Windsurfing? What a breeze!

By Nicole Lee

Is there anyone more gung-ho than our alumni? Fresh from their stand-up paddling course early this year, our alumni were raring for another try at conquering the sea. This time, we picked a more challenging contender: windsurfing.

Most of our alumni had never tried their hand at this unique water sport. In fact, half of them couldn’t swim! But against all the reasons for them to say ‘no’, they braved it through and arrived, bright and early, on the day of our course.

We were quite lucky because the weather was merciful. It had been raining for the past two weekends and with the sun finally out, Constant Wind was jam-packed with activity. We shared the brilliant weather and smooth sea with interest groups from SMU and NUS, who were all there to soak in the rare sun.

Our alumni were undaunted by the presence of these seasoned windsurfers. We donned our gear and eagerly listened as our instructor guided us through the ropes. A speedboat arrived shortly after to bring our alumni out to sea, where our windsurfing boards were waiting.

It was a rocky start! Because we started far out at sea, the winds came easier and stronger. Our alumni had to learn how to keep their balance and maneuver the sails simultaneously. The sails were pretty heavy so whenever they fell, they took our alumni down with them! We had a good laugh at one another.

The gentle breeze started to pick up towards the end of the course. To navigate the stronger winds that were changing direction sporadically, our alumni had to learn how to manipulate their sails to scoop up the wind. Two of them made it very far out into the sea – so much so that they managed to join a batch of windsurfing regulars who were doing their drills. What a proud moment!

The afternoon sun signaled the end of our course – the first batch of alumni were too far out at sea to windsurf back to shore, so they had the chance to hop onto a speedboat and be whizzed back to land. The second batch of us did our best to windsurf back to the shore, scrapping our knees as we went along.

What a fruitful day! Well, whatever else shall we try next?