What to do while you're injured...

I've been only windsurfing once or twice a week for the last month or so due to a nagging shoulder injury. I've been going to physical therapy a couple times a week to strengthen my left shoulder in preparation for Maui, but my windsurfing days have been very laid back and short. It's a major bummer to be injured at the end of the season, right as I was getting a hold of the forward loop, but I'm finding other ways to distract myself.

When someone is injured, it's really easy to disappear into the abyss of Matlock marathons and competitive eating... but the best thing to do is get out and hold the camera for your friends. Here's a video I put together from a bunch of sessions at Candlestick this month. Late in the season the wind gets lighter and flukier and only a handful of spots work on a regular basis. Candlestick is one of the only spots that works on warm late-season days, so you'll find a healthy crowd there when everything else has more or less shut down. Like every good thing, seasons must come to an end, so it's best to look at each late-season session as a gift. October and November are usually the lowest wind months before our winter storms come through.

September Sessions from Aaron Vieira on Vimeo.

**In this video, I captured Sofy going for a move called the "Toad", which is akin to a clew-first forward, and Kevin grabbing his first on film shakas, and leche (aka switch stance kono). He's been doing those tricks for a year, but no one has been holding the camera. It's awesome to get to sail with skilled freestylers so much, and it's been a huge reason that I've been able to make so much progress this year.

ppps. For the record... "squishing" people is far from being my original concept... for a good laugh: I CRUSH YOUR HEAD

Feels like losing your virginity... without the guilt and awkwardness...

There are a lot of highs in windsurfing, which is ultimately why we windsurf. We are substances abusers just like any crack head. The primary difference is that the source of our sensations isn't a dirty meth lab or the jungle of a 3rd world country. The source of our drug is within us. It probably looks like little drops of fluid being released from tiny glands hidden in different parts of our skulls that feeds a rush of feeling through the soluble contents of our bodies. It's a feeling we call "stoke" and it unites us as windsurfers.

Just like they say, there is nothing like your first high. Most people can distinctly remember their first day planing. If you've ever planed out of a jibe, you will completely remember that feeling, too. Two of my friends recently completed some very impressive firsts. Juan learned to do a spock 540 and Asma learned the grubby. I captured them doing so last Friday at Candlestick Park.






Jacob, aka "Lofty" lent me his camera to snap these photo sequences, then went the extra mile spending his time stitching the pictures together... outstanding work.

Also, he put together a goofy little clip from the same day of some true "buttsailing":

Regarding that Windsurfing Magazine Stuff

Dearest Blog Readers (aka: the other bloggers and my mom),

Thanks for your courageous support during this trying time in the world of windsurfing. The printing press at a nationally syndicated magazine known as Windsurfing Magazine made a terrible error and mistakenly published a piece that I wrote. Kiteboarders everywhere rejoiced this aquatic apocalyptic event that would surely end our sport forever, opening up endless oceans and lakes of dangle-room across the world. The lawyers of the international shark coalition are looking for loopholes in order to assure my eventual consumption by chumming for what I've done to the supply of their food source. The American Red Cross has deployed Disaster Mental Health (DMH) Counselors across the country in local windsurfing stores, who are on hand with anti-depressants.

OK OK OK.

Yes, I'm the guy who wrote the "Confessions of the Human Catapult" article in WSing. It's been a year in the making, and editor Josh Sampiero had to threaten my family in order to get me to finally get something done on it. In addition, I have to give him a lot of credit for making it somewhat readable and qualifying as the "English Language". Thanks to everyone who enjoyed it to some extent. For me, reading it is like coming home to cat vomit on the floor and deciding to pick through it with a needle to look for a newspaper clipping you had set aside earlier. I guess that's what they say about reading your own writing. Actually, "they" probably don't use the cat vomit analogy because "they" probably have manners.

In any case, the positive reactions from my efforts make me feel encouraged to focus a bit more on the writing on my blog and the other outlets. Stay tuned for some slightly less sucky prose.

Yours in Robby,

Aaron, the catapult

ps. James Douglass, a far better windsurfer and writer also had a sweet article about jibing published in the same issue.

pps. The issue in the picture above is not the issue I'm in, but I used that picture instead because it had a cute girl in it.

ppps. Dude, nobody cares, shut up.

pppps. Hey, this is my post-script dammit! Who's typing on my blog?!

ppppps. This is your conscience.

pppppps. Oh, you again, yeah a lot of good you've done me so far.

ppppppps. Shut up and book your ticket to Maui.

pppppppps. FINALLY something we can agree upon!

Getting Home at Treasure Island

Treasure Island is probably the best and most consistent windsurfing on the San Francisco Bay, ESPECIALLY late in the season. My friends have been religiously going there for years in August and September because when other spots start shutting off or becoming more intermittent, TI becomes the "epicest*". The fetch at Treasure Island is 4 or 5 miles. The swell has that same amount of space to organize, space out, and otherwise become beautiful.

But before you wipe your drool and grab your gear from this description, I must inform you of dear old caveat emptor. Treasure Island has the worst launch of the whole bay. A 25-30 yard u-shaped wind eating jetty from which you launch in the downwind armpit. Launching goes straight downwind in annoying fickle wind. Thus, coming in requires going directly upwind in garbage wind. Also, if you're sailing TI, you'll probably want to be on a pretty small board so you can make the most of the conditions beyond the shadow. Most of us choose to doggy-paddle home at the end of our session, but a handful feel as though they must SAIL their SAILBOARD in. I've never seen a shadow sailor beat a swimmer, but they sure are fun to watch:

Untitled from Aaron Vieira on Vimeo.

The other thing to note is that if something were to go wrong, it could go pretty darn wrong. A couple days ago a few guys went out at TI, then got swallowed up by fog. They all made it home, but they all also had pretty scary experiences finding their way back.(Link to those stories) If your gear breaks down between Treasure Island and Angel Island, it could potentially take you a very long time to get back to dry land in any direction. Not to mention the large tug boat traffic, bridge construction traffic, and 25-knot-traveling commuter ferries.

TI is the best spot in the bay, but ya gotta respect it.









*epicest is a term coined by the German Shepherd for "most epic". Pronounced with a hard "c".

Extended Loop Attempt Video + Thoughts

I'm not going to claim to be an expert on looping, and I'm not going to describe the technique for doing one because there are tons of places on the internet to learn about that. I even recommend taking a lesson if possible (an ABK Freestyle clinic worked for me). I will, however, share with you the facts behind my loop experience thus far. I also wanted to include some of the best philosophical tips I received as I was learning the trick.

Me and Looping:

I still get nervous before my first attempt of the day. After I get through it (and invariably eat crap but sail away unscathed), I'm ready to try them until I'm exhausted.

The forward loop is the one move I've wanted to do since the first day I saw a windsurfer. I saw spocks and vulcans that day, but didn't find them nearly as impressive.

I'm not particularly fast, I'm not a particularly good jumper, and I'm not particularly brave. Many would agree that I have a bit of weakness in all three of these areas.

I had many days this year where I told myself I'd go for a loop but chickened out. I drove home mentally beating myself up. This has probably happened to you too if you've ever wanted to loop.

I sail with people who loop for about half of my sessions. On days that people are throwing loops, there's never a question in my mind about whether or not I'm sailing loopable conditions.

Taking a lesson helped me a lot (ABK). It was a windless day and I didn't get to make an attempt, but understanding how the physics worked and trusting in science really helped me overcome the fear.

Sailing "angry" would sometimes help me go for them, but I didn't get close until I was sailing relaxed.

Getting spun by the sail for the first time was as exhilarating an experience as planing for the first time.

The next day I attempted loops after the filmed one, I didn't waterstart out of a single one.

Best tips I've recieved:

"Sometimes you have to pick your days." --Kevin Kan

"There is no perfect time to go for your first loop." -- Kevin Kan

"Don't do it unless you're ready. And if you're gonna do it, move your hand way back and just freakin' do it!" --Sofien Sehiri

"Don't be angry at the move. Go take a couple more tacks, get your favorite song in your head, relax and try again." -Sofien Sehiri

"You are totally ready to loop. Piece of cake. You got it." -- Matt Case

"The only reason you aren't looping is because you aren't trying them." -- Andy Brandt

If I Can Do It

Then you can do it.



The video is funny because I had a serious "early celebration" situation. I was so excited to have landed in the straps that I biffed my waterstart. It's so me, it's ridiculous.

I've got a lot to say on the topic of looping, so stay tuned for me to gather my thoughts.

Do you wish you were here?

http://www.mauiwindcam.com/streaming/kanaha/

I know I do.

October can't get here fast enough.