In love with the wind

The weather is getting colder and there are only rare winds a surfer can catch at this time of the year without catching a cold at the same time. However, this was not the case on Saturday, November 15, 2008, when everyone was heading towards the seaside. The weather was sunny and warm (15-16 degrees Centigrade), the sea even warmer (18 degrees Centigrade) and it promised a wind that would fill our sails. Is this enough for you to make you get up at 4:30 AM, drive three, four hours to the seaside, surf for four, five hours and sadly stop as the day is approaching its end, and then have to go through the ride back for another three to four hours? It’s enough, enough indeed!

For “regular” people this is incomprehensible, but for surfers? There aren’t many things in this world that we would much rather do than just this – only if everything comes together as it is supposed to, only if we are free to answer the call for a dance with the wind.

Zoran and I started first thing in the morning, while it was still pitch dark. There was no fog, but November is still November. If someone had seen the amount of equipment we had loaded into the van (seven boards, eight sails and other tools), they would have thought we were going to sell these things. When in fact all this was just for the two of us! So you don’t think we are special, here’s how it looks once you reach the destination – hurried preparation of all necessary things. Even though you take so many things with you, you will only use some of them. But, which ones? That depends on the wind, so that is why you have to take everything – so it doesn’t happen that exactly what you need is what you left at home.

But to go a few steps back – onto the trip itself, because that is where lies the reason why I decided to write this text. At the exit from the last tunnel towards Rijeka, we were greeted with a clear blue sky. Aside from this beauty, we were most thrilled with the fact I had to hold the wheel firmly, because the strong bura was becoming more threatening.

There is no better news for a windsurfer than flags wildly waving in the wind next to the road, drivers who struggle to open the doors of their cars at the petrol station, with the wind fighting them; caps flowing off heads or a plastic container that is tipped over (they lift it up after the bura, don’t worry!). That morning we were enthusiastically watching all these things (when are we going to see Krk already??!!) and thinking about which sail and which board we were going to put together? Maybe we should put two sails up right away, not to lose time later on when the wind changes?

And so, in the middle of all this, while still in the van, at one point, I felt a pleasant nervous feeling in my stomach, something like a sweet stage fright, a certain anticipation.. this feeling reminded me of something, even though I did not recognize it at first. Of course, I had felt it hundreds of times before, in those very moments, hurrying towards the wind. Still, this time it felt more than that. Where had I felt this before? And when?

And then it hit me! These were just butterflies in my stomach – like when you are in love! Like when you are overwhelmed with the feeling of anticipation and happiness that you are about to see someone or something similar to that! Up until now, it was hard for me to connect these things because the feeling of being in love is a feeling that belongs to another world, and after all, it belongs to people. What we are doing, this passion for the wind, well, this is something else…

However, at that moment I felt – I knew without a doubt! – these are two very similar, nearly identical feelings. This cognition was weird – I’m in love with the wind; I’m in love with sailing! But, this is true.

Probably the weirdest thing is that this has been true for a dozen of years, ever since I first tried to stand on a sailing board. And now, after thousands of sailed kilometres, searching for winds across hills and valleys on (for now) two continents, this feeling is still here. Not only is it present, but, as it seems, it is getting stronger and stronger.

I also realised it is very hard to appear ‘normal’ when you talk to others about your love. Of course – you’re insane! Which sane person would go out into bura in November, travel 600 kilometres there and back in one day, just to sail for a couple of hours?

Normal – no one. But in love? Everyone!

 

And so, after a wise cognition about my (actually ours, since, thank God, I’m not the only one) feelings, I did not have anything to add, so I gave myself out to the bura.

What can I tell you about this, that these pages had not said already? Punat on the island of Krk – a safe bay, the wind a bit gustly, but still pretty good. Guys (yes, only guys this time, so I’m asking myself – where are the girl surfers?) from Koprivnica, Zagreb, Ljubljana, Rijeka, from everywhere… Sails, smiles, boards, excitement, looks, passion… oh it was amazing! Although this does not matter that much when it comes to our feelings, there was also speed – 58,99 km/h is on my GPS is my personal best in Croatia. :-)

I do not have many photographs of the action on the water – there are rare moments when there is someone on the shore to hold the camera. I took a few of these during a break, and several come from the WKC team (Srećko, thank you for trying to “put us on the statue” every time!)