Made exclusively from recycled yacht sails Eco-friendly | Ocean Durable | Locally Made Visit our factory at 311 Judges Road, Unit 2-H in Wilmington Factory Discounts www.ellavickers.com | 910-350-8878 28 WBM july 2014 The Whitesides Family When Arland and her husband Chip, both 62, decided to start sailing 35 years ago, they didn’t take lessons. Living in Richmond, Virginia, at the time, they bought an 8-foot Snark and taught themselves. ab “Most people don’t admit they owned a Snark,” Chip says with a laugh. “It’s like a surfboard with a sail.” Arland adds, “We would just go in circles.” Nonetheless, the Whitesideses read books and kept trying. It wasn’t long before they were hooked. They bought a bigger boat. Arland says, “This shows you how dumb we were. We drove to Norfolk, Virginia, and we bought a boat. We didn’t know if it would sail or sink, but we bought it. We had boat fever.” Their pet beagle and, over time, two children would join them on the sailboat. “We just wanted to be out on the water,” Arland explains. “We would get out there and go, ‘Wonder what that does?’ Sometimes we’d have to get off the boat at the shore, turn it around and go back out.” Most sailors agree that skills improve by traveling and racing in different environments and against dif-ferent people. “You get better as a sailor when you race and that’s why we started racing,” Arland says. The Whitesideses have sailed in regattas from Canada to Florida. They are members of a tri-state North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia sailing association. Chip and Arland compete in one-design racing. “Everyone has the same kind of boat, which makes the competition very tough. You can’t buy your tro-phy with one-design,” Arland explains. “We mainly sail a Snipe. It was developed in the 1930s, so it’s an old class.” Chip and Arland Whitesides (above and right) compete in a 420 at a Carolina Yacht Club Funsail on June 12.
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