Recently it was one of those weekenders where you just had the feeling you had to be outside because it was September and you wanted to do something. To specify this even, I had the feeling that I wanted to do something with water because I really like doing water stuff to cool off for a bit but also to activate the body.
Water sports just feel like you are alive for some reason. The body has to work, the dip in the water is cold and refreshing and the further away you are from the crowd, the more the noise disappears from the rest of the world.
But since I live in a spot with literally no water in the area, that means that you have to think carefully about your options on how to spend the day because it means traveling towards the water.
So when there is no wind, it is nice to go SUPing as I did a while back. But when there is a lot of wind, the lakes are more like an ocean with waves and SUPing might not be the best of activities all of a sudden anymore.
There was so much wind I also considered going for a sail, but with this slightly impulsive idea and not having any form of boat access, that wasn't possible at all anymore.(not everyone has water and a boat in their back garden you know, damn I wish...Take off crypto, just please take off!!🙏)
Pixabay
Looks cool right? Well this sure ain't me in the picture;)
So what other options there are...There is also windsurfing as something to do on the lakes.
One little problem on this behalf: I have never done this before. Oopsie!
Expectation versus reality
So I went and booked a lesson because I think it is a good idea when you start something to learn the basics in a good way from scratch and not learn yourself something before you learn it in the wrong way.
And I had no idea what to expect from this. Would it be more theoretics, would it be on the water instantly? Would I drift off and come swimming back as I always see people doing when they start off and what I also recognize from myself from kitesurfing in the beginning?
https://youtu.be/tXDECBZepsU?si=27h6apTAnB6aXqRK
Youtube by ' The Surfers'
The whole time when I was on the road towards there I had this song in my head. A classic, but it never gets old. You know this one right?
I wasn't disappointed on my first lesson actually. I had some nice going up and down moments, and going against the wind was also working out great when trying to come back to my starting point.
But the moment of turning, that is the moment when you loose your momentum, make some good failures, the sail acts like a wind catching machine and all of a sudden you are drifted off hundreds of meters.
And that...... is when reality kicks in
That is when you drift off, try to get back, make a tack to get everything back in place, get launched from the board crashing on to it again.
And drift off even further....
So in the the first lesson did end up into a swimming lesson again. Did it turn out I had a total lack of skills as expected? Sure!
But was it fun? Heck yeah, this sounds and tastes like I want more of it!
The water is still warm, a wetsuit should do the trick, seems like I might head out more on the water this autumn. Who knows!