Cristina Rubke is one of the most involved people I know. She lives in Alameda California, across the bay from San Francisco, where she splits her time between traveling to regattas as a competitive adaptive sailor, working her day job as a trademark lawyer, and moonlighting as a disability rights advocate as well as a board member and former commodore of the Bay Area Adaptive Sailing Center. Christina was born with arthrogryposis, a rare condition that often leaves one with little to no mobility in their limbs. Along with promoting disability rights and universal accessibility, sailing is her true passion and she spends as much time on the water as she can - on the best days, sailing underneath the Golden Gate Bridge out into the Pacific Ocean.
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Stanchion: a vertical metal post that sits on the perimeter of the boat and has a wire or line passing through it as a lifeline
Centerboard: a board that goes down through the middle of the boat to help keep the boat upright and sailing in the right direction. Centerboards are used in dinghies
Dinghy: a smaller lighter boat that usually has only one or two crew - people on the boat. Keelboat: a larger and heavier boat that, instead of having a retractable centerboard, has a heavy fixed keel built into the hull - the bottom of the boat. These boats are more stable and usually sailed, especially in racing, by more people
Jib: the smaller sail in the front of the boat
Mainsail: the larger sail on the back half of the boat that catches more wind and gives the boat most of its power
Tacking: turning the boat facing into the wind so the wind switches from coming over one side of the boat to the other and the boat changes direction
Rudder: the blade coming off the back of the boat that, when moved, changes the direction of the boat
Servo: a small motor that is connected to a joystick and to the rudders allowing a person with limited physical mobility to steer the boat
Healing: when the boat begins to tip or lean over to one side being pushed by the wind
Skipper: the person steering the boat
Whitecaps: when the wind is strong enough to create waves that have foam at the top of them. This makes for exciting sailing conditions
Puff: a quick increase in the speed of the wind, a synonym of gust
Heading up: turning into the wind which can slow the boat because the sails catch less wind
Regatta: a big multi-day sail racing event
Cruising: sailing for pleasure, for adventure, or to travel. Not racing. Analogous to hiking or backpacking instead of running a race
Ebb tide: outgoing tide
Flood tide: incoming tide
Wing-on-wing: when the wind is coming directly over the back of the boat and the jib and the mainsail are on opposite sides of the boat, filled like a parachute, catching all of the wind
