Back to the Future

Written by Walt Conley
Photos provided by Walt Conley
Cross-posted from Facebook Group

My first post to this group. It's been fifteen years since I have sailed seriously following a back injury in 2002 which was "fixed" in 2012 if there is such a thing. I sailed continuously from 1982 to about 1999 when I tailed off as I got into car racing. Fast forward to ten days ago making a trip down memory lane to sail in Hood River. After paying the spiders ransom to collect my gear out of the garage, it was time to clear my own cobwebs.
I think my newest piece of equipment was made in the mid to late 90s so imagine my trepidation of being laughed off the beach. In reality that didn't happen but I was impressed with the current state of development of foils which were just a curiosity when I last sailed. Fascinating to watch sailboards and kites up on foils everywhere I looked. Especially fun to watch were the strapless kite foilers who seemed magically stuck to their kiteboards. It was reassuring that my old 5.6 Sailworks Syncro on a 9.6 AHD race board were faster than the foils but they just look like such a cool challenge. Old habits returned quickly although my jibes sucked - I just couldn't quite muster the commitment needed for effective execution.
It's taken ten days to post here because two days after sailing I ended up in the Hood River ER with severe back spasms. So evidently after fifteen years a little more pre-conditioning workouts may be in order. 😎