Maui, Hawai’i
Why do some people assume that because I can row an ocean, I am generally sporty? Don’t they know that most rowers row because they can’t do anything else?!
I was apprehensive about my first ever windsurfing lesson this morning, and all the more so because my debut was to be photographed for an article in a windsurfing magazine. My sense of balance was quite finely honed after 3.5 months on a tippy little rowboat, but that was 8 months ago now and my legs are firmly re-accustomed to land. My hopes were modest – to spend just enough time on the board so we could get a decent photo.
Then there was the issue of my current camera-shyness. As if it hasn’t been bad enough having to display my podgy white self on an island where most women are 100 pounds and brown as berries (much like I was when I arrived in Antigua, come to think of it) now my out-of-shapeness was due to be recorded for posterity. Mortifying.
Actually, it didn’t turn out as badly as I’d expected. I’m far from being a natural, but at least I managed to avoid abject humiliation. I got the hang of steering and turning the board, and in an exhilarating run of, oh, at least 10 yards, almost looked like I knew what I was doing.
As for the photos, I’m pinning my hopes on Photoshop to hide a multitude of sins…
After I’d finished messing around on the water we went to watch the pros in action. Maui is hosting the Aloha Classic this week, and our host Matt Pritchard was competing. The weather has been too calm so far this week and even today the waves were apparently seriously substandard, but it was still jaw-dropping to watch the skill of people who REALLY knew what they were doing, especially now that I know just how hard windsurfing is to the uninitiated.
