Here we go!

Thanks to Adventure Sports and Overnight Delivery my mast track came yesterday. What a relief! As I installed the new mast track, one of the other competitors set to work trying to fix the old one just in case I would need a spare. Even though there are a lot of emotions and tensions, overall, every competitor is there for each other. Ready to step in and help repair battens, cams, boards, fins, or just offer advice of what they have found has worked best for them. It's great to see the teamwork.

Listening to the national anthem at the open ceremonies last night was incredible. All the emotions and then the realization that this was real. Just being here is a dream. Thank you everyone that has touched my life along the journey. In many ways it has been a wild ride and a priceless experience. The fuzzy feeling that I felt, I know was because I was not standing there alone.

Now it is time to not look back but to just go for it. Looking forward to beating my number one competitor, Mother Nature, and harnessing the wind. As quoted by Goose, in the movie Top Gun, " I feel the need, the need for speed."

Denise Parris, USA 235