March 10th, 2021

Okay, not Lake Norman! But that's me, and I'm on a stock sail.

Okay, that's not me. That Demitri Pourlos, photo by Chuck Anderson. Now let me tell you why it was a great day. No, the surf for me was not 8x mast high, the wind hurricane strength. I didn't pull off a Kai Lenny otl at Jaws nor win the lottery, but in a way I did. Now, ​I’m no good when it comes to math, but I can do the basics. For instance, until today, it had been 8 months since I was last able to windsurf, due to 3 broken bones in my arm, one cracked vertebrae and one helluva stoke while driving a moving truck 4325 miles straight from Bend, Oregon to Sacramento to Charlotte. Well, I only made it as far as some hospital in Tennessee. It seems every doctor in them that hills be sending me bills. But like I said, today, the 10th of March, since I did not dare try on the ides, there was one windsurfing out on Lake Norman. Me.

​They say 1 is the loneliest number but it was okay. Birds kept me company and there was 1 other sailboat, 3 fishing boats, and 1 jackass trying to show off for his girl on a cigarette butt at 40 nauts. Autocorrect, cigarette boat, in the No Wake zone. But that’s Lake Norman I heard. “Just wait till Summer.” Jackass x 2000. So I enjoyed the hell out of having the lake to myself. BTW, that’s not me jumping. Not even my photo. I ripped it off of the Charlotte Windsurfers FB page. Where are these guys? On the down-side, there was a fire somewhere so it was smoky. Was I back in Sacramento? I was missing my Lake Washington crew. And, alas, there were 200 gnats flying around my car. It’s not even officially Spring.

Speaking of sweet rides, I just love my Windsurfer LT. Yeah yeah, foil foil, but in my condition… and wait, wasn’t I sold on the LT before number 2 hit the fan? I guess that explains the flies. BTW, I rigged my stock 5.7 sail. I had to. I was testing the waters. But I would have been hauling on my Simmer 2XC. As it was, after heading up the lake a few miles, I had about a 20 minute downwind surf, double mast high. But so much for product placement. Somebody has to pay for my blog. What? No audience? At least 3 people read this! Make that 2 since Mom passed away 4 months ago, 2 days before my stroke. She was 92. My dad also lived to 92. He bought me my first windsurfer 50 years ago, in 1971. Maybe it was 72. Like I said, I’m not very good a math. But I've only been here a few months and I've been discovered by a cave man. Now, here is what you two have been reading for, the video of Mac Barnhardt and someone foiling Lake Norman.


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