Location: West End, Tortola

What an adventure- the past 21 days have been absolutely amazing for us. We learned to sail, then raced our sister ships (hitting an amazing 9.2 knots). Aiden was the MVP of the helm, sailing our last race like a pro. If the course had been a little longer, we definitely would have come in 3rd. In our final race, Aiden’s helmsmanship was mirrored by Drakes expert ability to manage the main sheet in order to achieve optimal speed at given points of sail. Several times while we were underway, Molly braved the rock and rolls to make sure we all had food to eat during those underway meal times. What an iron stomach! During each sail (and most downtime too), Ray led the Lady Aubrey Choir, which specialized in Adele cover songs. Ultimately, the entire fleet knew us as the musical boat that could (and would) burst into song at a moments notice. Besides our musical accompaniment, you could always count on Patrick to be able to spew off a fishing fact, find a tarpon or be identifying the fish swimming under the boat. We learned something on this trip about Dylan: despite being from the desert, he can waterski! Dylan got up on his first try and could have done 360s for hours on end, and Madison’s expert knee boarding really impressed the crew!
In addition to sailing, we did a fair amount of diving too. Although 4 were technically training dives, the Lady Aubrians did a total of 5 dives (4 reef 1 wreck)! During the nightly squeeze after the first confined water dive, Stella told us how nervous she was of being in the water. However, she is going to leave a certified diver who has almost perfected the art of underwater hovering. Laini had similar fears to overcome. However, with the help of her instructor and shipmates, she too is now an expert open water diver. In that same spirit of going pro in three weeks, Trey somehow managed to overcome every stereotype of new divers. Instead of swimming with both his hands and his fins, Trey remains streamlined at all times (like a pro) while having an expert air consumption rate. Savannah’s quick understanding of the RDP tables and her ability to help her shipmates was impressive for someone of her age. Overall, it was an amazing boat and a great summer. We consider all of the shipmates who were here to be our second family, and it was very hard to say goodbye. So hard in fact, we wont. Instead, well leave it at this: See you next summer!