The Power of Water...and Wind

Copyright Hristo Hristov, Extreme Surf School 

The power of love - that's the "cliche"-itic one. For me, for the past two weeks and a half it was the power of water. Yes, I am talking about this endless big blue thing, which made us ask "So where is the tap?" when we were younger. The sea. Some people will argue that lakes and reservoirs, should be placed in same category. I would disagree. And there is a particular reason why - because they give you safety. You will eventually get there, and most of the times it wouldn't take you more than half an hour regardless of if you"r sailing, windsurfing, canoeing or just chilly-pilling in a boat to reach this "safe harbor". As the wiser have said -  "Cruising has two pleasures. One is to go out in wider waters from a sheltered place. The other is to go into a sheltered place from wider waters."   Howard Bloomfield

If joint efforts always lead to better results, then we should not be underestimating the power of water's "mate", i.e. the wind. No wonder why surfers or sailors are much quicker than rowers - because if the water gives you stability, so the wind gives you wings. And that's what I felt when I first managed to hold the sail for more than 5 seconds and actually move - as if I had wings. Even if I had to drift away from the metaphorically-romantic notion, the ability to play with the wind gives you what no motor and what no morning run in the park can ever give you. It gives the freedom, the freedom that is dependent on nature's will (Yes, yes I know, the quality of the sail and the board as well, etc.!). Once you start doing it, you either fall in love or you do not, same with "Marmite" - you either love it or not. If you start loving the relationship between the water and the wind, then sailing in any of its forms becomes your passion. No one can take it away from you because you wouldn't give it to them - you would sacrifice the city trip, the night on the fancy "champagned" motor yacht and not to mention your unpaid annual leave. It is one of those things that make you wake up at 8.30am, after you have gone to bed at 5.30pm after a lemony ginned night, just for the sake of the waiting, for the wind, to come.

Let's go down to earth for a bit - so what are the main ways we can experience this? Let's start from the most "manual" one, i.e Windsurfing. What does this mean? Well, words talk for themselves - in short you have a bord and a sail. The water let's you move and the wind gives you the power to move. Before you go anywhere, you need to learn how do actually the wind helps (or doesn't let you!) move. Here is the simplest diagram that you need to refer to before you ever board something with a sail. I.e. points of sail:

And here is what it actually looks like:

Copyright - Hristo Hristov, Extreme Surf School

You feel like trying it? Don't you? It might take a while to get to the stage from the picture, not to mention summers and summers spend on the beach, but even the whole "fight" before you actually reach this stage brings a feeling that makes you forget about the tiredness, the muscle ache and all the blisters. Because when you are in the water, those things are not existent. When you go out, the gin with the squeezed lemon zest (no, not squezzed lemon, but squeezed ZEST!) will heal them. It's proven.

But let's go back to the basics. What else is out there, other than windsurfing? There is kitesurfing, and there is the whole yacht sailing, which covers the catamarans as well. Due to the broadness and complexity of the yacht sailing we will try and discuss them in a separate post, but a couple of pictures would not harm. Just to let you dream (yes, you might be behind the desk looking at the next report for the day, but the sea is there, the plane/train is there so it is entirely up to you if you are willing to spend 3 sleepless but over-adrenalin-ed days at one of the zillion European (or non) beaches or even reservoirs (yes, most reservoirs offer windsurfing and sailing equipment/lessons - i.e. Google it). 

Yacht Catamaran

But let's drift from the theory because Wikipedia can tell you much more than I can even think of and go back to the point of the post. Although, some of you might say that windsurfing is a lonely sport I would argue, and here is why:

One board, two sails. 

Then who said that water and wind, can not "build" love? It's all about sharing it and letting it live. The same way you let the wind gives you direction for dreaming into the big endless blue.

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”  Mark Twain