VANCOUVER ISLAND WINDTALK

Having risked an all-to-familiar complacency by embracing the masturbatory repetition of the “back and forth/in and out” monotony of ordinary kite boarding I have been visited by a specter such that I am compelled to explore and possibly disrupt the status quo of my disparaging wind past and agonizing wave present thereby tearing asunder my relationship with the senior citizen of wind sport (wind surfing) and it’s banal child (kite surfing). 

While scouring Maui today for the highly cancerous additive dimethylanaline to activate unsolicited, unwanted and unpromoted vinylester, that the incompetents at Hawaii Fiberglass foisted upon me, I stumbled into a portal of my Hawaiian past. A constructor [note; not a manufacturer] of very sophisticated vacuum bagged carbon C1’s happened to have a spare half ounce of the coveted carcinogen I craved. During an unusual yet very familiar discourse on composites it was revealed that my cancer arbiter honed his composite craft in the same Oahu crucible as I, albeit 15 years after my apprenticeship/enslavement had [apparently] come to an end.....

While discussing our remembrances of the same insane assortment of iron curtain tunnelers (mostly Czechs), NASA miscreants, renegade oil refinery engineers and other assorted composite idiot savants that stumbled onto the mecca, makai east shore of Oahu during the late 70‘s and arguably gave birth to the [then] hip, hot, sassy, sexy windsurfing movement I became uncomfortably aware of a profound reenactment/revisitation of my past Hawaiian wind/surf saturated crimes coupled to my present kitesurfing addiction therein requiring a profound decoupling such that:

if insanity is repetition of the same act expecting a different result, then transcending the insanity and snatching transformation from the abyss, requires a re-imagining during reenactment of the repetitive act. 

I suspect the catalyst for this meta-madness was a deja vu moment during the Oahu kite-board race last week. Noshing while watching Robbie Naish cross the finish line I remembered a familiar bento on Kailua Beach after finishing a surf ski race some 30+ years ago; I recall watching Robbie, then a very young hotshot windsurfing phenom, crafting his trade. His dad had just opened a store in the tiny Kailua mall around the corner. (The little mall is still there. The Oahu Naish store has long since moved). I momentarily felt 30 years younger and thirty pounds lighter. A portent of things no longer to come. Christ the gods are a pernicious lot!

The devilish firmament of this pensive postulate is; in the face of the inconceivable possibility of the reenactment of the same insane act(tion) how do you not f#$k up the same phenomenal opportunity for profound transformation with the same self-immolating conviction with which you nazied the same blessing the first time around?

Bibliography

- Amy Winehouse; Teach me Tonight (with those Jools Holland twits.)

- Is the Nitinaht sauna ready yet?

- Pre rant prior to return to Victoria next week.

Wow, Kayakdoc - was Hunter S. Thompson your creative writing instructor at some undefinable point elongating itself to the unapproachable horizon?

Hey MF4 - I have been known to Gonzo about!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8gAtTxWhUY[/youtube]

Please help, he may have wondered off somewhere....

WTF?????? Gibberish.....

Someone needs to delete this gibberish. Were you drunk?

seabilly; Do you mean gibberish? Significant literary rule; It is important to take up spelling prior to tackling criticism. Or am I mistaken and you meant “jiberish” to signify almost, but not quite turning a boat?

To the other posters. I like the direction of the posts, although I rue a Hemingway/Thompson outcome and wonder how Thompson might also have avoided repetition of the same act expecting a different result (pulling an Idaho Hemingway seems a nasty way to go). I say also, because the premise of my post was how does kite surfing (for me) avoid the same inevitable downside as windsurfing and surfing. It seems that the ‘agro’ energy required to get these wind/wave sports going inevitably folds back on itself, such that its magnificent potential is often undermined. Today at Kanaha two of the primary kite instructors had a nasty pitbull like screaming match that narrowly avoided blows. An unfortunate public display that may impact beach instruction at Kite Beach, but more importantly a reflection of a deeper hostility, often scratch deep, in a number of wind/wave participants. Any thoughts (besides thoughtless criticism)?

1st thought - (just to get this going). I wonder if the previous post and my response to that post reflect the ‘agro’ I am talking about. Shadowy stuff!

It still isn't weird enough for me

but did you ever attach a kite to your kayak??

Got me there KayakDoc. But...it is in the urban dictionary!

Seabilly: it was gibberish (sp?) to me first time I read it. It made perfect humorous sense by about the third.

Kayakdoc, the HSTh analogue isn't so wide of the mark when you consider one of his main themes (along with half of 20th century literature) was the American Dream pursuit and how it seemed to go sideways on getting close to attainment. The surf/windsurf/kitesurf lifestyle is really a twisted variant and maybe just as unsustainable over the long haul. Maybe it only really seems like a goal for many when only a few actually do it? Aggro takes over when many try it?

Surfing gear takes up little room/cheap gear but the breaks are so few that it gets too crowded too soon. Windsurfing doesn't really have that problem apart from the same wavebreak competition for the elite, and I don't think its ever really had an aggro side to it, has it? Kiting has way fewer potential launches and each launch/landing takes up a huge chunk of real estate. Your witnessed near-fight developed over this issue?

Whatever and wherever I ride there I am.

JL When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.

Pasta, This is my pre setup. I kite kayaked Gordon’s. The kayak was difficult to control at high speed (and man did this rig have some ‘rocketry’!). I have since added a through hull rudder. I mentioned to the Cabrinha boys that I was trying to get kite kayaking going so I could kite tour and that I was planning on making a kite touring board. They let me know two months later that they were going to work on their own touring board (they are releasing the 2012 model next week). I am not sure if I should be flattered or upset. They have been generous with their gear though.