Monday, September 10, 2007

The wind's a fickle mistress...

Share
I met up with a reporter from the Whatcom Independent on Saturday morning. The plan was that he'd shoot some pictures of me sailing on the Bellingham Bay, then we'd have a little Q&A on windsurfing in Whatcom County, where to go, how to learn, and talk about racing a bit. The forecast wasn't all bad, so we met Saturday morning at 10 - except it hadn't filled in enough to get any good pictures (somehow, action shots of slogging on Formula gear aren't all that attractive, no matter how blue the sky...)

So we went for Plan B and bailed for Lake Whatcom, where I was going to give him a lesson. He was a great sport, and we got him on the Start, with me towing him on the longboard. Except as soon as we hit the water on the lake, the breeze there went from a lesson-perfect 3-5 knots to nothing (as in zilch, zip, not even a ripple on the water - sure made for stunning reflections of scenery on the lake, but that was about it).

We hung out for a while and talked, and then we had to bail since we both had other things to do. Of course, as I was driving through town with my kids a half hour later and went by the bay, I couldn't help but be struck with the irony of the bay now being adorned in whitecaps.

Nobody ever said this sport was supposed to be easy, or capable of being fit into a busy schedule for that matter. I'm sure it's making me into a better person somehow, though... ;)

2 comments:

PeconicPuffin said...

She's a bitch, except when she puts out. Then she's so nice...

James Douglass said...

It's a shame you didn't have a chance to show the reporter how special windsurfing really is.

Then again, if it was something you could do on a schedule like everything else, maybe it wouldn't BE so special.

I guess the charms of the wind are reserved for those who can meet her on her own terms.