I got into kiteboarding and it was really a steep learning curve. I just couldn't seem to keep from getting blown back onto the beach every single ride.
I had been out there every single time the wind was blowing but I just could NOT get up wind. All the good riders were just tooling around like it was nothing.
I would spend twenty minutes rigging, then go out and launch, and forty seconds later there I was, crashed back on the beach, lines and kite a mess, up to my knees in mud.
It was a ten minute walk back around the cove to untangle and start all over again.
In a four hour day, I probably spent two full minutes actually surfing.
Then a very special day came along. A very WINDY day. A day where it was absolutely fucking HOWLING.
I launched my kite, thought I was going to have to put it back down because the wind was so crazy I was damn near moon bouncing just trying to keep it under control.
I just refused. I fought and struggled, and scared myself so bad, but I finally got it to the waters edge and launched.
I got out on the water, chop so bad the white caps were being chopped off the top of the waves by the wind.
I dug in with my board, looking upwind, doing all the things I was supposed to do, and I looked back and guess what, I was FURTHER away from where I started.
I turned the kite the other direction and tacked back toward the beach, and got even FURTHER up wind.
I tacked back out again and BY GOD I WAS GAINING!!!!!! I was absolutely TEARING up wind. I was out further up wind than all the other kites. I could hear one of them screaming.
I looked around to see who it was, and then realized, it was ME. I was screaming with joy. So much hard work and it was finally WORKING.
I distinctly remember that moment and will never forget it. Changed my life. Everyone tried to dissuade me, discourage me, whatever. I just would not stop. I'll never stop. And I'll succeed.
The biggest starting problem was that it was the low wind season and I had way too small a kite for the wind ranges. I had a nine meter and I should have been riding a twelve. I also learned that the board I had was about two sizes too big in the bindings. Like trying to ice skate with skates 4x too big for you.
I just assumed I was too dumb to "figure it out". In reality I was sabotaged by bad/lack of information.
That's why I run the kite school now. I can teach students from never having touched a kite to absolutely rocking a kiteboard in five hours. They have the correct gear, good info/instruction, and positive people who love to see people live their dreams and accomplish seemingly impossible goals.
I got to feel that "alive" moment myself, and now I see it in student's eyes every weekend. It's a joy.
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