Then finally the beautiful day has arrived. I’d chased a forecast to a spot further south and the wind started shaking my van in the middle of the night where I was parked on top of the cliff above the beach of Carapateira. Early in the morning, the sweet sensation of the D day can be felt. A side off wind is blowing. A perfect blue water stained by white spots that only windsurfers know the significance of. After a quick breakfast, the equipment is out, and even though no other windsurfers have arrived, I am ready to brave this virgin spot.
A bit of stress gets to me, but it’s the good kind. The small fear you feel when you put on your carbon brace on an injured knee and adjust the footstraps. The inconvenience to relearn how to carry your equipment from the car park to the ocean (a long walk isn’t the best warm up when you’re not used to it anymore).
Then finally, just like riding a bike, everything falls back into place after riding the first few metres in the water. The sound, the sensations… and new equipment that takes a while to get used to but rewards with easier and more performance, year after year. The first wave, the first bottom turn. Slowly to start, you don’t want to run before you can walk. Then comes the first commitment, a small aerial (the exact same one that cost me so much a year ago and broke my knee). A nice wipe out in a very late off the lip… yes, that’s right… no pain no gain.