The Corruption of Sailing Camp

The Corruption of Sailing Camp

First, before I start my story about the summer corruption of kids at sailing camp, the names used were changed…well to prevent any unnecessary bad karma.

Every year during the summer I take off 2 weeks out of internships (usually consisting of me micropipeting or procrastinating at a computer) to help instruct sailing lessons for kids at my yacht club. I figure it’s a great excuse to get out on the water, get a tan, and feel part of the community. It never pays all that well, but who the hell cares…sailing is fun.

Usually…every year we get a relatively good bunch of 13-15yr olds who goof off (like all pubescent kiddies do) but want to sail, and usually have a good ‘ole time on the FJ dinghys. Well, this past summer…the kiddies…perhaps had too much fun on the clubs’ dinghys.

I’m one of 3 other instructors for about 18 kids. Ben and Erin were high school students, so I was the only adult-like person there teaching. This summer, our group of kids consisted of 18 boys who were hell raisers. For the next 2 weeks, we had to call parents and such b/c of rock throwing wars and trying to ram each others’ boats. So, I guess I wasn’t the least surprised what the did next…on the last day of camp.

That day, we just had the boys go out with a partner by themselves and sail around on the river. Ben, Erin, and myself…rode around on a whaler to coach them…like…trim in that sail…or jesus, hike out, or you’ll capsize!

It was really really hot that day, so I didn’t think much of it when the kids wanted to go up to the club house to get more water or go to the restroom. Hey, I got pretty thirsty too. So, the entire day, kids wre going back and forth from dock to the clubhouse to the dock to the water.

At one point, I got tired of driving the whaler around, and decided to rig up my own catamaran and single-hand it while I coached the kids. So…I had to get my gear from the clubhouse and get some water…that is when I noticed it.

If you’re a sailor, or ever been to a yacht club, you’d probably realize that beer and sailing go hand in hand. Well…to most people…a cold one is great after a sail…or heck…while sailing…
Well well…I noticed a group of older men drinking. So…I investigated further, and low…a tapped keg.

Personally, I wouldn’t have minded filling up a glass (remember, it was crazy hot outside)…but I was teaching…

So, I rig up my cat, and get out sailing. I tack back and forth, getting out to where the kids are. I get up close to a boat, and that’s when I noticed the smell… The particular smell of hops…beer…

Okay, so I’m wondering, why the hell am I smelling beer…and I think, is it THAT hot outside and I’m hillucinating about beer? No…it’s not my overheated cranium…it’s the kids and the boats…

That’s when I get nervous, panicked, and freakish…

I grab hold of the boats’ rail and tell the 2 kids to luff and stop. They look stupified. And I think, Oh…my…god…THE KIDS ARE DRUNK! :smack:
THE KIDS ARE DRUNK OFF THEIR ASSES!!!:smack:
I tell (i.e. yell) them to give me their water bottles…my conclusion prevailed… This whole day the kids have been getting water…they have been filling their water bottles with BEER!!!:smack:
I ask them (i.e. yell) where the hell they found this. They said, Bobby (one of the instigators who started the rock throwing…see…bad seed) found this “fountain” by the side of the clubhouse. Bobby, then, tasted the drink, realized it was beer…and corrupted the rest of the boys. Again…these kids for the last 2 weeks were not little angels.

I pull away from the boat, look around, and see 8 other boats with 16 kids weaving around drunkily… To think, myself and ben and erin all thought they were bad sailors…well b/c they’ve only been sailing for 2 weeks…who knew it was b/c they were all friggin sloshed off their asses.:smack:

I sail up to the whaler, and explain to ben and erin…all the kids have beer for water in their water bottles.
That’s when hell broke loose.
Erin freaked out. Ben had the fear of god in his eyes. We all knew what this meant…we had 18 kids, drunk…and it was only a matter of time before the parents came to pick up their…drunk…children.

We got all the kids back on land and docked the boats…
Seems, the day on the water wasn’t good for the drinking kids…most of them got sick…as in worshiping the porcelin god sick.

Myself and ben and erin were plotting how to handle this, when the old guys who opened the keg in the first place came over to us.
To our amazement, they accused US of DRINKING their keg. I couldn’t believe it. I was pissed already…and told them that this whole week was chalk full of little kids ages 6-15 running around…and they OPEN UP ALCOHOL in the midst of it.
I told them (i.e. yell) that our kids, found their precious keg and had a day of drinking from it under our noses!
The old men look baffeled…and shocked…

They said, “well, shit…then those kids killed the keg, cause there’s nothing left”.
Thruth…the 18 kids killed off the small keg…no joke…

Arggghhh…what a friggin day!
The only good part was when the parents came to pick up their kids, and we told them what happened one by one… Yes, they wre shocked, but the old men felt shame about it…and explained that they were responsible for tapping the keg in the first place. Thank god the parents didn’t get too mad at us, and were slightly glad that we at least caught the boys before something really dangerous happened.

So, I drive home…sailing camp over for another year. Soon I would be going back up to boston for more sacrificing of my money and social life for an education, and sailing on my college team…
But at that point…I only had one thing on my mind…
I am now going to go down in history as being part of the corruption of a bunch of kids at sailing camp.:smack:

How horrible is that?

The funny part…Sandy (the sailing coordinator) just recently emailed me asking if I’m going to be around again this summer to teach. Guess, getting camp kids drunk isn’t that bad nowadays…:dubious:

Hahah…

Sorry, I have to say that’s funny.

Yeah…
Now I can look back and laugh about it…as a great party story.

Shave their bellies with a rusty razor, ear-li in the morning.
:smiley:

Then haul 'em up to the tops’l yardarm.

Boy o boy o boy. I’m glad you didn’t end up with a little blue popsicle facedown in the bay.

Welcome to the boards!

*Mem’ries . . . light the corners of my mind . . . *

My favorite Summer Camp Teacher Party Story involves the following quote (by a 14-year-old girl whom I was escorting to the infirmary on the third day of camp):

“Girls are already getting fingered in the woods!!!”

Then there were the boys who got kicked out TWO DAYS before the end of the summer, for shaving some other kid’s ass on videotape . . .

It takes a special person, nootkatona. Congratulations on being that person. :smiley:

Sigh. Another formative experience missed out on through being a) not American or b) a weirdo. :frowning:

(My money’s on b, FWIW. Plus ca change…)

Where is the sailing camp? And where does your sailing team sail?

Back in my teens, I used to crew on E boats. In light wind, skinny teens are handy as “knowledgable ballast”. It was common for me to be given a beer or two. They knew how old I was, and many of them knew my parents. The only time I ever hurled was when one cappy gave me some chew.

Teens in sailing classes have parents who sail. The majority, in my experience, who drink. I just kinda wonder if you got lucky with the type of parents you had to deal with. I think soccer moms would have strung you up to the tops’l yardarm. :smiley:

tdn…

I sail on boston university’s sailing team. We sail on the good 'ole stinky Charles River.
The sailing camp in my thread is in ohio.
BTW…nursecarmen…yes, just my thinking…
Goes to show…many sailors like the drink.

Wunderbar

Hey, nootkatona, greetings from another BU student! Welcome to the boards!

Ah, yes. I have showered those toxins off many times. I used to belong to CBI. Now I just occasionally rent boats on Jamaica Pond.