When you think of sailing, you probably think of blue skies, sunshine, and umbrella drinks. You probably don't think of international relations. And yet at the 2014 Snipe Western Hemisphere & Orient Championship, we enjoyed all of the above.

Of course we had to wait until we got back to shore for the umbrella drinks, since we were sailing small wet boats. But out on the race course we had the rest covered, thanks to being in San Diego: Blue skies, check. Sunshine, check. And (when we tried to communicate with our competitors) international relations... check.

snipes at windward mark

Japan, Colombia, Ecuador, Brazil, and the USA all round a mark together. Photo: John Payne Photography



With twelve countries all sailing on the same race course, one of the secrets to success is being able to communicate with other boats. And when those boats have something other than a "USA" on the sail, it's likely they won't understand the usual words. So at one of the regatta parties, we took the time to learn a few words of Japanese.

I won't even try to spell out what we were taught. But knowing the difference between "May we cross?" and "Starboard" in the language of our competitors was a big help for the rest of the event.

I've already forgotten the exact words, but I'll remember the shared smiles for a long time to come—because even if our pronunciation was terrible, our efforts were appreciated. A shared passion (in this case, for competitive sailing) gave us a common bond that made it possible to bridge the huge language gap.

It may not be the usual example of international relations, but I like to think we set a small example for the world: make an effort to reach out, and maybe we will all understand each other just a little better.

Written by: Carol Cronin
Carol Cronin has published several novels about the Olympics, sailing, hurricanes, time travel, and old schooners. She spends as much time on the water as possible, in a variety of boats, though most have sails.