Mount Pleasant Magazine 6.4

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By Jeramy Baker.
Photos by RickWalo.
The
Cut of
Their
Jib
I n April, pArents of theWAndo
High Sailing Club drove to Lake Norman
to watch their teenage sailors compete in the
South Atlantic Championship Regatta.
“Lake Norman is famous for its fickle
wind,” said Wendy Ando, mother of Wando
skipper Austin Ando. “The race committee
wanted them to sail for as long as possible that first day. So
they had them race for 12 hours. That’s a long time to be
on the water.”
Not many people know how exhausting competitive
sailing can be. In low-wind conditions, sailors have to
throw all their body weight into rocking and rolling the
boat so it’ll trim closely around a buoy. Few grown men
could do that for 12 hours straight. And these are just kids.
But the Wando sailors are exceptional. Under coaches
Becky Bestoso and Jen Chamberlain, this team has grown
accustomed to the demands of sailing. For five hours each
week, the team practices maneuvering two-man dinghies
around Charleston Harbor. Every practice they are focused
on a single goal: sailing faster.
These kids don’t goof around. Last year Wando placed
Wando HigH’s sailors Compete at national level
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