I woke up the next morning in my #43 Bungalow to bright sunshine streaming through my open window, and a mosquito buzzing in my ear. I covered my head with the blanket in hopes that he (or I guess “she”) would go away. It was 8 am. I had slept the clock around and still wasn’t sure I wanted to get up. The mosquito’s insistence in finding available skin for breakfast however soon convinced me otherwise. In fact, I was hungry and ready to have my own breakfast. The night before I stopped at the little store just out side the camp and bought a huge box of French Corn Flakes that would put Costco to shame (apparently the French like their Corn Flakes), some milk, and a few other tidbits. I fixed my breakfast and settled down out on the little porch to ponder my day ahead.
It was promising to be a picture perfect French spring day, bright sunshine, perfect temperature, and …. no wind. I had given myself an extra day in my itinerary up front to explore the area and hopefully find where exactly this race of some 800 windsurfers could be found. I also thought it might be good to give the waters a test ride, however with absolutely zero wind and none forecasted for the next day or two testing the waters was “right out”. I wasn’t exactly keen on driving the Thingy any more than I had to as it was unwieldy to maneuver in small spaces and everything around me seemed small. (Where is a Walmart parking lot when you need one?!! ) But the problem was that I had no idea where anything was or in what direction I should travel to find the site.
Luckily the military had trained me well when during my first deployment to Iraq I was unceremoniously dumped on the tarmac in Kuwait with 6 military bags and a weapons case.
“Ma’am, you’ll need to check in at the terminal headquarters about a quarter mile down the road.”
“What about my gear?”
“…Yes Ma’am, you’ll need to check that in as well…”
So my quarter mile turned into about 3 by the time I arduously leapfrogged my bags to the terminal. I think they call these relived war stories “flashbacks”. And I indeed was having them at the Toulouse Airport.
After having sorted out my car rental and offering my house, 401K, and all my gold jewelry up for collateral to Hertz, I had found my luggage and began pondering the movement of it. The luggage came into the main conveyor system and was easy enough to throw on one of those luggage carts they have at the airport. The next stop took me to the oversized luggage conveyor and when I finally found it I was elated to see my three wonderful bags sitting there waiting for me. They made it!!!! The relief washed over me. It was like I found my long lost dog. I wanted to rush up and give them all great big hugs. But in respect for public decorum, I refrained and offered them a little pat and smile instead.
The notion of traveling to the south of France in the spring time seems all romantic and picturesque until, that is, you check into the airline ticket counter with 2 boards, a sail bag, 2 suitcases, and a back pack. “Just go with the flow… Just go with the flow…ooohhhhmmmm….”, I kept saying to myself. It didn’t help this time either… I called a porter to help me with the bags. Once inside, I checked in at the ticket kiosk and then made my way to the front of the checked baggage line. At the counter the ticket lady greeted me with a smile. “Oh my are those surf boards?! How exciting!” “Yes ma’am, I’m going to a race in France.” (I kept the emphasis on the word “race”, hoping that she might think I’m an important sports icon or something, rather than a lowly ..er… over 29 year old amateur seeking a little windsurfing adventure. After all sports icons always get the bags accepted!) Surprisingly she didn’t balk or bat an eye. She weighed all my luggage and then had the boards put on a special cart off to the side since they were too big for the conveyor. She then directed me to a separate counter to pay for my “excess” baggage.
I spent the next two hours standing at the “excess fee” charge counter. First there was the panic by the Senior Ticketing Supervisor, “Your baggage exceeds our 158 cm limit for width plus length plus height! It is not possible to accept them.” “No ma’am, I sent the dimensions and estimated weights to the Paris corporate office when I booked the flight, they approved it. Surfboards are typically more than 158 cm in length alone. There are notes in my reservation to confirm this.” “Let me go verify… Yes, I’m sorry, you were correct. I apologize about that mistake. But now there is another problem, TSA will not accept the baggage because it doesn’t fit in their scanners!” I consoled her, “TSA can run a special detector on the equipment and do a manual inspection, they do it all the time when they have concerns about baggage. It usually isn’t a problem, but does take a bit more time.” Warily she replied, “Ok, let me confirm with them first though. Please wait here in case there
are questions, we want this to go as smoothly as possible!” So I waited………………… At about one hour before the flight, she finally came back with a smile on her face. “Yes the bags are checked and ready to go! Now how would you like to pay for the excess baggage fee of $525, cash or credit card?” …. gulp….
“Intimidated” is the word that best describes how I felt the few weeks before I left. Here I was going half way around the earth… ok, I exaggerate, it was only one quarter of the way, but it seemed a lot farther. It’s FRANCE!!! after all! There were so many things that could go wrong. I kept telling myself, “just go with the flow”. If it falls apart, no big deal, it’s not the end of the world. But lets be serious, who was ever calmed by such platonic blither! My gear could be destroyed in transit, my shoulder could rip off at any moment, and my plane could crash in the ocean and I would be eaten by sharks. (I hate sharks…) PLENTY COULD GO WRONG!!!
First things first, there is this whole thing about actually registering for the race. Half the battle is actually finding the registration site. Mind you this is not a small task. First, it doesn’t come up on a Google search very well. Second, you have to find it in French. (Et, je ne parle pas francais! – ok, so I had it in Second Grade…but that doesn’t count when you are ..er… over 29.) Third, you have to be patient. The race announcements don’t actually start showing up on the web site until early in the year (January-ish). The only way I actually found the race dates last fall was by poking around in previous year’s race newsletter and they had a “We’ll see you next year on May 8th!” sort of announcement. Which I was lucky to find.
Not wanting to dally my boss was duly notified and a leave request was submitted in October for the dates. (oh, and then I slipped in the BABA Spring trip leave request a few weeks later when he had forgotten about already having approved the Defi leave.) Risky! Considering, they were back to back, but I learned a thing or two in Air War College about “Strategic Planning”. At least I finally got to put some of that mind numbing reading to use!
The first of a couple, or perhaps a few, but definitely not more than a some.
Everyone seems to want to hear about this little adventure I’m on. So while I don’t “blog” or “facebook” (yes, little Johnny, that is right I don’t have a facebook account…nor do I want one) I figured I would do this the story the “old fashioned way”… gasp! EMAIL… well ok, so maybe in real live print would be even better, but I’m having problems finding groceries so post offices are right out for the moment. Besides I don’t think I have enough euros to post a potential demi-tome to all of BABA’s members…(“Did she say demi-tome, Alice?!” yup break out the wine and reading glasses, I’m sure this will be excellent evening pre-bed read.)
Rolling fog banks and medium wind… Coby doesn’t have to make good on his wind guarantee, but we all wish it was a little windier down here. Of course that doesn’t mean we’re not having fun and enjoying the stoke with 50 of our favorite BABA friends in town. Here are pix from the classic Monday night Meet and Greet party.
The bay gave up another good day, but team Mayo was reduced to me and G today. It was time to get back on the Formula gear with the Kashy fins race only a few weeks away, I rigged the 9.4m with winds in the low 20 knot range, G-man chickened out and sailed his 5.6 and custom board. The gust seemed like mid 25 knot range.
My 9.4 has turned into my go to sail for Formula when wind are over 20 knots on average. The North Formula warp 2012 may be the best Formula sail I’ve owed in many years of Formula sailing.
North Formula Warp
April 22 – Formula vs Slalom
Gman and I had an interesting experiment this evening running some upwind downwind legs as we had ENE wind. Now we both know the formula board would run deeper downwind and higher upwind, but what if the Formula board sailed angles closer to a slalom board angles?
Gman sailed 8m and Starboard 112 isonic which is a very fast slalom board. I sailed the Patrick Formula race and 9.4m, the wind speed was 18 knots with a few lulls and a few higher gust….long story short my asumption was the Formula board would fall behind the slalom board if we ran angles more typical of slalom boards on the upwind and downwind. But in these conditions with 1-2 foot swell and 18 knots, the Formula board was just as fast even on a reach. No advantage to either board–a draw.
The Formula boards continue to amaze with huge range. It’s really a shame more windsurfers dont take advantage of the wide style boards Formula like boards. Anyhow that’s 3 out of the last 5 days lit up on the cold cold bay.
If you missed the BABA Season Opener party on March 16th, you didn’t miss any action on the water. The day was gray and calm with just the slightest hint of spring approaching. No one got their gear or themselves wet in the Severn River that day. We’ll all be doing that real soon!
If you missed the BABA Season Opener party, you did miss a great time reconnecting with friends. About 40 folks showed up to kick-off the season. Everyone shared home prepared and “bought-along-the way” treats and beverages. My personal favorite was Jack Ames’ pecan pie – my timing was off and I only got one piece – can’t wait until next year.
It was fun remembering the many windsurfing highlights of 2012. We had two great Hatteras trips and mother nature spared us the nail-biting travels we had in fall 2011. We were fortunate to get good wind for a number of our race series events and we had a good turn-out for the East Coast Championship – I want to try Myles Borash’s new board! (ed note: for those of you who didn’t see him at the BABA ECC last fall, Myles was riding an Exocet D2).
Myles
2012 was especially exciting for all of us as we watched BABA member Farrah Hall represent the US on the Olympic sailing team. It was a special treat to welcome Farrah home at an East of Maui party, to hear about the competition and to give her the first ever life-time BABA membership. The decision to keep windsurfing in the 2016 olympic games in Rio was welcome news. Many of us had written letters asking that the kiting decision be overturned and it turned out that “Windsurfing will not be cancelled”.
Farrah at the start of Race 7 in the 2012 Olympic Games.
Daphne and Mike present Farrah with a life-time BABA membership.
Windsurfing Will Not Be Cancelled. Official BABA East Coast Championships slogan.
A final highlight of the year was a BABA first – the Watersports Fun Fest held at Mayo beach and jointly sponsored with AACo Recreation and Parks, East of Maui and Outdoor Architects. The 75+ friends and family who showed up definitely had fun – most everyone got a SUP demo and around 20 people got a “taste of windsurfing” lesson. We will be doing this again in 2013 on July 14th.
The Season Opener party was also a time to thank some special people. Tom Sargent was awarded the Pat Pugh Service Award for his many years as race director keeping the spirit alive and as a windsurfing instructor spreading the spirit to young people. Chuck Schnee was also recognized for his early years at the BABA helm teaching us how to find the right balance of organization and fun as BABA grew. And finally, we all need to thank those members who volunteer to keep all of the BABA activities that we enjoy afloat year after year.
Our goal for the new year is to “share the work and spread the fun”. See you on the water soon.
When I started windsurfing I took 3 ABK camps in quick succession, and that gave me a great foundation. Over the years I’ve done a few lessons or short clinics here and there, but nothing as thorough as ABK camps. I think lots of windsurfers are like me – we get a solid foundation and get comfortable with our skills and don’t think anything about taking an intensive clinic again.
It had been 15 years since Steve and I took an ABK Clinic. I jokingly referred to our trip to Bonaire in 1998 as our prenuptial agreement, since I started windsurfing before I met Steve and he had some catching up to do. This winter I revisited ABK Bonaire along with Janice Emerling and her cohort of Chicago friends (her Caribbean windsurfing buddies going back many years). It was great to work with Andy Brandt again, and his instructors Brendan Quinn and Derek Rijff really know their stuff. It’s amazing how they can break down every windsurfing move into understandable pieces, and how they can offer constructive critiques on body position tweaks that can make all the difference in completing a move. Even when Andy and Brendan were busy talking to other students about their technique issues on the water they could see me sailing in for critique and pick up on seemingly minor missteps that lead to improvements all around. They have unbelievable passion and enthusiasm for teaching windsurfing.
Taking an ABK clinic in Bonaire was a great way to get the most value out of a Caribbean trip because we worked hard every day. And even if you don’t score ideal planing conditions during a clinic the ABK team has lots of moves to teach everyone. I was a little disappointed that it was too windy for some beginner freestyle time on the water because I was so stoked watching the advanced freestylers hone their craft.
I heartily welcome ABK as a BABA Sponor. Thank you Coby for starting the conversation with Andy last fall. I encourage everyone to jump on the ABK bandwagon and take your first clinic, or your 5th, or your 10th. ABK will be in Dewey September 27 – 29. They have lots of other camps between now and then, including August in Bonaire, and spring and fall options in Hatteras. Check out their website for the full schedule. Time at an ABK Clinic pays huge dividends.
ABK generously donated tuition for a clinic to BABA. The drawing was held at the Season Opener Party on March 16. All BABA families (one entry per membership) who had renewed their membership by the party were included in the drawing. Long-time BABA member Roger Fitzgerald won. Congratulations Roger!
