What Chuck Does

Swim, Windsurf, and Motor Boats

September 7, 2008
Today is the first day that we’ve really slept in. Like slept in without having to wake for any reason. It was truly gratifying. It’s been weeks since I can say that we’ve really slept in. What with the wedding, the traveling and the activities, we’ve been up pretty early each day.

Breakfast is taken in our room again as we’ve missed the buffet. Catherine orders an omelet, an omelet, an omelet, AN OMELET without cheese. Four times she tells the room service person and still, it never makes it to our room. I think the person on the other end just doesn’t know what an omelette is. Funny, it’s on the menu.

After breakfast we make a trek to the front desk and to the computer room. On the way back, we see someone windsurfing. We watch as we walk back to our room and before we make it back to the room, we see the windsurfer get rescued in a small canoe as she is too far out in the lagoon. Weak and embarrassing! This however inspires me to try windsurfing for the second time.

Of course seeing how good the weather is today, I’m also inspired to swim from our bungalow to the beach for my windsurfing session. It’s only about 300 meters (or less?) away so it’s a short swim. Catherine’s worried I’ll get washed away by the current. I’m more concerned that the surf is bigger than usual and might cause slight problems during my freestyle. Either way, I’m not too concerned since the current looks milder today and the surf is much smaller than I’ve been in before. I reassure her that I’ve probably swum like 70 miles over the course of my life and regularly swim miles at a time. Besides, it’s a lagoon, I can in some parts pretty much just stand up.

As I begin my swim I’m suddenly more concerned about the wildlife. I’ve seen some pretty large fish in the water and one large sting ray. It’s pretty clear of course in the lagoon and that puts my mind at ease because at least I’ll be able to see the animals. This is in start contrast with the open water swims I’ve done for Californian triathlons in the Pacific where visibility is about 2 feet. On my way to the beach I see a few schools of fish, and one moderate-sized fish. It’s an uneventful swim except for the hotel ferry that crosses my path. I make sure that I don’t get run over and in no time I’m on the beach.

Moments later I’m on the deck of the windsurf board. It’s a lot wider than a surfboard but actually shorter than my moderately long boards. The board is probably a 8’6” in length and 32” in width and 4.5” thick. It’s a pretty beastly board and will float an elephant. That’s good because it’s got a sail and me now. I pull up the sail and the Tahitian trade winds blowing East to West take me quickly towards the main island (and away from the resort shores).

This occurs too quickly I might add. In less than 20 minutes, I realize that I’m in trouble. I’m way too far out in the lagoon and don’t know how to get “back” to shore. Fortunately however, I’ve been under supervision by the two activities-desk workers who have come on a small motorboat to rescue me. They tell me to climb in which I reluctantly oblige as they hook my windsurf to the back of the boat and motor us back to shore.

Weak! Embarrassed and indignant I am I’m asking questions the entire way as they tow me back to shore. I beg one of them to teach me and I ask how I “get back” when I’m too far out. The explanation I get is that if the winds are blowing one way, there’s no direct way for you to get “back” as it’s impossible to go directly against the wind. The way to go in the reverse direction of the wind is that you traverse laterally left to right and vice versa, and via several diagonals you can eventually “get back” to where you want to be.

Armed with this new knowledge I set out again. I am doing okay as I set out going first from right (north) to left (south) with the wind blowing “up” (west) and the shore in the behind me (east). I try turning and going from left (south) to right (north). Somehow though, I can’t seem to get the board to go exactly north. I wind up going more northwest which takes me farther and farther away from shore again. 30 minutes have elapsed and once again my savior/instructor has come to rescue my ass from windsurfing too far into the lagoon. This time he comes alone as his colleague has retired for the day. Embarrassed, I climb onboard again and beg him to teach me more.

As we come back to shore, he explains that the sail is like a steering wheel. When you keep the sail directly up you go straight, when you lower/dip the sail down behind the middle of your board, the board rotates and turns into the wind
. Conversely if you push the sail up past the middle of the board and towards
the front of the board, the board will rotate away from the wind. This piece of knowledge is the breakthrough that I need to prevent myself from sailing too far west towards the main island.

Immediately I’m doing better. First I head out from north to south making sure to keep the sail low towards the back of the board so I’m constantly turning into the wind and towards shore. Then as I get too close to the southern bungalows, I switch and head north. Again I keep the sail low towards the back of the board to rotate the board into the wind. This side is harder but I’m not nearly as far out as I was earlier. When I get close to the boat deck and the northern bungalows I head south again. With the sail dipped low behind the board, I point the board southeast and wind up getting pretty close to shore.

Enlightened, I am a real windsurfer now! I know how to turn and actually control the direction of the board. I am harnessing the power of the wind and I am mad-stoked! For some reason this reminds me a lot of horseback riding though it requires a lot more strength. Throughout the course of 105 minutes I’ve fallen into the water approximately 20 times and dropped the sail probably another 20 times. Pulling the sail back up is very difficult and requires a lot of strength for 2 reasons. 1) Water gets in the sail and 2) the wind is blowing into the sail and 3) The sail is heavy to begin with. Even better than the remarkable back and biceps workout I’m getting is the core/legs workout I’m getting from stabilizing and trying to stay on the board. It’s impossibly hard on the legs and I’m constantly struggling not to lose my balance as the wind is blowing, the surf is rocking, the sail is tugging, etc. My weak links are for sure my lower back and my calves that are strained each time I yank the sail from out of the water. My instructor comes out to give me a thumbs up as he sees that I’ve improved vastly and does not have to rescue my sorry butt for the 3rd time. I’m totally stoked!

Shortly after my enlightenment however my muscles are sending me “I’m tired” signals. I want to keep going but then I get the “That’s it for now” signal from God. The wind starts to pick up to the point beyond my ability to control the sail and it begins to rain. I recognize that this is my exit cue and high tail it back to shore.

Of course by the time I make it back to shore it’s stopped raining (Tahitian rain never lasts for more than minutes at a time). But I’m done for today.

I hit the bungalow to shower and eat some Doritos and Haribo in celebration of my newfound windsurfing skills.

Dinner is Mediterranean and we hit the buffet a little lighter than usual. The food is just average and I don’t feel like stuffing myself today. In fact I can already tell that I’ve put on some weight. Not sure what I’ll weigh in at when I get home but I’m guessing it’ll be something like 148lbs, 12.3% bodyfat, and 62.8% hydration. We’ll see.

We come back to the bungalow and seeing that it’s only 9:00pm we decide to take some pictures since we didn’t take any earlier while I was windsurfing. I setup the studio lighting and we take advantage of the glass floor and shoot ourselves sitting on the glass.

Tomorrow is our last day here. We depart Le Meridien tomorrow at 6pm headed to the airport where we fly back to Papeete. After a 2.5 hour layover we’re then off to LAx where we arrive sometime around 9am. Then it’s a quick shower and I’m hoping I can get to work by 11:30am as I’ve promised my boss.

Back to the “real world”!