The chance to get red thumbed when I post up an opinion on the internet

The challenge and the mates

Well, good topic.
i would be bored s h i t less after 30 years if all i did was the same thing.
If it was not for wanting to learn some new move etc then i would just not sail i think., and probably be 20kg heavier!!
You can only do so many laps backwards and forwards before it is too much.
I think gps has saved a lot of people from perhaps giving up, along with the rediscovery of the sport on more modern gear.
If you want to stay enthused about the sport you must try something different, push yourself!! i.e if you are not falling in then you are not trying hard enough!!
Obviously a bit different if you are doing speed runs/slalom trainig etc.

Keep on pushing i say

As Robby Naish said; the speed thrill we get windsurfing is similar to travelling at speeds in your car or motor bike that would see you locked up.
Those of us that windsurf are "Watermen" we feel a connection with the ocean. We a drawn to it instinctively, we feel at home on or in the water.
The surge of adrenalin we get whether riding down the face of a wave or jumping off, it going flat out in a howling gale or just a gentle cruise in a sea breeze is why we keep coming back for more.
Of course when the day on the water is done the interaction with our fellow "Watermen" is something that is priceless. There is always fun and laughter after a good sail as well as sharing of experience to encourage each other to develop and excell.
I'm so happy and grateful to be welcomed back into a group of great like minded people after a long absence. Thanks everyone!!
Disclaimer; The term "Waterman" applies equally to our opposite gender. I do not engage in political correctness.

I presume Jimmy b that you are interested in this as a 'real' topic, so I'll avoid the flippant, that usually prevails on "social media" and break my usual adherence to not using the absurd medium.

I have been sailing for 30 years, solely wave-sailing, except when conditions do not allow and a fallback to some alternative is required. I only have wave boards / sails for this reason. Someone has already mentioned modern gear, and I agree - my Wood Carbon EVO 66 is a killer on the water.

I have always thought that what makes the sport attractive as an activity in itself is the variability - the fact that you can guarantee that every single time that you hit the beach the combination of variables will give you something that you have never sailed before - a challenge to work it out. Compare this to a jet ski - the variables are nearly all removed, and if you have ever tried it you will find that you are bored senseless after 5 minutes. Complexity is fun - difficult is fun.

This brings me to the next point, already touched upon - trying something new. The fact is that the variability in conditions means that every time that you sail you are trying something new, in effect. Overlay on this the fact that there is some manoeuvre - carve gybe (consistent), duck gybe, jump gybe - ANYTHING! Even if you are a master at a particular manoeuvre, you are still going to stuff it up sometimes (variables) so consistency is also something to strive for.

And then there are those elusive and alluring moves - my latest has been the forward loop, and it took some sketchy efforts at the end of last summer until now to get comfortable with it. The butterflies when you are heading to a windy coast, going through the move over and over in your head. When you hit the water and just 'get a feel' for the conditions, and possibly try some tentative 'drills' to get your head right, and then of course the first attempt, where you don't really know what happened, but you didn't hurt yourself, and you have the sense that something actually worked...and so you try again. The fact that we are all in effect SELF TAUGHT is kind of interesting too.

Somewhere in the mix is most certainly pain, but that is all part of the game too. Whether it is pain from getting turned inside out on a big back loop, or that full body ache after 4 - 6 hours on the water, it is all part of the pleasure and the allure. Eventually you get your new move sorted and you just can't do it enough. The butterflies on the drive are even worse, the anticipation is uncontainable, and the adrenalin just delicious.

Others around you, going through the same stuff, handling it differently; more outwardly, or more contained. Everyone is enjoying being on the edge.

This is what makes me go back, again, and again, and again...

Superbly written

Gclark1 said..

.... all of it ....

I enjoyed reading all these.

I liken "that feeling" that we get, whether it be a good wave/jump/loop/planning run/gybe/tack/catapault, to soaring like a bird ... it's that feeling that keeps me coming back And what he said.

yep i'd say sailing with the gang 70 percent, conditions 30 percent. my life is a helluva lot better because of it

hi Gclark 1 well said, that's the way I feel about it too ,with me it's a different discipline but the same sport.

When I walk past my local skate park I see some kids spending the afternoon shredding in the bowl while others just sitting around drinking boxy, both "spending time with their mates" but only the shredders inspire my imagination. I wonder what separates those kids? Why are some driven to push themselves, amped on videos of Paul Rodriguez and Danny Way and others are happy to sit around and do nothing.

Why do we choose heroes who do the extraordinary, why not admire those who's path is closer to our own. Why are we inspired by Naish, Dunkerbeck, Angulo and many others? Well before DC Comics had become an empire a guy called Friedrich Nietzsche put a bit of thought into the motivation thing and coined the term "Ubermenschen"

Like many windsurfers Fred was a guy who did his best thinking outdoors. "To climb as high into the pure icy Alpine air as a philosopher ever climbed, up to where all the mist and obscurity cease and where the fundamental constituents of things speaks in a voice rough and rigid but ineluctably comprehensible!"
Here is a guy who believed that the struggle for experience is an essential ingredient to fulfilment.

Graham Ezzy wrote an article called "The Importance of Crashes, Falls, and Wipeouts" ( http://www.surf-matic.com/the-importance-of-crashes-falls-and-wipeouts/ ) which articulates some of the difficulties of learning new skills. There is no doubt that improving at windsurfing involves a lot falling in and a certain amount of struggle. On some days the motivation is easy, the sun is out, conditions are ideal and on others the elements seem to conspire against everything you try.

Sometime I think that it is on these "tough days" that I learn the most, when nature conspires to push me out of my comfort zone and I return to shore a little humbler and with a few new bruises, but as to exactly what the motivation is I find hard to say, its like asking Homer Simpson why he likes beer.