After a hard session, you slump into the sofa with certain body parts complaining more bitterly than usual at their callous treatment, and reflect, miserably on an afternoon of underachievement. It's then that the annoying, loquacious, judgemental monkey appears on your shoulder and pronounces - as he has more and more often, recently: "Well, what do you expect at your age? To magically become stronger, fitter? Just accept the inevitable, old fellah... the road from here is downhill and very slippery."
Well, give the monkey a peanut and tell him/her to take a hike. None of us are getting out of this alive, but the notion that our windsurfing performance necessarily deteriorates with the passing years, needs to be robustly challenged - and most importantly by YOU.
DNA, luck, injury or individual circumstances conspire to give us all very different relationships with the ageing process. However, in the following piece, personal histories and medical evidence will hopefully inspire you to raise a finger to Father Time and keep on keeping on.
INTRODUCING...
I'm fortunate to meet a lot of doctors - not through repeated visits to A&E, thankfully, but happily our sport seems to be a popular recreation amongst medics. Many are present on my clinics, and annually I'm invited to attend a conference of windsurfing doctors in Tarifa - and what useful friends they are to the maturing sportsman. Before we embark on our quest for eternal youth, allow me to introduce the team, who sit on various spots of the ageing timeline and who have kindly supplied facts, opinions and experiences.
Neal Gent, 52, is an acute physician based on the UK's south coast and is also a pro standard wave sailor, kiter, surfer and foiler. Jim Hutchinson, 58, is an orthopaedic surgeon from Nottingham - specialising in hip replacements, and a crazy keen windsurfer and winger.
This story is from the Issue 430 - January February 2024 edition of Windsurf.
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This story is from the Issue 430 - January February 2024 edition of Windsurf.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
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Nik tweaking it over home waters.
A NEW NORMAL
On a trip to La Tranche-sur-Mer in France last year, Tris Best estimated over 80% of the windsurfers were foiling. This summer in Portland Harbour, foiling activity has increased dramatically too he reports. With the market offering plenty of choice to recreational windfoilers, our test team check out some of the latest foil offerings.
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