Tired, Wet and Excited

I just got back from windsurfing and I smell like sweat and salt, but it was fantastic! I had so much fun. Rather than go home to shower and have some much needed rest, I decided to stop at my favourite library and let you guys have a peek of Dzido in a skintight wetsuit.

It was a three hour introduction lesson at the Portland Sailing Academy, which is right across the water from our town Weymouth, so I had a great view of my (temp) hometown while I was surfing. There were three other people in the lesson, two brothers (Alex and Michael) and a girl namedDawn from the town. The brothers had their parents watching so I was lucky enough to persuade them to be my photographers as well!

We started the intro lesson with a quick 45 minutes on the land after I had fitted my smelly wetsuit and PFD. So we practiced getting on and turning and balancing on a simulator. Definetly easier on land than in the water. In all honesty I thought that it would be much quicker to pickup, like snowboarding or something. But sail positioning and wind direction etc were definetly something very new to me, despite sailing before.

Once we got in the water I started the process of getting up and tumbling into the water. Early on I definetly wanted to go fast, but not knowing much about steering I had trouble controlling my turns and took some spills. It was great though. Every time I fell I had a good laugh with the other three students and got right back on. Pretty soon Tom, our instructor, was teaching me proper turns, sailing upwind instead of across and easier techniques for climbing out of the water. A couple of times the other three took breaks on shore to catch their breath but I was way too excited to stop for even a second. I spent the three hours zigzagging and falling and wrestling with the sail. My arms were so tired by the end but I was loving every minute of it.

Near the end of the lesson Tom told me I had a few minutes left for one more run, so I took off as far as I possibly could, to maximize my time haha. As it happens in life, sometimes right when you're having the best possible time you have to stop due to circumstance. Luckily, you know that leaving something like that at a good time will make you come back to it even more excited than originally. So on my last turn back, I fully felt the control in my arms and the wind kick up. And as Tom skimmed beside me on the motorboat I really felt like I was chasing him and rushing across the surface of the water.

Over the phone they originally told me that you need a full three day course to get certified for windsurfing (so that you're allowed to rent boards here on your own). I spoke to Tom at the end of the day and he seemed pretty impressed with my improvements. He told me to come in next time and tell the desk staff that he said I should go straight into a level one lesson. This way I only need a day or halfday to be able to rent a board on my own here, instead of three!

I had a great time and can't wait to go again, especially once I'm able to just take a board for a day and relax out on the water on my own.

Here's my glory shot at the end of the day. Oh yes ladies, its a onesie.