The First Soul-Windsurf Course!

So, it happened! Midlle of July 2007, first group of absolute begginners in windsurfing beggan to learn it, in accordance with principles of soul-windsurfing.
Outer goal was to learn the basic (get on the board, uphaul the sail, pick the course, start sailing, turn and come back) in seven days format. However, the subjective goal was to wake up the “soul” part of the experience from the first moment on the board..
Eight people (five woman, three man), different bodily constitutins and abilities, different ages and conditions. Aperently, a hard task for an instructor. But, I aproached it without worries. After all, it was just a test, maybe an introduction in much more serious work.
It was excellent, fun and most uplifting! You may find the windsurfing log with lot of photos under “Read more”.

A course in soul-windsurfing! The idea appeared in 2002. I announced something similar at that time and immediately received more than 70 applications! However, back than, I did not have any prerequisites for such an enterprise. It is not easy to organize people, accomodation, food, equipment, weather…
This year, however, some of my friends from the neocultural community asked me to teach them how to windsurf. Hm… I thought maybe this was some kind of a sign – maybe it is time. So, I sent an e-mail to others, and… it happend! Aside from slight organisational problems, everything came into place and we ventured into unkonwn territory.

I was very curious if I could succeed in teaching them. First of all, I am not formally trained as an instructor. I realize that this is an important thing, and after all this, I have every intention to finish a training course for a windsurfing instructor.

However, I have a lot of experience in teaching them, especially the “soul” part! I will manage somehow, I told to myself many times. After all, it is all meant to be fun and to have a good time together. If we succeed in soul-windsurfing, great. If not, still okay– we will have fun for sure!

Looking back – I think we didi it! The participants mostly mastered the basics of windsurfing and started to sail forth and back, and definitly, they have felt the inner part of windsurfing, its core in the soul.

I wrote some kind of a diary, and took some photos (we also recorded video all the steps of our progress). So, here it is – enjoy!

First evening

The gathering was good, as well as the introductory lecture. The gorup was completely unaware to anything about sailing or windsurfing – so they were absolute beginners.
But, they had a will! They expressed an interest in windsurfing just by being here. Also, they were interested in conecting the impossible: how is all this related to spirituality?

 

 

First day

We started with a long introduction about the equipment. I saw confusion on some faces, but I still think it is important to know on what you will stand on and how you assemble all this equipment. We spet two hours on that, but I think the time was well spent.

After practicing recognizing wind direction, balance, and basic terminolgy (up and down wind), and demonstration of hoisting and lowering tha sails on the shore, we went for the first real windsurfer’s move: hoisting the sail from the water.

 

 

 

 

After less than an hour, all of them succeeded in hoisting and taking the stand-by position. During the entire time, I put their attention on the basic principles of soul-windsurfing. It believe that this helps a lot!

Nobody was hurt and no damage to the equipment. Very well!
Enjoyment and fun are present from the very beginning. Awesome!

To spice up the day – there were all kinds of moves. The most attractive ones are those right before… falling!

 

 

Some observations from participants:

“Surrendering” is when you are looking forward
to climbing onto the board after you fell in the waterl!

“Balance”: Something new for the body.
For now, the body does not have a clue, but it is willing to learn.

Second day

Together, we assembled the equipment with a lot of enthusiasm!

 

 

I must confesse that this day brought a litlle sobering up. The most of the participants had to practice hoisting and basic things before going further. Starting from a stand-by position turned out to be more difficult than I had anticipated.

Three girls were perfect, the rest had to practise more.

A lot of falling into the water, but still, it was useful, because with each fall you learn something new.

 

However, I probably expected too much for the second day. We did some other exercises – flipping the sail and others. That was good, and they accepted it immediately.

There was not much wind, just a few knots. No injuries, which is good.

Here, I have to mention Aleksandra, who cooked for us. It was not ordinary food – it was really food for the soul! Look at the photos!

Some observations from participants:

Unity: I have a feeling of great charm, and slowly, but surely, I surrender to it!

Easiness: When the body is under tension and rigid - falling is inevitable! Easiness means success!

 

Third day

One preson went home due to a business urgency, and one stayed at the house (38°C in the shade!) The rest of them were excellent! Yesterday's setback was just a wave in their progress.

Three of them mastered sailing in a straight line for 40-50 meters, turning in place, and back to the shore (still quite downwind, but ok).

 

Later, the rest followed. All this resulted in explosions of joy on the water…

 

…and sudden falling in love with the board!

 

 

The forecast for the following day was a stronger mistral wind – we will see now how we manged that one!

Some observations from participants:

Present moment: The feeling of the present moment was the strongest when I felt how the wind was filling and pushing the sail, and how this power went through me onto the board!

 

Forth day

After four days almost all of them could assembe the equipment by themselves. This was a great accomplishment!

Every day, we had a demonstration on the shore. Today, we started to understand how the movement of the sail influenced the movement of the board.

It seems that we are making progress in waves. Today, we had difficulties again. The wind was a bit stronger, and it revealed the small mistakes in the technique. This is actually very good.

However, since they started to sail around, sometimes I had to save them from too much downwind sailing. The boat was really useful in those moments…

Obviously, we had to work on upwind sailing. Also, the principle of “surrendering” was very important then, especially when wind was getting stronger.

 

Some observations from participants:

Cooperation: The play of necessary elements is becoming more and more interesting and harmonious…

Leadership: Without it, the learning process would be so much slower!

Fifth day

Practice, practice, parctice… again, again and again…

Evereything turn into great fun… falls, even a small injuries which we attended to – in our own way…

Sixth day

Wavy progress continues! Every even day was worse than the odd days. Nevertheless, like before, all falls and mistakes resulted in new awareness. The intelligence of the body awakened – the body remembered the sequence of the movements; the muscles worked more smoothly, and the results are visible…

Seventh day

Yes, the seventh day was the last, and the most successful one. A lot of good windsurfing and correct moves!

All in all, the experience was great, the smiles are inevitable and the soma flow was present all day! The photos say it all!