What a week! It felt like I was everywhere and all at the same time - eight different beaches, a friend’s prom night and my brother Mark’s 40th birthday party. My beach guide in Boards has been the perfect excuse to go chasing the wind, and meeting new people is half the joy, but as we move from beach to beach it’s really rewarding to see a few guys joining in as we go outside their normal comfort zone.
Heading out on your local beach is all too easy, and sometimes it takes something new to encourage us to make a move – and my camera seems to be just the thing to pull a few riders out of their comfort zone. I don’t mind what it takes, but seeing someone succeeding in more challenging conditions makes all the standing on the beach behind the lens worthwhile.
Obviously I need to keep most of these pictures for next month’s Boards mag, but there’s a couple in here that just might give away my location, while others are just stops on the way home. Now that’s one negative with this addiction; committing to anything is so hard when you live by the forecast.
I’d promised a friend to take pictures at his daughter’s prom night and I can tell you it was a hard decision to leave Hayling Island with wind brushing its shore. Calling another photographer friend to fill in for me was the equivalent of being in an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting and saying “I’m an alcoholic”. Kev couldn’t make it and I’m not really sure if it was friendship or guilt that sent me on my way (probably a mixture of the two).
Like any dealer I’ve tried to pass on this addiction to the kids, my kids. Sure they sail when we’re away, and maybe it’s not always cool because Dad does it, but suddenly I can see a flicker of light. This hasn’t come from my sailing, but typing.
While I’m working I can’t help asking for their opinion on pictures, etc, but with this month’s Boards being a kids special they seem to have fallen under its spell, or at least it’s shown them who really rules the waves: the kids. We’re off to Vass Next Sunday, so who knows - this just might be the time they get hooked.
