Sophomore year is here, and I’m off to a great start. My EDT (Extra-Day Trip) this year was an exciting experience. I was sent off to sea on a sailing trip for six days. I sailed on a 36 foot boot, along with three other students and a Thacher parent around Santa Cruz island. Having had no previous sailing experience, I had no clue what I was getting into as we left the dock on the very first day.

There we two other boats that went along with us, and though we had the oldest and (by far) the slowest boat, I’d like to say that our boat had the most character. I learned a lot about how to sail and enjoyed the sights of dolphins and sea lions  jumping and playing games around our boat. There were definitely some pounds gained on our boat, as we had a ton of food and a ton of leisure time. However, some of us made up for it by swimming to shore, hiking across a part of the island, and getting picked up on the other side. I had one of the scariest experiences of my life when I jumped of the side of our small rowboat and swam (more like got in and got out) with some sea lions in the middle of one of the biggest sea caves in North America.

Everyone on the trip had a ton of fun, whether it was tossing the football around on the beach at one of our docks or body surfing and snorkeling in the ocean. We even enjoyed some of Mr. Mulligan’s skill on the guitar when we sang songs around a campfire we made on the beach. Overall, it was a great experience. I couldn’t think of a much better trip to start sophomore year.