MY WINDSURFING YEARS

I found this great picture while I was looking for a picture of the place in the Garda lake (near Verona) where I went to windsurf with friends for many years both in the spring/summer and in the very cold winter (sometimes right after having  skied for several hours) this picture is now the desktop image for me to see when my PC is on but I’m not working with program, I really like to look at it very much because I feel like I’m the one who’s windsurfing because I used to be in the exact same position with the same waist-hook to be able to turn strong wind into speed on the water, in addition this guy looks a bit like me and the relaxed and pleased look on his face really makes me feel exactly the same as I felt when I was windsurfing.

I could write so much about my “adventures” with my friends when I was windsurfing, that I may need to make a new page in this blog only dedicated to my many years to windsurf as my sport and beloved activity.

What made it really great isn’t that it compares to swimming - very individual - when you swim your buddy can be your enemy too and it’s the chronometer that tells you how fast you swim and it gives the number of times you swim the distance you’ve decided to swim.

Windsurfing instead doesn’t need something like a chronometer to tell you how well you are doing, it’s your friends who are windsurfing with you who take the place of the chronometer and you use them to compare how well or how fast you are going, plus your friends can give you either ideas on something different to do or something new and challenging to try.

What made the windsurfing a real passion for me is that:

·         I did it with really great friends who were either classmates or neighbors, therefore very close to me.

·         It truly challenged us to try to do new and reckless things that scared us very much while at the same time made us feel like champions (i.e., windsurfing with -5 C degrees with neoprene gloves and hoods with the sail covered with ice that falls on you each time you turn). I also remember sleeping entire nights in the car waiting for the strong wind (named Peler) that always starts when the sun raises, at 5 am.

·         Then after having windsurfed for 6 or 7 hours we were going to eat at a place that only served French fries and whole roasted chickens that one of my good friends would devour by the pair (he  once eat 5 chickens, with 3 servings of French fries that were so many that you could fill a whole bucket with them).

French fries in Italy can be served either with ketchup or mayonnaise, this buddy of mine wanted both at the same time.

You should have seen his face when he was done! His lips were covered with ketchup and he had spoonful’s of mayonnaise in his ears, not to mention his hands, covered with sauces up to the elbows, what made that place a destination for us windsurfers was that you could eat an enormous amount of food with very little money i.e. roasted chickens $1.25 each, French fries $2 by the pound $2.75 with ketchup or mayo. And then the German beer (light in color and alcohol content) that was $5 for each liter (quart), what I think (with terror) is that we used to drink it by the gallon and then get in the car to drive back home…..

In simple words this picture is like a key that opens the door to a period of my life (18 to 25 y/o) when I had the greatest fun, no worries or responsibilities of any kind, full freedom to say and do all I could think of, one “fixed” girlfriend and too many “female acquaintances” to remember, to count and give a number, in other words – just like when I came to Santa Barbara to be the president of TEVA – I was on the top of my world.

Too bad that a moron knocked me off my peak while I was the Lance Armstrong training to both relax my mind, keep my body fat low and my muscle tone high, after a day sitting at my desk in the office.

This picture, with all of its great memories helps me forget the accident followed by the 2 months long in a coma, the TBI with all of my losses related to it and my supreme anger for still (10 years later) being unable to receive the only treatment that gives me the strong hope that my brain might return to be plastic and therefore able to repair itself – just like when a bone is broken, or the skin is cut or scratched.

Anyway I hope you enjoy the Youtubes I put here too, one of where I always went to windsurf (Garda lake in the northern part) and the other of the best ever Hawaiian windsurfer because they truly make me dream of where I came from and what I’m still about as a man (husband and father).

GARDA LAKE:

ROBBY NAISH