Learning how to sail a boat seems secondary when a person has not yet learned how to drive a car, but these twins are quite the exception.
Diamond Bar High School freshmen Nora and Adam Elsharhawy have been sailing since the age of nine. Their parents enjoyed sailing even before their children were born and passed on their love of the sport to the twins.
Nora and Adam began to learn how to sail from a summer program in Long Beach hosted by the Alamitos Bay Yacht Club. It was an extremely challenging sport to learn, and the summer camp had them practicing sailing every day. “You [have] to be able to strategize because when you’re racing against somebody [and] the wind comes, you have to find the right angle and go the correct way,” Adam stated. While learning, instructors would sail next to them in a motorboat and guide them on how to properly handle the boat. The siblings enjoyed the sport so much that they continued to sail in the winter.
They now sail at least once a week and have weekly practices with students from other high schools in Southern California on Fridays. Every one or two months the Southern California Regatta, a competition composed of a series of races, is held. Each race is scored individually, and the team with the lowest total time wins. The Southern California Regatta is followed by a few smaller races leading up to the national competition.
Nora and Adam take sailing very seriously and clearly work hard to achieve their goals. Working together, they have placed third at the Southern California Regatta against 32 other teams when they were 13 and fifth against 29 other teams this past September. When it comes to operating as a team, they find it best to have Adam controlling the steering and Nora directing on the other sails.
The two freshmen are currently not sure if they want to start a sailing team at DBHS, but they do have friends from school who they enjoy sailing with. The twins look forward to the Rosebowl Regatta in January where they will have the opportunity to compete with their friends.
