ODUSports.com recently did a Q&A with junior sailor, Grace Mason.
Q: How long have you been sailing?
A: I started when I was eight so I guess 12 years.
Q: Are you usually the skipper or the crew?
A: I am the crew. In sailing there are two people in the boat, one person steering and one person controlling the jib, and keeping the boat flat and that is what the crew does, that is what I do.
Q: I know the coaches switch up the skippers and crew sometimes, who has been your skipper throughout most of the season?
A: This season I sailed with Esteban Forrer.
Q: What has been your most memorable sailing moment?
A: I would say last spring the women’s team got fourth place at Nationals, so that was a really great experience. A good finish for a really competitive group of girls that I learned a lot from.
Q: Who was the person who influenced your sailing career?
A: I had a coach, his name is R.J., and he really took me under his wing to kind of teach me a lot about it. I would sit with him a lot in high school and during the summer we raced. So he really taught me a lot.
Q: Where do/did you practice when you were back home sailing in high school?
A: So I am from Hingham, Massachusetts, that’s on the water and there is Hingham Yacht Club, that is where I would sail in the summer and then during high school I would just sail in Hingham Harbor.
Q: Why did you choose old dominion?
A: I chose Old Dominion because they have a nursing program and a sailing team and those are the two things I was really looking for in a school.
Q: Which area of medicine do you want to go into with your nursing degree?
A: It is undecided at this point, but I really like working with kids so it will probably be pediatrics or somewhere in that directions.
Q: Since you’ve been here a few years, where in the Hampton Roads area is your favorite place to hang out with friends?
A: I guess Ghent, going to those restaurants and shops down there.
Q: What is your favorite movie?
A: That is such a hard question. I don’t even know where to start with that, but there is no one movie that I watch all the time.
Q: Who is your favorite band?
A: Band I would probably say, well she’s not a band but I really like Beyonce.
Q: What is your favorite food?
A: I love seafood, so probably salmon or any type of fresh fish I really enjoy.
Q: If you could travel anywhere outside of the US, where would you like to go?
A: I really want to go over to Europe. I have never been, so probably France or Italy, those kinds of places.