Lasers and Windsurfers

It has been exciting to watch the Rolex event competitors come and go. They are all young people, men and women in their late teens and early 20s. They have gone out in some fairly nasty weather but it doesn’t seem to faze them. They seem so at ease with their boats, almost casual. I love to watch them tack. They turn the boat and let the boom swing and they calmly duck under it. Then, they wait until the last minute; dipping the end of the boom in the water; you would think they were about to capsize, before righting the boat. When the windsurfers tack, they step around the mast to the other side of the sail and Wham! They pop the sail so it balloons on the opposite side of the board.
I began calling out support to the French and Italian competitors, “Vive la France!” and “Viva Italia!” I always got a big smile. Then, I looked up the names of the competitors and their sail numbers. “Bonne chance, Sarah!” or “Buona fortuna, Carlo!” That gets a big smile and a “Merçi!” or a “Grazie!” I’m sure they wondered how I knew their names. Ain’t the internet grand?
The races are over now. I was glad to see French and Italian entrants in both the windsurfing and the Laser events were among the finalists. Maybe my cheering had something to do with that.