Windsurfing Lesson

After some very loud, persistent rain during the night (the power stayed on!), today became another beautiful day in the tropics. Dave and I had our first windsurfing lesson this afternoon at Vessup Beach. I'd read and been told that the West Indies Windsurfing company is the place to go for lessons. They're open weekends from 10am-5pm and weekdays as requested. We called around 10am to get the scoop, but only got the machine which listed their above-noted hours and gave the owner's cell and home numbers. Awhile later I called the cell phone and we found out John, the owner (and only person working that day), was running late because there was a big tennis game he was watching at home. I only mention this because it's a pretty decent example of how some businesses are run here. Hey mon, it makes life easier if we can just relax a bit and be patient with each other.

We made plans to meet John around noon for a 2 hour lesson that involved about 45 minutes of instruction and 2.5 hours of windsurfing. (See, island time works well for everyone.) I had no idea what he was talking about as he instructed us on land. Once we got on the water though, things made a little more sense. Dave and I eventually became competent at sailing downwind while trying to go upwind and I managed to get stuck offshore when the wind was totally nonexistent. I swam backstroke with my foot hooked into the board to get closer to shore, and Dave swam out to help me too. The wind was very calm, to the point where it was difficult to maneuver much at times. Windsurfing wasn't quite as complex as I'd imagined, but we definitely need more practice. We're interested in trying it somewhere with some real wind next time, though nothing too scary just yet please.