София Ли: "The Race of the century"



05-04-2019


Last week warmth slithered through streets, singing of birds covered the atmosphere.I strolled along the beach, enjoying the warm sand between my toes and the soft wind tickling my ears. I felt like I was in a peaceful paradise.

In a blink of an eye, the sky paled into cold, dark and smocked colors. Suddenly, my phone vibrated, and quickly I picked it up. When I answered the call a low voice replied,
“Good evening, at our yacht club there’s a suggestion for you to participate in the most important race in our town, which gathers the best sailors. It only happens once in a hundred years. We hope you will be able to join.”The moment I heard that a grin spread across. My face. I have always wanted to participate!

On the next refreshing morning, I hoped out of my soft bed, then ate some healthy breakfast. After the clock struck NINE AM a slamming of a door was heard.When I finally arrived, the was howling as soft as silk.

After I have checked my sail, I was ready to go out to the vast open seafood my training. I tried my best and trained my Fordewind, as splashes hit my yacht strongly…

When I finished my training, tiredness rapped me up, suddenly, my eyes spotted a shop window falloff mouthwatering ice cream, at that moment smells of chocolate and fruits hoped around me. I couldn’t move away, I kept on staring. I made my mind up and bought some creamy chocolate ice cream.

That evenings was nervous about the race and goosebumps covered my body.But I am always ready for new adventures, even though there is only one day of preparation before the race. When I look back to the past, when I was young, I remember that me and my family always traveled where the wind was blowing. Another memory is colorful inspiration of sport and the ocean.
“Dling, dling!” A loud sharp sound cheered me up to wake up. I drank a cup of warm tea and rushed out of the house.

Then when I arrived to the yacht club, crowds of people surrounded the port, every one smiling and shouting! Most of the sailors were excitedly changing into there wetsuits and checking on there masts, also they were making sure if there rudders were working. I put the sail on, then checked if everything was stable and ready. A whistle blew and the other sailors sailors started pushing there boats into the open ocean. Five minutes before the race.

The wind roared like a bloodthirsty beast, 30 seconds before the start. I struggled to push my optimist to the starting line, and closer to the waving flags.

“5,4,3,2,1!!!” Shouts filled the air. As fast as the wind I pulled the main sheets and used my weight and deviated down so the yacht wouldn’t capsize. Huge splashes of the salty water jumped around. I was so focused about the turns and equipment, that hardly noticed how fast my yacht departed from the starting line. When I looked at the horizon, it looked like everything was fading away, not even a yacht appeared in front of my eyes.”Bang!” My teeth started chattering, the tip of my nose became red as I shivered, I did not dare to move a muscle. Suddenly, a huge rock crashed into my boat and speared a hole into the side of my optimist. I tried to empty the freezing cold water out of it. I shouted for help, but fear grabbed my thought. I kept on going no matter what…

“Finally!” I screamed across the sea, “I see the finish line!” I shouted with happiness. Meanwhile I held the crack. I persevered and kept on going to the end. As I was passing the finish line, relief filled me! I was filled with the spirit of adventure and inspiration. Even though, I had problems but I still enjoyed it! Crowds of people were shouting name. My heart beat calmed down…
I understood that this race was not for what place you got, its for inspiration and new experiment to this amazing sport.

Written by SOFIA LI,12 years old