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Guest Blog Post!
We know that summer days at Alford Lake Camp can have a lasting impact on our Campers and Counselors. We are sometimes lucky to hear from Campers, CTs, and Counselors about the ways in which they have shared their ALC story with people in their communities at home. In recent weeks, a few ALCers have shared their writing with us. Here are some reflections from a current ALC Camper, who wrote these words for her Sixth Grade Speech at school:
What is one place you go that means a lot to you? For me it is a little sleep away camp in the middle of Maine called Alford Lake Camp. My mom went there for 13 years when she was my age and I have been going there since I was 8 years old. This year will be my 5th summer. One interesting thing about my camp is that we sleep in white canvas tents which are waterproof and the base is wood. Some of my favorite things to do at Alford Lake are sailing, swimming, and making baskets.
One day last year I was invited to a sailing regatta, which is essentially a sailing race. I was so excited and proud of myself because I had been sailing a lot that summer and trying to get better. Every year there is one or two regattas hosted by some of the older campers.
It was the morning of the race and there was no wind but I hoped that there would be more wind in the afternoon. It was finally time to go down to Sailing and start the race. Once everyone got there we got our boats right before the race started. I was in a Widgeon, which is about 12 feet long and has a blue and white exterior. My camp has had this boat for at least 40 years so it didn’t have any seats or fancy cleats for the jib, which is a small sail that goes on the front of the boat. I was still happy to be in this boat since it's faster than the others even though some of the others are newer. I was in a boat with two other campers. The oldest camper was a SOAR, which means that she was in a program that focuses on one activity, in this case Sailing. Being a SOAR means they are in this case very experienced in Sailing and have been doing it for a while. The other camper was 2 years older than me and had been sailing for 3 years. I was confident that we were going to win or at least get second place even though the race hadn’t even started yet because we were all very experienced in Sailing.
Before the race started the host of the regatta explained the course: tack around the first buoy and jibe around the second and third then repeating one more time. We got dropped off into our boats and 3, 2, 1, I heard the piercing sound of the airhorn - the regatta had begun. My teammates put up the mainsail and I put up the jib. Once we were done rigging our boat we started to sail soon realizing that there was no wind so we were mostly drifting.
Soon our boat was in first place and the others were still putting up their mainsail. I was extremely proud to be in my group. We tacked around the first buoy and the second buoy we jibed successfully. We were feeling confident and excited. The other teams were near the first buoy so we had a big lead. Then, we ran into a problem. We were supposed to jibe around the third buoy but we were too late on the turn so we had to make a circle around it instead. Otherwise the buoy could have gotten caught on the boat and we would have been stuck. So we turned around and the second time we successfully jibed. Now because we turned around one of the other boats was catching up but we still had one more lap to go. Finally, the wind was picking up so we could go faster. We tacked then jibed around all the buoys correctly but the other teams were catching up to us, though I still had full faith in my team. We made it past the finish line first! I was so happy and we were all laughing and celebrating together.
I love to be at Alford Lake and it is so important to me. Sailing especially has really helped me by letting me forget about the world and just enjoy being at camp. Sailing at Alford Lake lets me be myself, have fun and laugh with my friends. I have met so many people that have taught me important lessons and memories that I will never forget. Alford Lake is my home away from home. It has shaped me to be the person I am today and the person I want to be.
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