Shred the Gnar

During our residence on the island, the favored downtime pastime has been windsurfing.  According to the locals, we are presently exiting the "windy" season.  Given the past couple days, this does not appear to be the case.  The trade winds have steadily gained strength in proportion to our windsurfing skills. 

Let's start at the beginning.  Upon entering Diego Garcia, we were informed that on the Indian Ocean sides of the island (the entire outside border of the island), the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) police strongly restricts getting anything above your knees submerged.  If caught you are fined in the unavailable currency of pounds.  Our hopes of board enabled water sports were initially crushed considering the only waves of decent period and swell height (the two most important factors when considering surf-able waves) are in the Indian Ocean.  We are restricted to the lagoon for all water activities.

An Athlete and a Scholar

We then discovered that the Navy Morale, Welfare, and Recreation Division (MWR) operates a Marina containing windsurf equipment, ocean kayaks, and stand up paddle boards to use in the lagoon.   Even better, the windsurf equipment costs $2 per day to rent.

Using the smallest sails of the windsurfing fleet, we started carefully with the 3.5 sail (3.5 refers to the surface area of the sail in units of meters squared).  Windsurfing is different from regular surfing.  You must counter balance much more because you are essentially holding an aluminum baseball bat that is 10 feet tall and referred to as the mast.  Aside from the added weight of the sail, the extra pressure created by the wind against the sail is potent.  A falling mast placed correctly on the cranium could easily concuss a grown man.

We progressed quickly to the surprise of the instructors and fellow windsurfer-ers and have since upgraded our sails to those of much large surface areas.  We have even begun the process of using a harness to attach ourselves to the sails.  This creates a new and veritable cornucopia of hazards that serves to heighten our "stoke" for the sport.

Celebratory Swim

We've even become proficient at the art of tacking.  For those unfamiliar, tacking is the process by which you turn the front of the board so that the wind pushes from one side of the sail and then quickly to the other.  Since windsurf boards don't have a reverse, you must change the board's trajectory by changing the direction in which the wind is pushing the sail.  Furthermore, since you can't change the direction of the wind, you must change the orientation of the sail.  Anyway, it's hard.

Pinning It

Our intuition and skill for the sport is growing daily and soon enough we will be "Shredding the Gnar".  If you have to ask, you wouldn't understand.

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Gavin
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Adam

-Adam