Junior Julia Rychlik has sailed competitively for nearly a decade — introduced to the waters by her father in 2008. She currently sails with the California Yacht Club in Marina Del Rey.

“My dad brought me into the sport; he started when he was in college,” Rychlik said.

Rychlik said she likes to start her race days with music blasting in her ears. The blaring tunes, according to Rychlik, calm her down for the race.

“Before races I’m really excited because I love sailing. It’s just easy for me to go out there and have fun and not really care,” Rychlik said.

The music helps her concentrate and prepare herself to compete. It helps put her focus on her gameplay and strategy — as well as picture herself succeeding in the race.

“I want to do my moves exactly how they’re supposed to be, so that I can be the fastest on the race course,” Rylick said.

Rychlik sails in three different types of boats. Two of them are double-handed, for Rychlik and a partner, but her main focus is on the Laser Radial, an Olympic-class single-handed boat.

“I own my own Laser. It’s 14 feet long, it’s very thin, and it’s hollow. It has a gray race stripe on a white base and then my mast boom is kind of all standard — it’s an aluminum pole basically — that’s what holds up my sail,” Rychlik said.

Aside from racing, Rychlik said she enjoys hanging out with her friends and meeting other competitive sailors.

“I got most of my closest friends from sailing. We all sail together and we all travel together and we all … party and have fun,” Rychlik said.

Rychlik explained that she feels liberated when sailing.

“I love how free I feel when I go sailing, because it’s just me and the ocean, and I can put all my anger and aggressiveness into the ocean, making sure my boat goes fast,” Rychlik said. “I find [it’s] a really good way to channel my inner anger, especially when teammates piss me off or I get fouled in a race.”

Every race has its own challenges, however. One of her biggest challenges when sailing, Rychlik saod, is being female in a sport dominated by males.

“I’m a girl. I’m competing against a whole bunch of guys. They’re obviously much stronger and weigh much more than me, so I have to train extra hard physically so that I can be at the same level as them,” Rychlik said.

But Rychlik said she pushes through and does her best to not let it affect her.

“Being a girl in the sport doesn’t bother me,” Rychlik said. “It just empowers me to do my best so I can say that I won some prestigious trophy or won some prize that no girl has ever won and it just makes me feel better and more motivated to be my best every day.”