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feuser
Joined: 29 Oct 2002
Posts: 1508
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 Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2009 2:51 pm Post subject: |
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| windward1 wrote: | | Windsurfing is the Fountain of Youth. Do it regularly and you will appear younger than those who age around you. So do not waste any time. Get started again. The fact that you can already water start puts you ahead of the game. |
... and when you get too old to windsurf, you can always start kiting.
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florian - ny22
http://www.windsurfing.kasail.com/ |
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noshuzbluz
Joined: 18 May 2000
Posts: 791
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| Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2009 4:27 pm Post subject: |
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[quote= If you didn't know how old you were...how old would you be?[/quote]
Well put! I like that. 
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The Time a Person Spends Windsurfing is not Deducted from their Lifespan...
http://www.openocean.com |
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isobars
Joined: 12 Dec 1999
Posts: 20935
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| Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2009 5:00 pm Post subject: |
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| mtnrunner wrote: | | Are there many windsurfers out there in their 50's or maybe even 60's that are sailing at a fairly high level? |
I am often among the first guys on the Columbia, and almost always among the last three (one of whom had a quad bypass 15 years ago at age 53) on the water when we have to use the street light to find our launch cove that night . If the wind and swell are good enough, I take few breaks in between, often not even removing my harness unless I have to sit down on the toilet. I sail very hard, crash and waterstart all day, throw up more spray (a metric for the energy expended) than most Gorge sailors, and sail ever harder as the dusk gives way to darkness because nightfall, rather than fatigue, is ending my day. At the end of a windy day I sail hard for literally several hours after the vast majority of sailors are back in their street clothes and beach chairs. And if the next morning wind is good, I repeat until the morning the wind quits. I published a magazine article decades ago titled, "Outlast the Wind', and by God I adhere to its principles because they work. The first day I ever quit for the day due to fatigue before the wind quit was after about 6 hours completely hammered on a 3.2 almost alone at Doug's in the mid 1990's, in my 50s.
Why only 6 hours? It was not quite noon yet, and I had sailed the same 3.2 for 10-12 hours the day before, until 9:30 PM, then derigged, driven to a campsite, fixed and ate supper, and set my alarm for 4:30 AM.
Why almost alone at Doug's? Because it was so GD windy that some big guys with 2.8s were completely blown off the river. That was THE day I learned how to jibe on a 3.2 when I'd have been well-powered most of the time on a 2.5.
Anybody who wants to call any of the above a lie can ask anybody who regularly sails (or rode dirt bikes or played volleyball) with me.
Anybody who wants to call it "bragging" can go to hell. It's stoke and motivation for the OP, not boasting. If some of you don’t like it, I don’t give a damn; this is for mtnrunner and his next 40 years, not you whiners. It's how I've approached all my sports worth doing, and it sounds like mtnrunner’s song, too. It has meant the world to me for 60 years in several sports. Anything worth doing is worth doing to excess, and for the really good stuff there's no such thing as excess.
OK, here's where it departs from reality. The above was true until about 3-4 years ago, in my early 60s. At that point I actually started taking one-hour breaks due to fatigue, not merely hunger, thirst, or darkness, on the classic summertime all-day blows. Now, at 65, I tend to cherry-pick the conditions. I skip the very rare 40-mph-average session because that's about where I start getting injured if I cut loose and try to have fun rather than just survive. I skip the 6.5 breezes because there’s no swell. I skip the choppy $#!+ because, well, it’s just choppy $#!+. But while it’s truly nuking (40+ average), 99% choppy $#!+, or sub-20-average, I’m eating and hydrating and watching the river and the wind data so when conditions are ready, so am I. I could sail hard 10-12 hours most days throughout my 50s, and still relish 8-10 hours on the river whenever it’s not averaging 40, <20, or just choppy $#!+. I read that our slide into mush accelerates significantly at about 70, but I’m hoping that’s for your average slug, not motivated athletes. I’ll get back to you in six years on that.
Then all winter I’m in the gym doing whole-body, back-to-back strength and endurance workouts to failure at least two days every week … not because I like it, but because I’m getting old and need it. My trainers finally gave up telling me to get out of the gym after 4-5 hours of non-stop gutbusting. As a runner, you can appreciate that my metabolic tester was a little surprised how long I can run on an elliptical at a heartbeat of 97% of 220 minus my age ... while breathing through my nose … and I’ve hardly run a step in my life unless chasing a ball.
Now, all that’s after a broken back, the permanent loss of one inner ear (lousy balance), and two different cancers. Until one of those bites me in the ass again, I plan to go down gradually and not without a struggle. I didn’t discover windsurfing until I was 37 (1980), soon after which I replaced desert bike racing with WSing because I wanted a sport that would prolong, not shorten, my active life. Then in 1988, when I realized how much work cut into WSing, I quit my career, moved to the Gorge in two stages, and got on with the truly important stuff. I estimate that I’ve since sailed somewhere between four times the length of the equator and the distance to the moon … and that’s just on sinkers and 5.2 or smaller.
Yeah … there’s a lot of WSing at your fingertips past age 40. It’s up to you to seek it out, and if you so choose, you can advance much faster than I did because the instructional and equipment resources are so superior to those of the ‘80s and you’re a much more devoted trainer than I. It’s basically your call, and you have a head start already.
Just Do It.
Mike \m/ |
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WindSapien
Joined: 01 Oct 2000
Posts: 267
Location: Lake Isabella , Ca.
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| Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2009 5:14 pm Post subject: |
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| Life begins when you start participating not observing.At sixty I rip it up on my Dirt Bike, Kayak white water, and Sail every chance I get preferably on the smallest gear possible. Just because there's a little snow on the roof doesn't mean there's not a fire in the furnace.....Cut down on the alcohol, eat good and eat less, exercise and follow your passion.And be thankful for all you have been given and all that was taken away.....WS |
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surfsuppp
Joined: 11 Feb 2016
Posts: 95
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| Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 8:59 am Post subject: Never too old never to young |
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I am getting advanced freestyle lessons from a 60 year old!
I am 35. |
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sailingjoe
Joined: 06 Aug 2008
Posts: 1087
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| Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 9:13 am Post subject: |
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| The honest truth would be that at 59 I am wondering how long I am going to windsurf. I was encouraged as a beginner by a guy who was 70+ and still actively sailing. When it comes to kiting, how many kiters can say that? Most of them start in the sport because their 20-25 year old buddies are doing it. I'm still improving at the sport which has been very surprising. I had to give up skiing the bumps back when I was 40 and that's when I started windsurfing. Since I'll never improve at skiing and have had to give up the most entertaining part of that sport, I find windsurfing still has a better allure. |
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pueno
Joined: 03 Mar 2007
Posts: 2807
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| Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 9:29 am Post subject: |
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sailing  wrote: | | The honest truth would be that at 59 I am wondering how long I am going to windsurf. |
Many folks undoubtedly wonder the same thing about you, Brucie. They certainly have their hopes.....
Happy Fourth of July, Big Guy! |
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wmcguire
Joined: 27 May 2005
Posts: 14
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| Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 9:37 am Post subject: |
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I'm going to be 45 this fall and I'm using Wyatt Miller's guide on learning how to forward loop. I sail whenever it's windy and kayak about 25-30 miles every week, as well as mountain biking, swimming etc ...
I have a full time job and a family and am probably in the best shape of anyone on my street (except for the Emergency Tactical Response guy but he's 10 years younger than I am and gets paid to work out).
My neighbours sit in their back yards looking at their landscaping thinking about how awesome their lives are while I'm a couple miles out in the lake having a blast.
I'll stop acting like a 20 year old when I'm dead! |
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jsampiero
Joined: 20 Jun 2006
Posts: 677
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| Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 10:28 am Post subject: |
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My motto - you can sleep when you're dead  |
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windoggi
Joined: 22 Feb 2002
Posts: 2743
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| Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 12:41 pm Post subject: |
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When I get out of bed the day after a good session, I feel all of my fifty-eight years...walking like Fred Sanford on my way to the coffee grinder. After I've been up for a while, I'm moving like I'm a bit younger, but still creaking and wincing from my numerous tortured joints, which I choose to ignore. (See what you have to look forward to whippersnapper)
Funny thing though, when I start rigging with all my fellow old farts, that eldery man disease begins to fade away, and by time I get on a plane, I'm eighteen again. Unless I crash. Then I'm fifty-eight. At least I'm not as old as Brian.
No more typing...my hands hurt.
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