Tuesday, April 21, 2009

I’ve been thinking about humility this week.

I’ve been thinking about humility this week.
I have been going through a very painful evaluation of my Business these last few months. I’m not as successful as I thought I was. It turns out that my loyal clientele, is not so loyal. Humility 101.

This weekend, Lauralee and I decided we would keep the boat at the dock a few more weeks. We would rather be at a mooring, because we prefer to sail on and off our mooring. But the evening Launch service won’t start till May; and I need access to the boat after work. So we will have to use the engine to get in our slip.

Now I’ve been getting pretty good at entering our slip. I did it all winter by myself. So of course, on this Saturday, a beautifully, warm, sunny day… The peanut gallery was out in full force. And I had great difficulty getting in my slip. I think it was because I didn’t want to mar my newly waxed hull. The bottom line is I slipped trying to fend off. Got one leg soaking wet, and had ten people shouting instructions at me from the dock. Humility 102.

Last night I sailed CIB on an Easterly. The wind was blowing side off 20 to 30, and the waves where pealing west to east. Deciding what to rig was just a guess. I rigged a 4.7 and the JP109. It looked really windy out there, but I was concerned about the long slog through the breakers to the wind line. I actually made it out OK. I was pretty proud of my self . There was the opportunity for massive air on the way out. One attempt was all I needed. I got so high I bailed and spent the next 10 minutes swimming after my gear. Once I settled in, the wave riding was “epic”. What a feeling! I was charging down 10 foot wave faces, getting 4 or 5 bottom turns and cutbacks out of a wave. I imagined what it must have looked like to the people watching from shore.

After 2 hours I was exhausted, so I sailed for home. As soon as I hit the wind line I went down. Instead of slogging for home, I was getting sucked out under the impact zone. Eventually I swam my gear in, only to get put through the rinse cycle in the shore break. More like stone washed. I got sand and pebbles in places… But I made it in; and tomorrow I will have to look over my gear very carefully to see how much damage I inflicted. As I took one last look out at the water I realized that you couldn’t see far enough through the rain to the overhead swell we had just reviled in. In fact from the beach it looked kinda’ small. In fact if anyone had actually tried to watch us, all they would have seen was a few guys bobbing around. Hardly epic. Humility 103: advanced placement…I know better.

Lesson learned…I didn’t go out last night for anyone else: I went out for me.

3 comments:

PeconicPuffin said...

My all-time favorite quote about the sport:

"In windsurfing one must drink deep from the cup of humiliation."

Steve and I love that quote. We focus on the word "deep". We imagine bellying up to the bar and asking for our cup of humiliation. The bartender says "you'll be having pints. Each of you.

I drink up often.

Ian Berger said...

I got my patootie seriously kicked last week in medium winds. I rigged an 8.5 when the winds were going up to 20 an got knocked all about. At least 100 people at the Peekskill Riverside park got to enjoy the sight of me drifting into a series of pilings. Thank God nothing got damaged. I even drove against a submerged piling, but the underside of my Kona was fine.

-Ian

www.hudsonwindsurfer.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

Good story there Frank. stone washed , nice. I have seen grown and talented men humbled at the shoreline numerous times! and the docking story, well, sometimes it is good to ask for help eh?
so were u riding up or down the line? w it breaking upwind, I am guessing up the line??
K dog