Aloha Windsurfing Clinic 2012, Part 2

After expressing my consternation (via e-mail to my friend Oly) about the extreme conditions and my limited abilities, he replied "the times that you really learn a lot is when the conditions are really challenging, and the really weird thing is that you feel that its a complete waste of time and hopeless... but the next time you have normal conditions its remarkably easy! 

He was bloody right!

After three miserable days of hellacious wind and what felt like a waste of time, it backed off a few mph and I had a proper moment. I hung low in the harness, let my back hand hang off the boom and I felt it........I felt and I knew I was doing the thing that I've watched everyone else do for years, I was finally sailing properly. Just to be sure it wasn't  a fluke,  I got the same feeling coming back to the beach with Shawna in my wake yelling at me to get my back foot in the strap! But the moment was too sweet to fuck it up and I yelled back "NOOOO"!  When I de-powered, the upwelling of relief finally poured through my eyes. I needed a witness, I needed a moment, I needed a good cry in the shore break for the pure unadulterated joy of finally being able to sail like I've always wanted to.

The ever patient Rebecca looks as clearly land makes me no more sure of what I'm doing that water (I blame the palm tree boom)!

I also sailed 'up hill' for the first time this clinic. I like small waves to surf or SUP on, but avoid them like the plague when I windsurf. However, the last swell of the season showed up mid week and there was no avoiding them. I knew I was going down even before the wave crumbled in front of me as I had no idea how to deal with it! So, still hooked in - backwards I went - and immediately learned lesson one, unhook when you know you're going in the drink!  However, each time I headed in and got a watery push from the bumps, I got a minute hit of how much fun it must be to properly sail the swells.

I doubt windsurfing has ever made Phil McGain cry... I shoulda asked him in our Q & A session that Shawna organized, post demonstration of racing techniques.

With relentless wind it was a great respite to sit on the beach and have a private show from the experts.  The conditions gave this clinic an intensity (Jesus- all my doubt and insecurity were exhausting), but it didn't alter the fact that I had a blast and wish could do it everyday!

Race ya!

Boys and their toys. Matt's genius set up towing everyone in to practice their rig flips, it worked a treat.

With two days left of the clinic I reluctantly had to bail early and hang up my sail as it was time to head to Hana (I know -what a life)!

The consistency of daily sailing made me reflect that no one ever gets it right the first time, there are too many practical and changing natural elements to just jump on and go. You have to really want it or you won't progress. Each tiny piece is a meditation of practice and understanding, then slowly over time the sport builds in your cellular memory. And there's always, always more to learn......

This last year I've had the privilege of being part of many groups of various descriptions and the common denominator is that they've all been amazing. You never know the feel or flow of one until you're a couple of days in, but for sure by the end of your time together the shared journey has created lovely connections. This group was no different, see you on the water......

Aloha Windsurfing Clinic 2012, Part 1

Last week I attended the Aloha Windsurfing Clinic 2012. It's a week long, full emersion program where you can come and go as you please with expert instruction from Shawna Cropas & Matt Pritchard.

For months it its been blowing strong easterly winds and I have a mental block that I can't sail in those conditions, which was part of my reason for signing up. Day one of six saw some of the windiest weather on Island so far this year (and trust me it's been blowing). Naively, here I'm all smiles as I've not yet been on the water! Do you see that little 3.2 of a sail....well guess what, Shawna said I should have been on a 2.5 to handle to 40mph gusts!

Conditions dictated that it instantly became a 'high wind' clinic.  Shawna and Matt demonstrate the crunch, the stance which transmits power to the harness and this along with staying low quickly became the focus of everyones sailing. Those bastards make it look so easy on land and water!

Many participants had flown in for the clinic and were excited that their kids got to see a rainbow or two whilst on holiday.  Driving home I reflected on just how prevalent they are and how lucky I am that my backyard is a big windsurfing playground.

So here's the thing....which you dick about in the shore break, that's where all the rocks and coral collect and get tumbled around in the energy of the waves. It's super easy to get cut and or bruised, I succeeded in doing both on day one, hence the duct tape toe condom.

For the first few days I spent a lot of time on land because the wind was so farking gnarly, more flailing than sailing.

And I wasn't alone.....the wind took its toll on everyone so there were many volunteers for 'fins off' land practice.

As Shawna said, there's nothing like high or low wind to show up your weaknesses. So for me, everything was on the edge, conditions, ability, emotions, physical and mental output.  This cheeky minor had clearly graduated with honors from its own survival clinic, as he just flew and hopped up to all of us and grabbed the free food.

Not even the towel could escape the sandblasting conditions.

Boldly going nowhere!

Determined and full of new information I set sail.....though don't let the smile fool you, this is T-minus ten minutes to tears!

Sunny afternoon.

It's summer time which means flat water and that's great for my sailing.

My commitment free days off are driven by the question "should I sail, sup or bike ride"? Lately, if the conditions allow, windsurfing has been my first choice. For so many years this sport has frustrated me to the point of tears, but lately I've been having a lot of fun and realized part of it is being at a level where that exasperation doesn't show up. Which, I don't mind telling you is nothing short of a fucking miracle.

At the risk of stating the obvious, Maui provides weather that allows you to frolic outside year round, but the long summer days provide more play hours and less intense water conditions, and for me that equals more smiles.

Say "Pee" (which I'm not)!

Post sesh like a total nit-wit, I'd packed up leaving the Gopro on my paddle and still in the 'photo every two seconds' mode. One Mississippi, two Mississippi....

.....three Mississippi, four Mississippi....

.......five Mississippi, six Mississippi.

Testing one, two, check-check, testing one, two, three.....

Good evening Wembley!

I've been plucking away now for a little over a year now and am of the belief that I don't have much ego around it. The sheer joy of learning a new chord pass or mastering a strum is enough, it really is one of those simple pleasures which makes it easy to find gratification in the journey. In his infinite wisdom, my teacher, sound engineer and producer, Cyrus, had decided it was time to set up a recording session. Blimey, it's a good job I'm easy about the whole thing because hearing myself in headphones really exposed the areas that need more work. Plus there's definitely an added sense of pressure in wanting to get it right (enter stage left, the ego). At one point (having just botched my solo) my inexperienced recording fingers started trembling! That being said, I could have done it all day because the thrill of getting it right was ridiculously satisfying.

As it's sunny afternoon, I thought of this song and hope you're enjoying your summer.... peace, out.

Ho'okipa offerings.

At low tide I padded around Hookipa looking for a shot, but was too impatient to hang around for a corker.

This one however caught my eye as now I know (post clinic) that throwing a rooster tail is as much of a learned windsurfing skill as any other. This one gets a 6.5 out of 10 from the British judge.

This looks like Mark Angulo and his mutant....but what do I know?

Feminine prettiness collecting shells.

Talking of Hookipa, this beautiful fish used to live there and how rude of me not to have removed the kitchen sponge before David Baileying my dinner. It does give you pause that just hours before this beautiful creature was swimming in the ocean and the next thing you know it's caught, is in a cooler, then stuffed in a bag with his head down the garbage disposal at my house. The value placed on it's life was a mere $10.00, oh the indignity of it all.

What can do, but honor it by making a delicious dinner and not wasting a morsel.

And finally, remember my friendly neighborhood heavily prego preying mantis? Well she (or one of her girlfriends) just deposited her egg sack on the hand rail of my front stairs. I overrode my homeowner urge to scrape it off and am now eagerly awaiting the happy event. Stay tuned.

Women's windsurfing clinic.

One of my favorite boutiques in Paia for clothes is Simmer, a surf/windsurfing store. My friend Rebecca works there, so a visit is instantly like shopping with a girlfriend and she has a great eye for dressing people. A few weeks ago when I popped in to pick up one of her necklaces (yes, she also makes fab jewelry) she mentioned a ladies windsurfing clinic and I instantly knew I was in.

In yes, in for what I wasn't sure as I'd never attended a group clinic before. First of all, you need to know that my average time on the water to sail is maybe 40 minutes once a month. The net result has been me sailing at the same level for YEARS with no progress what so ever. Hence my signing up for a push (or shove if required) to a new and improved level.

Six days of 10am - 4pm.........surely that oughta get me some where?

Oh dear, day one remedial student falling on land exercises and boldly going nowhere doesn't bode well. The edict from high "if you can't do it on land you can't do it on water" proved oh so true!

Learning any stage of windsurfing is not easy, in fact it's amazing that as many people sail as they do. In the full immersion program there's no way your regular frustrations are not going to show, which is why we were all there, to break through those grrrrrr moments and expose a new set at the next level. Thank f*#k swearing was not discouraged! However, there's no doubt in a group you laugh about your failings a lot easier and God knows you get your money's worth on that alone!

Ohhhhhhh but how sweet it is when it all comes together and you're controlling the rig and playing with the wind and the water. *Grins from ear to ear*

We played hard and none of us walked away unscathed and my body rebelled from the get go, but it was all so worth it.

Day one: Burnt scalp (I'm such a delicate flower)!

Day two: Goof ball hat purchased so head happy, but hands gained tiny blisters and small cut on foot irritating as shit in the sand.

Day three: Kook outfit progresses nicely with addition of recycled bike gloves.

Day four: Head and hands sorted but feet raw. Resisted temptation of booties for full on sexy neoprene centerfold look.

Day five: Don't care how I look anymore, hit the wall and bailed on the afternoon sesh for a nap.

Day six: Awoke in the night to rhythmically throbbing feet.

The complete outfit-winning! Alarmingly, the kookier the outfit the better I sailed.

Spot the impostor.

The brilliance of a clinic is the journey. In this case, six strangers came together with one passion and without having to rush, we played, learned and were educated specifically for our level on the building blocks of windsurfing. The multi-levels were helpful, as three of us with further to go could see what lay ahead and those ahead got to fine tune their basics and learned to jump and ride the waves. It was really exciting to see every ones progress and between mouthfuls of our well deserved lunch, Shawna critiqued our sailing thanks to her helmet Gopro.

I too had a Gopro, but perhaps I shouldn't have bothered!

The gardening gloves and doofus hat saved me from the sun and pain, but they have to go!

Six magnificent women, six completely different sailing levels and one fantastic instructor (well one and a bit-the lovely and talented Tatiana is MIA in this photo).

Shawna Cropas was our wonder woman coach. She knows her shit, communicates it well, has limitless 'let's go' enthusiasm, coupled with a total understanding for what you're going through. Here and there we dropped like flies, but not once did I see her energy flag. She's fantastically real, laughs easily, reads the group energy really well, is totally present, an excellent cook and gives nothing short of everything.

Other than my Mary Poppins like gravitational pull to the Royal Wedding, I have not a clue what happened in the world last week. Thanks to the numerous foodies in our group, we often had dinner together and it was a real pleasure hanging out with such juicy & witty women. Barley had I slept, cleaned my cuts and applied the Nuskin before I was happily rigging up again. I loved the simple routine and really felt as if I was on holiday with the rest of the girls. The consistent nature of information and practice, information and practice, information and practice, produced skill sets that changed my physical and mental way of sailing completely and I feel solid and excited by what I walked away with. I believe we all did.

As I pulled out of Stable Road for the final time I actually felt like a sailor and in my driveway on our last night, I reluctantly unpacked my well used gear for the first time in six days.

Fun, fun, fun so much fun and I can't wait to get back in the water.

Crikey.

Long time no post and the list of apocalyptic craziness that's occurred/ing on our planet since a pregnant praying mantis caught my eye, is very grim indeed. I've donated, I've thanked my lucky stars and as it's easy for me to get overwhelmed with the intensity of it all, I believe the best thing I can do is to keep living a meaningful, joy filled life.

As I was surfing the Web, I came across the Pale Blue Dot photo and then this clip of Carl Sagan's thoughts prompted by it. If I allow the catastrophic headlines to get too close, it re-calibrates my thinking reminding me how totally privileged I am to exist on our beautiful Earth.

With all this fire and brimstone stuff, it probably doesn't help that I've just finished reading Susan Casey's terrific book The Wave. Which reminds me, this footage of the recent tsunami taken three miles off the coast of Japan is really something. The scientific models don't bode well and as our planet heats up, predictions for more earthquakes, volcano eruptions and hurricanes seem to be the inevitable fall out (cue Pale Blue Dot)!

And if the Pale Blue Dot doesn't do it, then this never fails!

So following the instructions for my own prescription on life, today (post Uke lesson) I went sailing bang on 11:00am hoping not to be blown to smithereens. It didn't work and I came in after 20 minutes as it was total pedal to the metal- first to fourth in waaaaay to short a time! I like my limbs and am way too attached to keeping them intact to stay out longer. Still, given the return reading on my iphone, 26 gusting to 41 mph I didn't do too bad!

So I headed to Ho'okipa, as there are always sailors skilled and crazy enough to put on a show in such gusty conditions.

There were some decent sets to make it worth watching (though I didn't get any good pics) and as Francky was in the water shooting, that always creates some good show-off action.

That's him there, the Pale Red Dot.

Great expectations.

As I pulled my gear out from under the house, the dust on my sail bags made the dirty public declaration that I didn't want to admit....they've not seen the light of day for about a year. Why? I'd ditched them for the relative ease of a carbon paddle and a 10ft stand up board.

Sunday however, we got reacquainted. I've made the decision that by the time I'm 50 I'll know how to jibe (note the nice wide 9 month window!). So lessons will be booked, wet suits will get wet and I'll put in the effort (once and for all) to face the nemesis that I've twice used as an excuse to stop sailing.

After pulling the leaves and feathers out of my mast track, I was relived to find out I still remembered how to rig. Once on the water I worked on one simple thing, moving my feet out of the straps while carving into the turn. Oh man, do I have a lot to learn and nine months may be wishful thinking! I stalled, I was overpowered, my feet slipped, I didn't move my feet, the speed freaked me out and I dropped the sail, I got my feet in place but the sail wasn't, I unhooked too late, etc, etc, etc.

At this stage of the game the factors that come into play to not allow the jibe to occur are whoppingly impressive and my goal felt further away at the end of my session than at the beginning.


Still, despite all of the above it was great to tug on my neoprene, be back on the water, hooked-in, with my feet in the foot straps. Plus, I came in with a smile on my face, so there's hope for me yet to conquer the jibing beast.

Time to do my homework.