This summer is moving faster with every passing day. The mornings at Toyon Bay are bright but brisk, leaving a little time to come to breakfast in a sweatshirt before the heat of the day begins in earnest.

Most mornings are spent bringing my thoughts into action via my Dungeons and Dragons sessions, as campers challenge me to flesh out unexpected characters and explore blind alleys. The classes only last an hour and a half, so sessions need to have a defined shape and objective if we want to meaningfully move the plot forward.

For the most part, campers are enthusiastic, even in the early mornings at 9am. I take that energy and try to reflect it into my characters and exposition as we write the story together.

It helps that many of the campers are willing to engage in true role playing, inhabiting their characters to the letter. Last session I had a camper playing as a Warforged (a type of sentient robot) who was genuinely interested in becoming closer to the animals of the world. Over the course of our adventure they took a chicken as a pet, and tamed a wyvern in order to fly the party to the tower where the big bad was waiting.

Those types of interactions are what fuel the creative and imaginative nature of D&D. They’re why we keep coming back again and again.

After lunch, my day gets a lot different. I swap my dice bag for a swimsuit, slap on some sun screen and grab a bucket hat. It’s time to teach sailing.

Walking down to the Toyon Bay Yacht Club takes me past the boats that sit idly on the road above the beach, and into the small boathouse covered from pillar to post in names of all sorts. These are sail names, of campers and staff, from decades of sailing in this program. People with names like Bullseye, Race Track, Skippy, and Soundcheck.

Looking around the room leaves you wondering if there is really a place this cherished anywhere else in camp, or indeed the world.

But before I can contemplate that possibility, class is starting and I find myself explaining wind direction, tacking and jibing, or the proper way to right a boat. The campers are from all walks of life, and all learn differently, but one thing unites them above all else: They are yachties. They are here to sail.

As the afternoon carries on and boats launch and land on the beach, I get a chance to catch up with the other sail staff and sing a few shanties on the chase boat. By the time we come in and the boats are put away, everyone is tired but smiling.

As we do with every aspect of sea camp, we reflect on what went well and what we can improve on. The summer is approaching that point now; reflective and nearly over. But there’s still time for a few more sessions around the D&D table, and a few more shanties on the beach.