There is a point when you are windsurfing when everything comes together. The sail powers up, the board accelerates onto a plane, your feet slide into the foot straps, and you are suddenly flying across the water faster than the wind. When you reach this planing moment after weeks (or in my case, months) of learning, you suddenly realise why this sport is so great; and from that moment you are hooked. It’s the orgasm of windsurfing, except it goes on for an hour or more and you get more wet and (ED: that quite enough of this analogy thank you).
Anyway, after two tentative post-accident sailing outings, today I went out with my new Element sail, and suddenly found myself in the footstraps and planing. There followed much whooping and screaming with the sheer exhilaration of the experience, my first windsurfing orgasm for four months. Was out on the water for a couple of hours and tonight my muscles and back are complaining; but I am not.
The windsurfing orgasm: good exercise, you don’t feel like rolling over and going to sleep afterwards, and no risk of unwanted children (ED: I told you to stop this).
P.S. The gold spray in the photo is from the setting sun. Just in case you thought I Photoshopped it.
Comments 🔗
2009-02-19| Camberley saysI have just been overtaken by a wave of pedantry. How can a vehicle that is powered by the wind travel faster than the wind?
Nice photograph.
2009-02-19| Spike saysIt’s by the miracle of something called “apparent wind”. Some googling will throw up loads of equations which you will understand but I don’t. I just know that I can go faster than the wind speed. For example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apparent_wind
2009-02-19| Spike saysAnd if you can ride a wave (of pedantry, but preferably water), you can go even faster.
2009-02-19| Spike saysOh, and thanks re the photo. I do like it and wish I could take more like that. 1/40th second handheld with a 300mm lens.
2009-02-19| Camberley saysWell bugger me. I have shown myself as a bit of a land lubber here. So your speed across the water when tacking across wind can be greater than the speed you could reach if you went directly downwind.
300m @ 1/40th! I am impressed - I mean even more impressed than before.
2009-02-19| Spike saysDamn right. In fact going directly downwind is something we never do, unless we are desperate to go somewhere that is directly downwind. A free cool drink stall staffed by an amazing woman for example. Doesn’t happen much.
2009-02-20| Antz saysSpike, are you running a competition to see who can guess who’s in the pic?…. unless you “photoshopped” your sail colour from red to blus :-) Or, maybe I’m colour blind…. ha ha
2009-02-20| Spike saysYes! It’s our latest competition! Grand Prizes! Here’s a clue to get you started: I took the photo. So that limits the options. Actually, looking at it again, I am not sure who that it, so I can decide at random who wins. So unless you are a skinny Russian girl, there is no point in entering the competition.
2009-02-20| Antz saysIn this town anything is possible :-)
2009-02-20| Spike saysEven apparent wind. Apparently.