Hello Ho'okipa

I don't think I'd ever taken that long to get into the water... ever...
A record 1.5 hours of staring at the menacing beach break.
It didn't really matter that the swell was relatively light that day,
My mind had created a monster of a challenge before me -
Board munching rocks, razor sharp reef under the swell, light onshore winds at the launch

Knowing that I'd kick myself if I didn't get to sail Ho'okipa on a manageable day,
I tossed board, sail, inhibitions and all into the foaming mass of white water and inched my way out as best as I could between sets of swell.

It wasn't all glamorous;
there was a close call with drifting towards the rocks in the light wind
and I chickened out of hanging with the pros in the wave zone,
but I had to smile along with the flying fish and sea turtles that greeted me on open ocean,
because clumsy as its execution might have been,
I was sailing at a spot I'd dreamed of for months,
and one i would never have dreamed of sailing just a year ago

As most fears that go unrealized,
my first session at the mecca of windsurfing in Maui passed without event,
with me and gear returning to shore in one piece.
On my return to shore, I tucked the delirium of facing challenges and surviving their outcomes safely in my grin
And gave thanks for this moment that had seemed a galaxy away in the midst of my shoulder therapy

Hello Ho'okipa,
it's nice to finally meet you.