I was 9 years old, and I was just beginning my first day of Conrad camp. I’d been to the seaport many times before, seen all of the beautiful sailing vessels there, and was inspired to learn how to sail. On my first day of Conrad camp in 2016, I met at least 2 people who today are still some of my best friends. But that week changed my life. I not only learned how to sail, but I also learned life lessons, seamanship, and gained friends for life. But the part that stuck with me was sailing. It struck up a passion that has led me down a path of competitive racing, where on high-performance racing dinghies and keel-boats, I still utilize the lessons taught to me during that first week on the Dyer-Dhows. While I now race throughout the Spring, Fall, and some of the winter, I always make sure I have time to go to Conrad camp every summer between my Summer racing schedule, where I am reunited with some of my best friends, and get to sleep on the ship that is like a second home to me. I am never bored at the Seaport. Even in my approaching 5th year at Conrad camp, I am excited to see and experience the new activities that the camp and seaport have to offer during the summer, and look forward to the new programs that Conrad camp has, whether it’s racing the JY-15s on a beautiful summer afternoon, sailing a Dyer Dhow early in the morning, scavenger hunts around the seaport, Ship liberty at night, putting a spinnaker on a dyer dhow (See photos), or building a boat alongside community sailing, it never gets old. All in all, I look forward to another wonderful summer at the seaport, where I reunite with the place that made me who I am today.