This is what I consider travelling. Not only physical displacement but an immersive experience – actually the most immersive of all – into others’ lives and habits. All this would have proven much more difficult on a “normal” windsurf trip where the car is overloaded with boardbags and the time and plans are dictated by the winds and swells. Somehow having a rudimentary – yet innovative – Dacron sail in your hands and long inflatable board under your feet makes you naturally able to dial into the rhythms of the local communities and their habits, making human to human encounters that give sense to the whole trip.
After a few weeks in Ceará all I can say is that we had the pleasure to live for a while outside of our usual comfort zone, as most people would say, certainly outside of our social class context – as Lévi-Strauss wrote. This feeling of being immersed in an unfamiliar environment just made our days so much more interesting and made for a great life experience, as only good travels can do. And as only a “slow”, rudimentary, uncomplicated approach to life and to windsurfing can do.
Of course I will continue enjoying my wavesailing sessions at home or somewhere else, but I now know that when I will be in search of a true life experience, I will pack my inflatable windsup and leave all my world behind to go sailing with the anonymous fishermen of the world.