually start at 11:00 am, but you have to be on the boat and out of the dock by at least 9:15 am. Races are two laps around buoys, which takes about four hours. After the race, the sailboats either go back to their main dock or they sail to the ironwood point dock area where the PSC meetings are held. The PSC committee consists of people that record the times of finishing boats and place them in order of arrival. The committee uses a computer to arrange data to find out who is first, second, third, and so on. (They also have to cook, but really all they have to do is heat up some water and cook hot dogs.)  After we eat, we find out the results. Then everyone is free to do what they want. What we normally do is go back out on the lake and sail.

One problem with sailing may be getting to shore when all of a sudden the wind dies and you are stuck in what is called a 'dead spot'. A dead spot is when wind cannot reach your sail because the trees on shore act as a wall to block it. A constant wind change can cause you to tack or turn away from land. My advice, when facing this problem, is to keep away from land and stay towards the middle of the lake.

The day of the crash:
An insanely painful wound taken on by most skaters, bikers, and skate boarders is the scrapping of the hip raspberry. It is a very painful skinning of the hip. It will take about 20 seconds after hitting the ground to feel extreme pain. A hip raspberry occurs when after successfully completing a trick, you have a very messed up landing and fall. After you fall you begin to feel a sharp pain in your leg. Sometimes it will be the shape of a circle, but most times it's weird oval. After a few seconds of wobbling over to your bike you start to sweat and once it gets in the wound it burns worse than a fire. After coming home you try not to bump into things so you don't hurt your wound, but the harder you try, the worse you get. Its darker out already and it's bed time, one of the hardest challenges of the day, it will take a long time to fall asleep unless you take pain well, peeling of your pants and undergarments you try not to touch the wound but yet again you fail. After that you try to very slowly put on your pajamas. You will soon find out that you can't move and you must keep the hip in the air so it doesn't touch anything. After a long struggle you finally black out by either pain or drowsiness.

The morning after:
After having a very rough night of sleep you finally wake up. As you start to go to the bathroom you feel something clinging to you leg and then it hits you. You just remember that yesterday you crashed and skinned your hip and now your wound has scabbed over. It is finally stuck in your head that you have, another painful task ahead of you. You now have to try to, somehow, peel off your pants.
Here is a word of advice don't do this so very early in the morning. Not only will you wake up the rest of your family but also some pretty mad neighbors.

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