Wind Surfing: Slippery When Wet

I'm sure that many people have seen this done, it looks so easy. You stand on a board and hold a sail, how hard could that be, right? After falling in the water 6 times I am here to tell you, it's not that easy. There is a very specfic skill set involved in wind surfing.

First there is the surf board itself, you must be able to drag it into the water with the sail and all. Once you get it in the water, obviously the board floats. The sail seemed to be the heaviest part of the contraption and of course this is the part that must be lifted up while standing on top of the board in the water.  

Finally, when on top of the board, your back must be away from the wind. The wind pushes the sail and it helps move the board across the water. The way in which the sail is moved up and down, or side to side determines where you will go. This requires balance, which after attempting, I realized I do not have. I was so afraid of falling that I kept bending, when really standing up straight is the best way to go.

I did this for a couple of hours. Every time I fell off, I got back on and tried again. It was like a fight with the sail each time. The first couple of times of falling off the board I hit the rudder on the bottom and it was really painful. There are many parts of the board that I didn't understand, such as, the rudder and this unusual lever at the bottom (I decided not to mess with it) . All the falling off the board made it more difficult because it became really slippery, but I kept going.

The man instructing me, (who was very nice) had an extremely thick accent and it was difficult to understand him.  He spent a lot of time helping me but it was pretty fruitless. I did sail it all the way to the end of beach, but I couldn't sail it back and fell off trying to turn it around, so I had to swim it back to where I started.  It was a humbling experience.