2013 Sailing Season: Edward Teach Memorial Regatta

The sailing team only had one home regatta this year, which was the Edward Teach Memorial that we have every year. This regatta is hosted by Hampton University at Strawberry Banks. The event doesn't get a lot of Hampton publicity, and since Strawberry Banks stopped being a boys dorm, most students don't even know where it is. During the school year, most students aren't allowed to go there, even though it has a very convenient beach. But once every school year, all of the college sailing programs in the Hampton area congregate there and take advantage of the great winds and sailing the location has to offer. This is also usually our first regatta of the season, so it is usually the first time that our new sailors get to participate in a real regatta. 

First person in the Marine Science Center is always a great achievement. Don't be fooled by the sunny looking weather outside, it was freezing cold in September. From what I can tell I have on 4 top layers in that photo, and I'm not even in the water yet. 

Mrs. Schuker providing us with our regatta breakfast. Always super healthy, and I get to choose which brand of orange juice I want before anyone else. 

Coach Ambrosi giving us a briefing before the regatta starts.  

Coach discussing race committee things with Dr. Schuker the head of the Marine Science department. 

Who knows what they're talking about....all these boys are from the islands, so when they get together, they turn off their American accents, so they could be talking about sailing or football. 

The lovely Veronica Maccari, our "A" Divvision skipper eating her strawberry yogurt. This is her first year at Hampton University as Coach also recruited her from Italy. 

Josh is also new to the team, and is one of our "A" division crew

This regatta was a great start for the Hampton University sailing program, and was the only regatta we won the whole fall season. We somehow didn't have enough cups for the prize giving ceremony, so we had to have a singing competition to see who would get the full set. 

My regatta trophy!

For the Gambia, Our Homeland

For winter vacation, I have traveled to the Gambia, in Western Africa. I consider it my hhomeland because my family is from here, and I lived in the Gambia for 5 years. I also attended high school there, at Marina International School. I am very excited to be back, as I haven't been back since I started college. I will of course be taking lots of pictures of my trip, and I'll be sharing them here.

The trip here was basically a 2 day trip, going from DC, to Charlotte North Carolina, to London, to the Gambia. I didn't really get to do any sightseeing in London, but I wasnt too sad because the weather was awful. The best thing about London was their money exchange, which actually dealt in dalasi, unlike most countries, and their store Boots. The meal deal for 3.79 pounds saved my life n the flight to Africa, and it was delicious.

We finally got to Gambia after a 7 hour flight on Gambia Bird Airlines, with a stop-over in Freetown. We arrived at 7pm, which isn't too bad of an hour, but it means that I couldnt see much of the scenery.

Our Gambia Bird airplane after arrival in the Gambia

I've mostly been relaxing on this trip, as it is my vacation, but I'll still try and post pictures when I have time. There is so much I want to see and do while I'm here and still have time. I have already filled my food quota, having eaten all the things I wanted, including benachin, chicken afra, domoda, and butterfish and chips, all within the first week.

So here are some of the pictures I've taken so far, not in any particular order. Enjoy!

Men gathered underneath a shady tree

 

 

Truck delivering crates of soda

Traditional Yellow and Green Gambian Taxis



Souvenir and Tourist Market at Cape Point

Discovering Richmond Part 2

   For the second part of my Discovering Richmond series, I'm taking you to the other side of town. Shockoe Bottom is one of the oldest parts of Richmond, having been the center and starting point for slaves in the South. Slave markets, jails, and auction houses were all here once upon a time. There is so much history here that I could spend this entire blog on just that subject, so to save time, I'll just send you here instead.
 
   As an African American living in this particular District, I sometimes don't know how to feel, walking the same cobblestones as my people did hundreds of years ago. I know I said in my very first blog post that I would try to maintain objectivity as much as possible, so maybe I should leave emotions out of it. In any case, here are my photos, documenting my walk down Cary St. in Shockoe Bottom.

One of the many former tobacco houses on Cary St. that were converted into residential apartments. This particular one also contains a pool with a waterfall, an upscale Italian restaurant, and a gym.

All the other River Lofts on Tobacco Row and the Holocaust museum much farther down.
We'll see pictures of that later on. 

Nicest set of mushrooms I've ever seen, have nothing to do with architecture, but from a photography perspective, too perfect to pass up. 

I was fascinated by the brick detail on this building. 

The CSX train that I can hear screeching by at this very moment in time. Weird coincidence.

This particular train was only 2 cars long.

Virginia Holocaust Museum. I've never been inside personally, but I hear its a one of a kind experience.

The unopened (and to my knowledge, never opened) windows of the Virginia Holocaust Museum

One of the train cars I'm assuming they used to carry Jews in. 

The Richmond VA flood wall. Funny story about this wall, when the flood finally came, the city sewers backed up so the water was trapped on the wrong side. 

Believe it or not, these rocks were completely untouced, I was just lucky enough to find them this way. 

Those little spots of greenery that brighten up my day. 

One of the more interesting street facades I've seen. I don't think this building would be half as interesting if the windows were all the same. Its worth looking into for future projects. 

If anyone knows the purpose or practice of this "technique" please let me know in the comments.

The ceiling at Urban Farmhouse, one of the main, organic/green/fair  trade restaurants in Richmond .

Urban Farmhouse interior. It reminds me a great deal of Busboys & Poets in DC, with their couches and laid-back feel.  The setup is also similar to Globe Hopper, located a couple blocks down, on Main Street. 

Urban Farmhouse wine selection. 

Not Braggin', Just Sayin' with Bonus Pictures

So yeah, in honor of me making the  2011 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Commissioner’s All-Academic Team, I decided to do a bonus photography post. You can check out Hampton's honorees here. I never thought that I would publish these pictures, because I was like come on,what are the odds of sailing randomly jumping back into my life? Welp, in a very suspicious twist of fate it has, so here are some photos honoring my sailing experience. There aren't a lot of photos, but in my defense, electronics are the last thing you want to take with you out on the water. 

Josh and another teammate in the motor boat.

Yeah......

The view of the dock and Marine Science building from the water. At this particular point in time, we're going to meet the other boats that are already out on the water so we can switch crews.

A boat from our sailing fleet 

A view of Hampton that people outside the sailing team rarely get to see.

Anya looking pensively out into the distance

Lake Anna -shudders- never again. I think every boat out there capsized that day. I know we did.  Which is probably the worst time to find out that someone's waterproof bodysuit is taking in water.  

Boat 12 again and a side shot of some sailors head. 

That's all I have for now, stay tuned for more photography series' in the future. I've got bunches of photos from this and previous school years that I haven't bothered putting anywhere, let's see if I change my mind.