While I’m lapping up the luck of a wavesailing lottery winner, Katie is in the van snapping my exploits with as much enthusiasm as someone watching their best friend having the time of their life while they have their worst. Indigestion from the petrol station sandwich, car-sickness from my choice of radio station and driving, pregnancy induced nausea or the perfect storm of all three. Life as a sick windsurfing partner of a windsurfer scoring it while you can’t is about as fun as breakdancing on sea urchins. A fellow windsurfer, artist and South African ex pat Graham Reid (www.grahamreiddesign.com), turns up to take over camera duty before he launches while Katie looks up on the internet ways to tell your partner to not say how good it was when they come in. Naturally I come in to tell Katie how good it was but she seems more interested in using her surgical skills to duct tape my mouth shout. I may have had some of the rides of my life but we both know an even better one isn’t far away. Years ago I couldn’t even buy a banana out here, now I’m feasting post session in the gourmet café we’d passed by earlier, the changed times are welcome. For just as long as I’d dreamt of having a baby, I’ve dreamt of scoring this reef, thankfully today those two dreams didn’t coincide! One dream ride had just ended and an even longer one was about to begin. Port or starboard, dad or mum, being a windsurfer is in part about embracing and fulfilling dreams and the experiences you gain help you embrace new stages in your life and most importantly, to never be afraid of a change of tack.
“ There’s spray flying high on every mile of the coast and each break downwind looks more epic than the next ”