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Sad news from Florida
Mine is one of the lives touched by a great girl.
Some of you may remember that Olivia Ceralo wrote a wonderful piece about the
Easter Laser regatta a couple years ago. She had traveled with a bunch of
kids from Florida and described the trip and the fun she had.
That weekend, her hip was bothering her. It seemed out of the ordinary for
such a young kid to have a bothersome hip so her parents took her to the doctor.
The cancer was already well spread and the prognosis was certainly not
positive.
Unlike the typical sick kid who we tend to care about for a while and then
forget, Olivia is such a true friend to so many others that her supporters
visited her constantly, held benefits and generally stayed with her for every
precious moment they could share.
On Saturday October 16th, our dear friend Olivia passed away after fighting a
very courageous battle against her cancer. She was and will continue to be an
inspiration to everyone who knew her during her short 16 years on this earth.
I would encourage you to visit her website at
http://www2.caringbridge.org/fl/olivia/index.htm and sign her guestbook at
http://www2.caringbridge.org/fl/olivia/guestbook.html.
Olivia's texas trip letter:
Hello: I asked Olivia to write a report on the Texas regatta and here it
is!! Great job Olivia....Mrs. Railey
-----Original Message-----
From: Olivia Ceraolo [mailto:oliviaj@tampabay.rr.com]
Sent: Tuesday, April 22, 2003 10:20 PM
To: Ann Railey
Subject: Texas Talk!
Easter Regatta in TEXAS!
When I left for Tampa Airport Friday night for the Easter Laser
Regatta, all I could think about was what the security guy at the metal detector was
going to say if he looked in my bag. I had all my new rigging and other
sailing necessities in there...dolly pins, rope, duct tape, you know...things that
would be ideal to bring on an airplane. Sure enough when we went through
security, they stared at the computer screen and the guy said loudly,"Who's bag is
this? I'm going to have to take a look..." I just thought to myself, Oh
God...I told him that I sailed and I had rigging in there that probably looked
suspicious and he just nodded. I held my breath. After rummaging around in my bag
for a minute he pulled out my boom vang that looked like a little gun, of
course!
Finally I got out of there and hopped on the plane with the rest of
the team. After bouncing a few times down the runway we landed in Austin, and
earlier than expected too. Mr. Manning arrived at the airport on time with a
large white van, perfect for holding a band of sailors like us and all our
sailing equipment and clothes. We wiggled our way through Austin, up over some very
large hills which I first thought were mountains. That is until Emma laughed
in my face and told me otherwise. Being a Florida girl and all, they were
mountains!
After a good night's sleep at our kind host's homes (Girls: The Hawk
Family, Boys: The Foster Family), which were a walking distance away from the
venue... we started unloading the boats and gear at 7:30. We registered after
rigging and had to name our boat, and we also received our hilarious Easter
Regatta sailing instructions. It was a little overcast and the temperature was
hanging around in the 80's and the wind was blowing around 10 or so, with some
really big puffs, 15+. There were lots of gnats in the morning around the
trailers, but we learned to ignore them, simply by holding our breath. The wind
picked up as the day went on and we completed two races before sailing back in
for lunch, and then three more when we went back out! Everything went real
smoothly and everyone at the regatta was relaxed and very helpful. Dinner that
night was yummy. The team met up later at the boys' house to watch a movie and
just relax a little bit before hitting the hay.
Easter morning was easy-going and rigging up our boats went fast. We
ate a hardy breakfast, some of us at the club, some at our home, and some of us
ate at both! The wind was really howling and it caused the temperature to
drop to a shaking 62 degrees, which as we all know was colder for some then it
was for others. Then we had the people from up north that didn't seem to mind
the temperature change. Well, we pulled 3 more races off that day, so we were
able to have a drop. By the time we came back in it had warmed up almost 20
degrees. Big thunderstorms were expected the whole day, but thankfully it was
clear skies, sunny, and very windy, 15-20 knots with HUGE puffs! The puffs would
flip everyone over at the same time because it caught you by surprise. Every
leg was a roller coaster ride! It took lots of energy and strength but it was
worth it when you finished. I got last on the last race of the day, and I still
came off the water happy because it was so much fun! I think the team got
lots of practice on our mark rounding techniques too, for the races consisted of
many shorter legs as opposed to longer and fewer legs. For me it made it go
faster, even though sometimes I lost track of what part of the race I was on...I
was too busy trying to keep my boat flat.
Later that day, they gave out some really cool prizes for the top
sailors as well as some other awards. They had fun trophies like huge Easter
bunnies, big solid chocolate bunnies, peeps, and other goodies. The head hauncho of
the Easter regatta was Fred: a tall, long-haired, funny guy and an awesome
sailor...and he actually participated in the regatta too, which was really cool.
He really lightened up the place and kept everyone going. Everyone enjoyed
listening to him speak, and everyone was constantly laughing and having a good
time! : )
Mr. Gay kindly took us back to the airport. We stopped on our way at
an Italian restaurant to eat lunch/dinner. They had big sheets of paper on
top of the table cloths and they gave us crayons to draw on it. This amazingly
can keep you occupied for a long time...we figured that out for sure. Emma soon
found out about some of the guys' lack of table manners and quickly engaged
them in how to cut your food properly. None of them seemed to get it, and Emma
couldn't figure out why. So she announced that next practice she was going to
sit us around a table and teach us good table manners...instead of sailing!
After eating and having some pretty funny conversations....Mr. Gay
proposed we had to get the famous, Texas Mud Pies for dessert. So, we ordered
three of them and split them with each other. They were huge, and delicious I
might add...chocolate, whip cream, topped with almonds and chocolate syrup...they
tasted like a cross between a brownie and Reese's peanut butter cups, with a
hint of coffee flavor too. YUM!!!
Mr. Gay was also kind enough to drive us by some landmarks like a huge
river dam and a cliff that overlooked the lake...it was like 500 feet up!
Tell me that's not a mountain! ; ) It was absolutely gorgeous and unusually
green. I was expecting dry, hot weather with barren land, but instead I was greeted
with green, Virginia-like scenery and really nice weather. What was also a
nice change was the FRESHWATER. I actually could come off the water without any
salt caked to my face and in my hair! I just loved the whole trip, everything
about it went well.
So on the plane ride back, everyone was sugared up and happy (i.e. the
Mud Pies) Everyone that went: Mitch, Michelle, Philip, Elyssa, Eric, Jon,
Bryan, Dr. Kuebel, Emma, and myself all seemed to have had a great time and all
the kids sailed well! It is definitely worth going back to Lake Travis for this
regatta again! Awesome sailing, great weather, fun community, good food, just
lots of fun...it was a BLAST!!
Thanks to everyone who helped make this trip
happen!
-Olivia
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