Erika Wilcox
Q: What are your hobbies? A: I love to draw and paint, and practically anything with art. I often go to a lot of art shows and craft fairs. I also like to read and write, I've been writing a lot of short stories, and am working on a novel, but that is very slow coming. I also LOVE the outdoors and gardening, growing herbs and vegetables and also owning an absurd amount of succulents. I love using the things I grow to cook and bake. I am really interested in making healthy meals and snacks. Q: Is sailing your only sport if not what other sports do you play? A: Sailing is my only sport right now. I used to do varsity cross country, but I badly injured my foot, so that was the end of running for me. Q: What do you do in the winter? A: In the winter I pretty much do school. I have a ridiculous amount of homework, and that practically consumes most of my time. I cook a lot too, and go to the gym, and read when I have time. But it’s mostly homework. Q: How have the juniors prepared you for your future outside of sailing and within sailing? A: The juniors have definitely helped me with people in general. I’ve learned to coordinate different actions and organize events, as well as handle both the general public and sailors. Being commodore especially has helped me understand how to keep everyone happy and interested, and just organizing big groups in general. For sailing, it is literally what taught me to sail, so it’s already going to be the basis of my knowledge no matter what. Q: What are your plans beyond juniors? A: Beyond the juniors, I plan on going to college in Europe when I graduate because it’s free over there, and I’m looking particularly at the University of the Arts in Berlin, Germany. I’ll probably get a fine arts degree, and see where that takes me. It’ll be super cool to be engaged in a new culture and language, and new styles for my art too. I hope to continue sailing over there, and maybe participating in big boats more. I’ve been sailing pretty much my whole life, having done the queen's cup at 9 months old, so sailing has been a huge part of my life forever. The big boats hence came before the juniors, but I didn’t really learn to sail them until I’d been through 420s, so now I hope to do a little more in that area, doing the queen’s cup this year and not sleeping through the whole thing. I also hope to keep doing sailing over in Europe too. Sailing in Europe will be very neat because it’s not like Lake Michigan. Q: As commodore what are your plans for the upcoming years? A: For the upcoming year, the main thing I’m focusing on as the Commodore is to increase member participation in the offseason. I feel like when we aren’t involved in practice people slack off, and I want to see more kids coming to meetings and taking an active role in the program throughout the year, as that gives you valuable experience and looks amazing in college resumes and job applications. Willem and I created the BAND app, and our meeting attendance has been up since then, so I think I can safely say it is working. I also hope to streamline communication between the kids and the adults, I hope to be someone the juniors feel they can approach with their concerns, and then be trusted to take that to the adults who can address them. I also want to get a better public image for the juniors, as I know a lot of people show up to the meetings just to hang out and mess around afterward, and that puts a bad image out there for all of the kids and the program. When that happens we don’t get donations or member support and we need to fix that. I don’t mean that no one can hang out after meetings, not social time, and afterward, they can do whatever they want, but they can’t mess around on club property. Q: What advice would you give to a sailor who is just starting sailing? A: For new juniors, don’t be intimidated by the older kids. I know I was when I first started, but just realize that they were once in your shoes, with no clue how to tie an eight-knot, so don’t feel that they are judging you, because I promise they aren’t. Also, be prepared to fail. I know that sound discouraging, but you will never get better unless you fail, it happens to everyone. You’re going to turtle and you’re going to mess up your rigging or forget a bailer, but we’ve all been there, and you just have to keep going out and facing it day after day. |
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