to honor the passing of michael jackson we hit the dance floor at jacques on friday nite as the dj mixed one after another. everyone had an mj story, misc. facts, their favorite songs, concert experiences and we all thought about our own mortality. how long do we each have on this planet? what am I going to do with my time? am I doing it? if not, why not?

wind with waves in june? unheard of! maybe that makes up for the 6 wks of no wind in may. I missed the first few days due to my simmer schedule and health stuff but the boys were happy to report they were sailing 4.2/4.7. josh stone reminded his fans that he might be retired but double forwards are no biggy and he still has all the moves. saturday's maui race series didn't lack wind and the wind swell made for some good action. the tourists admit to being exhausted but go out each day just in case the wind stops.

my week started with us10 putting me on sailing duty with a friend from san fran with payment being dinner at mama's but I asked for a dinner rain check since the bachelorette is on monday nites and she's down to 8 guys. us10 laughed but agreed. though he's not sailing, he's walking without canes or crutches barely looking like he broke BOTH of his legs. amazing! I arrived at kanaha to discover that I needed to rig for our friend which wasn't a problem but we had a gear debacle with one boom head bent and the other requiring new outhaul. the hpl's are great booms but to get the rope in/out of the outhaul is a pain in the arse requiring too many tools and too much time but I wasn't about to skimp on safety. once I got him on the water I turned to the sweet little 3.3 pink manic and rigged her up for the 3rd time. while I was pulling my downhaul one of the boys commented that he had never seen my toe nails unpainted in the 2yrs he's known me! laughing, I explained I was torn between sexy red and hot pink unable to make a decision for 3 days so I had to walk away from it! btw - pink won!

3.3 wind swell waves are not so smooth but they are waves nonetheless! my body still isn't back to full strength but I pushed it hard for a couple of hrs, jumping, riding every wave I could find and doing my best to keep up and hang on in the gusting up to 40 winds. after exploding hard more than once I knew it was time for one last reach and gave my sailing partner the "I can't take it anymore" signal. I keep meaning to put a smaller fin in the 69 pocket but have left that job to the swiss eye candy aka gear caddy and am hoping he gets here before the summer winds turn to winter waves.

us34 and ned0 were packing up after testing gear when ned0 admitted he was having trouble jibing on the outside so I didn't feel so badly! I asked how the boom load thingy worked and he reported that it gave them vital info on how much load the booms actually take. they will use this info to make better booms. t1 stayed on his slalom gear saying he got some unexpected air here and there. from what ka7 told me coming down hard on a slalom board will snap it quicker than a wave board due to their shape so racers are careful chop hopping and rarely jump. k57 said she abandon her 4.2 race sail for wave gear as there was too much wind.

tuesday was windy but my body was very unhappy with my monday session though my soul and spirit were elated so I had coffee talk with karen then made a gear delivery. I ended up rigging a 0'10 4.2 manic for the guy since it didn't have specs and he wasn't comfortable guessing. we discussed downhaul, outhaul, uphaul, inhaul, so by the time we were done I wasn't even tempted to rig up and run across the grass at sugar cove for a quick session. I love to talk gear but there comes a point when enough is enough for me so I headed back to haiku where I'm hanging with the hounds for a couple of weeks. besides the wind forecast shows no slowing down.

my favorite combo (as you might know) is the pretty pink 4.2 poison and the 69 pocket. it's just perfect! yes, I will get some shots for those of you who have requested lessons in fashion. with my toes pink it was a win win situation as I refused to do anything for anyone but myself on wednesday. uppers was still going off so I joined darrell, tammo (whom I met on a baja bus in 2005) and the hotsails boys for some action. sailing with the boys pushes me hard and is total entertainment. I love to watch them loop, pushloop, backloop, hit the lip and of course I can't help but heckle them while they are down in the pit which isn't very often. elan pulled a big forward upwind of me and appreciated my enthusiasm though we had a moment where he panicked as I went into a bottom turn and he turned into me but managed to get out of my way. ooops...no harm no foul!

I woke to my phone telling me that the swiss eye candy's return has been delayed so I took my disappointment to the beach where I found it blowing 3.7 or 4.2. not sure what to rig I took a minute to see how k42's new hd waterproof video camera was working. he's one of the crazies who races strictly for speed so asking him what to rig wouldn't have given me any satisfaction so I rigged my favorite combo. the hotsails boys were filming at uppers so I buzzed them with a howdee then stayed far away since I'm camera shy. the waves were a bit more sporadic, jacking up unexpectedly or flattening when I thought I'd caught one but they were still super fun. I was stacked (no not that kind it means 'wound up' in brit talk) on the poison which required me to stay focused. by the time I was back on the beach my disappointment had become the 'ahhhhhhhhhh' of windsurfing which led to my acceptance of life as it is.

windsurfing is the best therapy isn't it? it has seen me thru some rough times, it has taken me places I never thought I'd go, it has introduced me to people who have impacted my life, it has taught me much about timing and most of all it has helped me to enjoy the wave of life that is mine!