The bug just gets into you...

That's how the surf legend Gerry Lopez describes it. He means regular surfing, which i'm not really into, but it's close enough. Windsurfing is my surfing.

In all fairness, this can happen to you with any other sport too. I'm currently reading Nick Hornby's "Fever pitch" in which he confesses about his obssession with football since childhood. His condition is far worse than mine. I'm not obssessed, just hooked (...almost a pun there).

Lombok is famous as a surfing destination, so naturally that's what every one does down in Kuta. I've seen a few kitesurfers too. Nobody does windsurfing here, and globally speaking, the sport has probably been in decline since 20 years. Only the die-hard windsurfers are still at it. Nowadays most people will take up kiting if they're gonna do a wind-water related activity, much in the same way that in winter sports most young people took up snowboarding (instead of skiing) once it had been invented.



On windsurfing, one of my friends here noted that it "consists of slightly nudging a sail back and forth". I don't think he has seen the aerials of Jason Polakow and the likes. Most other people here don't really know what windsurfing is.

Anyways, it's still cooler than swimming. I used to be a swimmer before. That was obviously very uncool. I wore speedos, goggles and a yellow swimming cap. As a windsurfer I'm now officially cool. All kinds of people in Kuta wanna talk to and associate with me suddenly. It's a superficial world!


This was posted by somebody on the iwindsurf community forum. So true!
(click on it for a close-up view) http://www.iwindsurf.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=24020&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0&sid=12f059676552b9533bc67febb82fbee9

The wind has been poor in Lombok for a few weeks now and I've really begun to feel the sailor's doldrums. It is taxing. It is. It's like I'm a changed person now, I'm addicted, it's the bug that's really got me. I check the wind/weather forecast practically every day now just willing it to give me signs of reprieve: a day or two maybe. I wanna go windsurfing badly. Instead I just get to read weather reports online, analyze patterns, tables and graphs. Yeahie, fun!

A few months ago I also noticed that I had started greeting my neighbor with a Shaka sign. I shouldn't have done that; I'm really still a beginner and I reckon Shakas should be reserved for the veterans of the sport or at least advanced riders.

I've been sick for a few weeks including over Chinese New Year when there were a few windy days here in Lombok which I then had to miss on account of a bad catalpult in which I busted and badly bruised my left arm. And then I got fever. And something else threw my rhythm in-between that. But I'm back dancing again. Figuratively. The absence of wind didn't help to lift my spirits of course. But I went running down in Kuta a few times over the last two weeks and I've felt better health-wise. I'm still absolutely thrilled to live and work in Lombok. And I still would maintain it's a good place for windsurfing. But obviously it doesn't get as windy as Hawaii. So it's not really a "sustainable" outdoors activity to do here, in the sense that you can't really count on being able to do it every weekend. Which means I will never become as good as Mr Robby Naish.

If you don't like surfing there are other things to do in Kuta.
This is what we came up with. It's called the "Great ball bouncing game". The rules are like the medieval knights' jousting battles, but instead of charging each other with lances and on horse-back we do it on foot and with great bouncing balls.

I also met an American, Larry, who's been living down in Kuta for years and he is a veteran windsurfer, and real fun! How cool is that!! He must have thought he was the last unicorn until I came along. We talk about gear, the marvels of windsurfing, the good and bad sessions out on the water, the con's and pro's of kiting, and everything else related to windsurfing every time we see each other. It feels good to have a fellow windsurfer around.

It looks like it's my last few months here as my contract ends in September. Come June and July the tradewinds bring some nice northeasterlies. I can't wait for it. If this is my last season here, i'm gonna make it a good one.