Saturday, December 29, 2007

The joy of a crappy session

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I'm back. After 2 1/2 months off the water to heal my shoulder, I had my first session today. By any reasonable standard, it was just south of marginal - very flukey, gusty winds; temps hovering just above freezing (it started sleeting at the end), another failed glove experiment resulting in painfully frozen fingers, and the the wind started picking up with a vengeance and going completely offshore - so I was way overpowered on my formula gear on the outside, then struggling to make it back in through the big hole near shore. And the whole time, I had a big fat *$&#-eating grin on my face...

There's something about the sensation of windsurfing, skimming across the water, fast and weightless and effortless. It's been a long road; it's taken a lot of discipline to heal, train around the damage, stabilize the shoulder, and not give in too early and re-injure things. My PT told me that I had healed better and faster than I had any right to expect; he then grinned and added that being a little compulsive can come in handy sometimes...

It's good to be back. And if someone has any killer tips on gloves/mittens that actually work w/o cramping up your forearms or making it impossible to get a good grip on the boom, let me know.

3 comments:

PeconicPuffin said...

Congratulations!

Take it easy. Take LOTS of breaks. Remember your best friend (ice). If you think it's time to stop your session, it is. Don't aggravate the injury.

Re gloves, I use Glacier gloves and deal with the hassles. Nobody has come up with anything superior imho.

James Douglass said...

Glad to hear you are back on the water after your injury.

I use DaKine winter mitts, but the real trick for keeping my hands warm is taking them off the boom every so often and wringing them downward vigorously to get the blood back in. Usually I do the "shakedown" thing about 15 minutes into the session and I'm fine after that. Then again I probably don't sail in quite as cold weather as you. :)

Best wishes for a good recovery in the new year.

USA-4 Steve Bodner said...

try the 99 cent yellow dishwashing gloves!