Today marks the conclusion of leadership training 2010. I was actually quite surprised and pleased at how quickly it passed by, as it had to be condensed this year due to scheduling concerns. It was actually really nice, we reviewed some important concepts but didn't whip a dead horse, which was my fear for this year's training. Now I have 2 days of Area prep, where I'll get to plan out the training of my staff and assemble the sailing center. Excitingly, camp has decided to upgrade the nasty green mat that served as the stage for our sailing lessons in prior years with some sort of synthetic boards set into the ground. Should be a nice change.
The excitement last night occurred when staffers Nate and Chris caught a large sea bass while chumming for sharks. I say caught in that they retrieved one, but it was less of a catch and more of a scooping up out of the water near the surface. Apparently they happened upon the unfortunate fish as it was being assaulted by a sea lion, and were able to drive right alongside it, allowing Nate to gaff it right into the boat. The sea lion was probably quite annoyed. The victorious fishermen marched their catch triumphantly right up to the camp office in the middle of a leadership meeting, which promptly broke up for an impromptu session of storytelling and photography. The still-beating heart of the great fish (30ish pounds) continued to throb adamantly for several minutes after it had been removed, calling to mind traditions of a dark cult once encountered by Indiana Jones. Apparently the fish was quite tasty as well, Nate served some samples to a group of staff watching How I Met Your Mother, which I tragically missed because I was hard at work on the final essay of my college career, which I emailed with a gargantuan sigh of relief earlier today.
Today I had the chance to meet my new sailors for the summer, and my first impressions have been excellent. Each of them is highly experienced (probably more so than I am) in sailing, and all are excited to get out on the water later this week. I suspsect this summer's sailing team will live forever in the annals of CIC history as a group of champions who proved their mastery of wind and wave time and again. Either that or we'll be forgotten as soon as we quit working here. Either way I'm happy to have the new folks aboard. (Claire even has her own captain's hat!) Shahar the Israeli Superhero and Sailor Extraordinaire arrives on Friday, an event which heralds the superb summer waiting beyond staff training.
Anyway, that's all for now. Jolan tru.
"Ships are the nearest things to dreams that hands have ever made." - Robert N. Rose
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