Sometimes you have to change it up and just do something different.
This winter there has been lots of work (good) and not much wind (booooo), which oddly made me think too much and write too little. So, to change it up, I carried around a notepad to doodle images and jot down thoughts about chasing the wind. To help get some writing kickstarted, I decided to capture thoughts and mental images as soon as they came to mind.
Kitesurfing has taken me places and occupied my thought in ways I never expected. I can never fully understand what 'Chasing the Wind' means completely, but I can dig a little to shape what it is.
Kitesurfing: Chasing The Wind
A personal drive to reconnect with a pure joy from my teenage years. A session on the water always felt like a mission to the unexplored. Regardless of how many sessions in the same location, the wind, the tide and the sun are never exactly in the same place. I always came home feeling my best.
It's an obsession, permeating all my thoughts, plans and ideas. The whole idea of sitting down, gear inventory in my head and the question "where will I go next?" It's an experience that lives in both past, present and future memories. Wind on the face and water rushing under foot.
There is a moment in all my kitesurfing planning where creativity turns to anxiety. Anxiety about the weather, anxiety about the gear, anxiety about the session. Going to a new spot keeps me up at night with a twist of nervousness and excitement.
It's a meeting of the real and physical with the magic of science. Faith in scientific principles long discovered and played with by the everyday person. As we send our kites into the air, we are "Standing on the shoulders of giants." We are the past's wildest ideas.
It's about the hours on the computer trying to catch the perfect conditions. A host of reports, predictions and analysis that we boil down to a 'go or no go' situation. Coffee in hand, music playing in the background, the search starts the session.
Looking through these notes, I realize that it's never 'just' about going kitesurfing. There is so much more to it, so go chase the wind, it's an adventure.