Into the Blue
set your sails for something new—can you still feel the summer breeze?
The Wind Beckons on January 26, 2012
I had an awful realization today—what if I don’t want Lake Travis to rise, the sun to shine, and the January summer breeze to lift my soul over the hills and onto the water? So far, I’ve been successful in resisting the urge to check the wind forecast; I know that once I start, there is [...]
Gusts and Lulls on June 19, 2011
(…or “What Windsurfing Has Taught Me about Life”) This weekend was supposed to be epic. I just got my new kit a couple of weeks ago (the 2011 Fanatic Skate 100, and a 5.4 Maui Sails Global, with a 75 carbon RDM and aluminum boom), and the forecast for Lake Travis was fantastic. This would [...]
Windsurfing on June 19, 2011
Preface: So I’m not really sure where this is going, although I do have a general direction to follow—it’s like chasing the wind, really, and that’s how it all begins.
Over the past couple of months, I’ve made some big life decisions on account of one thing: windsurfing. I found a new apartment close to Lake Travis and ended my stay in the first apartment I’ve ever rented for myself; I bought all-new advanced freestyle gear from the good folks at Worldwinds, to the tune of $3000; I gave up on my Saab obsession (and cash savings) in exchange for a new Volvo C30 due in August or September of this year; I have been responsible for a not-insignificant amount of traffic to the Lake Travis wind forecast at iWindsurf.com; and I have put just about every other aspect of my life on hold for now. What gives?
It’s hard to rationalize. Or maybe it was never meant to be rationalized. Windsurfing is a sport of feeling: you can think through the moves all you want,...
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Preparations for the Maiden Voyage
on May 31, 2011
First time rigging and tuning my Maui Sails Global 5.4 before taking it out on the water. Photo taken by Eric Koo.
Weapon of Choice
on May 31, 2011
After the first go-round on my new Fanatic Skate 100L. Original photo by Eric Koo.
And reasons, like seasons… on November 10, 2010
Hopefully you haven’t been eating veggie meatza everyday for the past month just because it’s been that long since I’ve written anything. October was a crazy month—unnecessarily crazy, almost. And like most things that plague me, it was of my own doing. But I’m not here to dwell on this “lost” month; I caught myself [...]
All’s well that ends well on October 07, 2010
(I meant to publish this weeks ago, but got stuck writing it. I cleaned it up a little and posted it now, but it’s not the greatest work I’ve done, so read at your own risk.) When we last left our heroes, Mr. Pursuit had suffered a mortal wound at the hands of my face. [...]
Mr. Pursuit (2008-2010?) on September 15, 2010
“WHOOO!! I’M THE KING OF THE W—” … Those were the last words that my MauiSails 6.5 Pursuit heard before I got launched face-first into its tender monofilm, leaving a 2.5-foot gash in one of the panels. If I hadn’t ended its life rather brutally in that moment, I’m sure it would have died anyway [...]
Stewart Park
on May 16, 2009
This photo was taken right before graduation in 2009, but it depicts the very place that I washed up on shore during a freezing October day in 2008. I tried to windsurf in the remnants of some hurricane trying to "chase the wind" even though I had only been on the water a few times before that. If the wind had been blowing in the opposite direction, I would not have been here to tell you this.
It marks the day that I truly started to respect nature in all her tempest, might, and majesty—it is also the day that I fell in love with windsurfing.