Old timers

[Bill S.]

Brian, Z--I'm shocked! I knew you dudes were pups, but not that I'm two freaking decades older than you! And our kids are the same age. . . !

I will say this about aging: it only deepens and enriches my sense of gratitude for the health and good fortune to kite and windsurf in the first place.

Bill

[Tighe]

Thanks for resurrecting this Mike. The thoughts still hold true, though now I am 50+ and seeing a lot more youth on the water. The first half dozen years of kiting was dominated by windsurfers transitioning to this new sport...most of whom were older. That changed as the sport matured. I think the average age is still probably mid thirties, but there are a lot more riders across the age spectrum. What a great community of riders we have.

I am extremely grateful to continue to ride the wind after 30 years. There is truly nothing like it.

ride on.

[Randy]

Such a great thread. Last Saturday, Jerry Sandell asked me how long I thought we'd be able to keep doing this, after a beautiful day at Reddy Creek. As the thread suggests, attitude is a key element, and with Jerry's positive vibe, I suspect he'll ride 'til he dies. I'd hit this thread from two ends. First, how do we prolong our riding longevity, and second, more to Tighe's original question, "Where's the youth?". They're very much related and I'm curious why we don't hit it more from that perspective.

Aging riders work a lot harder to keep riding. Ask anyone over sixty who's still riding and you can be sure they've got a deep practice for staying in shape (yoga, diet, strength exercise, other balance work, a gratitude practice, etc.). It's just too easy to get injured at an older age if the body/mind is not being worked on. Caring to ride means caring to live. Motivation is a key factor. In a time where a drive to short term pleasure and comfort is radically extending the period from 'not well' to 'dead', as a society we need more things that highly motivate people to live well, so that period is shorter. I told Jerry that I'm motivated by a 90 year old I met riding from Kanaha Park on Maui. It's always bothered me how 'non-riders' judge us as addicts to sensory pleasure. It runs much deeper and feeds the soul in deep gratitude for the honor to 'just be', as this thread attests to. Pragmatically, every boardsport builds of 'foot intelligence'. Teaching SUP, I'm amazed at all the people who've never put their full body weight on a single surface board. My motto is 'cultivating stability on an unstable platform'. Isn't that what life is all about? The earthquake eventually happens to us all. The challenge is to hold equanimity in the face of our greatest challenges. Boardsports give us great training. And that foot intelligence translates to dramatically decreasing our probability of falling in our senior years, when our bodies recover much slower and damage more easily from these falls.

So, to the other end. Dr. Christine Brooks did a large study concluding that 'less than 5% of people over twenty-five will ever try a new active lifestyle sport'. The main reason was for fear of 'looking below average'. We've become a society so concerned about others' opinions that we've imprisoned ourselves from trying new things. So it is critical that we give our youth this experience while they still have innocent curiosity. My main question of the day is, "Why aren't boardsports a general offering in Physical Education classes?" We really didn't have a safe vehicle for this before, but now with the IndoBoard and SUP, it's accessible to a very broad audience.
Just like in line skating took off because people had experience with ice skates, I believe our boardsports will grow when kids have had a 'board' experience in their youth. The more 'foot intelligence' we have as a society,
the less falls, the better quality of life we'll have before we say good bye to these bodies we've been blessed
with.
So, if anyone else is interested in 'riffing' on this with me, I'd really like to pose this question to educators, insurance companies, the medical community...anyone who'd listen. We seem to be in a society driven to short term pleasure and comfort. Boardsports offer long term joy, life lessons, and a healthy body/mind and I believe they should be part of every Physical Education curriculum.

[dave12341234]

Wow, great post Randy, I agree. My cousin is a senior at the high school in Deer River, MN. She said her gym teacher brought there gym class into the field and showed them how to fly a kite. She said she had so much fun. I did a little searching on facebook and found there senior photo with a cab switchblade in the background. I was amazed to see this, I never had that opportunity in high school.

[RobH]

Interesting Post Randy, makes me wonder how the other youth board sports are doing these days. Is Skate boarding, Snowboarding/Skiing, wakeboarding/wakesurfing in decline or still holding good interest with todays youth ?

In regards to keeping our bodies going as we age, movement does seem to be key element in the process. Still some parts just seem to be breaking down after years of abuse. My ankles seem to be not the best of shape, legimates totally strecthed out (from repeated sprains) and arthritis showing up on Xray/MRIs with the cartilidge showing increased wear as the loose ligaments are no longer doing the job holding the ankle secure to prevent more excessive breakdown. The Surgery solution Im considering seems to be pretty simple fix of tightening the ligaments and scraping out the arthitis that has formed. Anyone out there have any experience with this type of surgery or Lance Silverman as a ankle/foot orthopedic ?

[Barry P]

I think one of the factors with younger riders is that they are still choosing from a wider palette of pursuits and likely balancing more needs than us old guys... and good for them. Decades ago I dabbled in a wider array of ways to be active and have fun. I've trimmed many out as I have identified the ones that give me the highest return for how I'm made, and for the time & money I have available. And then there are the other factors for 'young guys' competing for their time and money... women. And once you have one, kids and helping to advance their pursuits. All very very good. Back in Windsurfing days, when my kids were young, a good season was scoring more than 4 sessions. Again... all very good.

Rob... here's a ray of hope with your ankle issues. I've been complaining about my right ankle for years and last fall figured that avoiding a surgery much longer was impossible. Then I got the goofy idea to just try taping to give my feeble structure down there some help. I messed around with many configurations and finally arrived at a very simple one that fits my need. Terry Dunklee can tell you its not very 'standard' but it sure works. I've been riding with a few variations on the same theme now for months and I think I've wound back the injury clock by at least five years. Give me a call, I'm happy to share what works for my type of destruction 7 six 32 three too to 726.

I find that Kiting fixes many things. If my back is bothering me, I go kiting. If my neck is out of whack: I haven't been kiting enough. A session fixes that. If I'm getting a gut, go kiting. I like where you are going Randy. I think that in terms of longevity, its very important to PLAY. Grinding away at the Gym doing reps is better than using the couch & remote, but while there I'm always wrestling with that little voice saying "are we done yet?". I barely like it. I never sneak out of work to go to the gym. Kiting or SUPing, Surfing, Skiing, Snowboarding, or other active pursuits that are truly enticing and feed the soul in addition to the body are worth it... find those activities where that little voice is saying "just one more, please?". Get a great workout and get a great 2 hour vacation too. I think falling and enjoying falling is important. Learning and changing is important. I'm 61 now and people say 'Are you sure you should be doing things like this?'. I'm deep into the 'use it or loose it' phase of life, I suppose... I'm going to use it and avoid abusing it.

[MK]

"just one more, please?"

Barry, Great word choice and juxt-positioning. I am routinely afllicted with just one more, while deep in the throws of only 4 sessions a summer. I think I'll try to squeeze one in now on Med Lk at the 3 rivers park beach.

Maybe consider all getting together at Jim's new cider brewery 6pm Saturday Oct 26th, NE Mnpls. I have plans to announce more formally a gathering but recall when Randy coordinated an end of summer gathering and enjoyed it. The date and time have been shored up as of this morning. Now it's time to welcome the idea out to you all.

[scottman]

Thought I would Chime in, Scott Ridout now Scottman, it's been a long time that we have all been kiting, I think a very big part of the lack of youth I hate to say it is the cost of the sport. I don't know another sport now days that if you want to buy a new kite and board or two kites and a board would run you almost over 3K, the price on kites has gone crazy and I think it really has detered some people including myself from buying new kites. Back in the day 2003 kites in my mind were affordable for the most part, at one point in time I have 22 kites I can barley afford 1 new kite now days at 900 to 1200 just for the kite and now they charge 350 to 450 for the bar and another 20 for the pump, man it's like the airlines trying to bag you for everything they can get you for, used to be one packaged deal? Anyway I say this because almost every time we would have a kiting event and a parent would come up to me to talk about kiting the second question out of there mouth was " so how much does this all cost, " and when I told them the interest just kind of faded away. The younger people in my opinion are either going to college or are just getting out into the workforce can't afford an 1800.00 kite and then board and harness new, they look for used stuff which is not cheap either, I don't know how the cost exploded to what it is today but if kite companies would want to spark more interest again they should really think about bringing the prices back down, just my thoughts.

[JRN]

THAT'S MAGIC!! Only Belden could manage to make getting old, & in my case crusty, seem positive...backed up, of course, by RJ's philosophical take on LIFE. I have been in denial of my own decrepitude for decades. For some reason, feeling 22 seems natural until the reality check each morning in front of the mirror. I have enjoyed "maturing" with the rest of you, but the spirit of Peter Pan is alive and well. It is just the lengthy healing time between kitemares that is getting old.

[scottman]

Could not have said it any better Jim.

Kite on peoples and kite hard!