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| Saba Rock, Virgin Gorda |
The picture above was taken from the top of Morpheus' mast during a rig check. Happily no problems found, and a great chance to take some pictures.
That was four days ago in almost no wind. Yesterday and the day before, the winds were howling with avg speeds between 20-30 knots! I've spent so much time kitesurfing (in the area on the far side of this photo) that I almost couldn't walk this morning.
While I'd like to, I'm not sure if I can blame all that pain on getting old. I did almost kill myself at one point. I was getting started just off the beach and had to clear a shallow reef about 15 feet off the beach. Well, I didn't quite make it and my board "tripped" over something leading to a pretty impressive wipeout. As I was falling face down towards the reef I thought it could get pretty ugly, but I guess I'd forgotten that I was still attached to a big kite that was doing its thing up above me. (You should never forget about the kite!) The next moment I found myself doing my superman imitation about 10 feet in the air back over the beach. Oh no...not good. My male ego started to get in the way and for a split second I thought I could get control of things, but that didn't last long. Lucky for me, I knew right where the release was and it worked flawlessly. I pulled that red handle and the kite was gone, leaving me to fall however far onto the beach while my kite collapsed harmlessly downwind of me.
There were plenty of spectators on the beach watching, and I'm certain that they were entertained. I also think my little flying act was good for business at the kitesurfing school. Nobody that saw that is going to try to teach themselves...
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