serious hunger...

"She's what?!"
"Planting the tail of the board for her loops."
"No ****ing way..."

If the beauty of Helen of Troy launched a thousand ships,
then the audacity of the new girl on the beach landing her forward loops
was enough to send at least 2 grown men to try rework theirs.

Gido got 4 loops today and was so grateful for my instructional help and provocation that he decided to help rescue my board and rig which had woefully gone far far downwind to the lair of kite beach.

"I don't know why I want to do these tricks so badly." I lamented to Darryl after the long barefoot walk back from kite beach, the price paid for looking for good ramps to jump off far downwind as the wind declined towards the end of the day.

"It's because you're good, you should be learning them."
The words stunned me, I'd never really thought I was good at this.
Windsurfing was always that "evil thing" that took me away from time spent with family and friends, endless moments of angst while trying to stay off the water to honor time spent with people I cared about.
That past-time that caused my parents endless grief for skin accustomed to brown hues in a fair skin worshiping society

Maybe I was really good at this, maybe this was the time to find out
how far my skills would go if I threw guilt off to the wind,
believed in the promises of sunscreen and ate as many antioxidant blueberries as I could afford,
and allowed myself to entertain the possibility that this was a talent God had given me.
I'd be a fool to hold myself back from developing it now that I'd found it.

"You're only here for 2 more weeks, I think your friends here would understand if you couldn't meet during certain times of the day since you came here to windsurf."
Amen to that Daryl. I can't deny how ridiculously happy being on the water nailing tricks makes me.
Tours to upcountry and Haleakala would have to take a back seat for a moment.

To answer a self posed question, why do you do this thing?
Because I love it, and because I can.
and maybe most of all, because it brings God joy when his creation does what it was created to do.
loop on in joy...