Surfing in Ice

It is never a good idea to have friends who not only will do something stupid with you but will actually encourage you to go farther then what you had originally planned. This wonderful apex of everything wrong seems to be the case of what occurred today. Friends who are more daring and/or not quite as smart as ones you should have.

In my infinite wisdom I decided to go windsurfing in the middle of winter. I would like to point out that I do have a wetsuit but it does not have feet in it. I really should have known that there would be a bit of uncomfortable feelings ahead when we had to walk on ice to get to open water. This was the moment that I pointed out this was probably not a good idea but having such wonderful friends they decided it was good and we should all go at once.

To say the very least, 187 pounds along with a board meant that I stepped on the ice and my feet broke through. I am a macho guy so I kept going till the water was too deep. I laid the board on the thin ice and pushed on forward while the other guys chickened out and went back to shore. Through all the pain and torment to get to the open water I kept telling myself I wanted to win over the elements.

I paddled out into the open water, my hands and feet were burning feeling like a million needles shooting through them. I stood on the board and flipped the sail around towards the wind ready to glide across the water becoming master of nature itself and then.... nothing happened. Some how at that moment the wind died, who ever heard of no wind in Oklahoma. I waited out in the water for what seemed like half an hour but actually was very close to six minutes when I decided it was time to come back in.

I never did go an inch by wind power but how many people do you know that would break through ice to go windsurfing for no other reason then the thrill of it?