A bold windsurfer takes to the Crescent Beach waves on Sunday afternoon. Photo courtesy of Margot Shaw
By Margot Shaw
The old man and the sea off Crescent Beach!
This was about 1:15 Sunday. The man had already tipped into the water as I arrived. He got up, and sped across the bay until spilling again closer to shore.
He then pulled up on shore, walked back and forth on the shore for a time (deciding to go out again?…shaking off the cold water?…completely disoriented?)
Then took his equipment back to his car. He didn’t look like a 20 year old…pretty brave.
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Old man? You’re only as old as you feel. Nothing like a 35 knot day to get the blood flowing and snap carbon fiber masts – and it beats watching TV. And where were the 20 year olds, anyway? Updating their Facebook profiles?
A man does what he must, to run where the brave dare not go – in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers and pressures, continuous effort – not strength or intelligence, so that in the evening he can look straight into the hole without getting the blackness. That his heart will lie peaceful and calm when he’s laid to rest.
The terror, the terror…………
None know the calm before the storm, and the eye of the hurricane, better than the warrior.
I know who that windsurfer was and apparently the writer misspelled a portion of her copy on the photo caption.
It should read “A bald windsurfer takes to the Crescent Beach waves…”
Knowing who that windsurfer was I can say that the caption should have been ‘bald windsurfer’ not ‘bold windsurfer’.
Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear. ~