So, there’s always a back story, you know?
Below is the back story to Sunday’s Set Sail for Autism Race. I was so inspired by Kori Manley, our student sailor:
Ya gotta dream of having goals.
Ya gotta set goals.
Ya gotta put in the work to meet those goals.
Port Huron Northern High School student Kori Manley knows how to set goals and how to crush them.
To me, Kori is very, very inspirational.
A few weeks ago, I attended a meeting of the Set Sail for Autism Race Organizing Committee at Port Huron Yacht Club. This organization helped put 10 students on board sailboats, during a race, so they could experience one of the most fun things you can do on the water in the Blue Water Area.
One of the boats I race on, the Chippewa, owned and skippered by Pamela Wall, was entered in the race and we were there to meet our student and her mother.
Natalie Adair of the Port Huron Schools, one of the administrators who helped organize the race, told Pam and me that our student, Kori, was super excited to meet us because we are an all-female crew, and Natalie knew that would be inspirational to Kori.
And then Kori walked over to meet us. Or, maybe I should say she hobbled.
Her leg was in a cast and she had a crutch. She was struggling to just stand. Pam and I exchanged glances. How would we even get Kori on the boat, much less sail around the race course with her?
Kori had fallen down a set of stairs that week and had gotten pretty banged up. It wasn’t the way she had planned on kicking off her summer break.
The school officials graciously told Kori that, if in two weeks time, she was not able to get on the sailboat, she could ride the Huron Lady the day of the race, as it was chartered to take family and friends out to watch the race.
The day before the race, Pam and I received word that Kori, inspired by meeting us and seeing the Chippewa up close, had told her mother she really wanted to sail, so they set a goal for Kori to go for a walk with her mom every day so that she could get stronger and so she could get on that sailboat.
Kori met her goal!
On race day, she still had a walking cast and she was still using a crutch, but Kori was no longer hobbling. The crutch was just an insurance policy against another fall. She was walking almost normally, cast and all. Pam and I had studied the boat and determined the best way to get her on board (we had to swing her legs over the lifelines).
And, with our help, she did it! We got Kori and her mom, Traci Manley, on board the Chippewa, along with our all female crew, and we motored out to Lake Huron.
Do you know what Chippewa does when she races? WE WIN!!!
We didn’t get first place, but we got third place out of six boats in our class, which means we won a flag.
Pamela gave the flag to Kori to thank her for being our good luck charm.
And here’s the thing: Kori is just such a neat kid. She is bubbly and enthusiastic. She is a member of the PHN marching band. (Cheers to meeting a fellow marching band kid just like me!) I saw her giggling with friends. She was just a delight to have on board.
I admit I do not know much about autism, and I realize it is a spectrum, but to me, Kori was just another high school student looking for adventure and fun each time I met her. She works hard and she achieves her goals.
Kori Manley is MY Blue Water Young Woman of the Day…she so deserves some kind of recognition for so actively participating in her healing process and ensuring her spot on a sailboat on a sunny Sunday afternoon in July. I’m so glad I had the opportunity to meet her and have fun with her out on the water.
I hope all of you are enjoying your summer in similar ways…setting goals and crushing them…just like Kori.
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