Gay Rights Struggle: From California Tom

Hey readers. Most of you have probably heard about California's "Prop 8", an anti-gay-marriage ammendment that narrowly passed during the recent election. In my opinion, it was a terrible step backward in our American society's journey towards true freedom and equality.

Anyway, my friend Tom, who is gay and lives in California, has been lobbying and protesting hard for the state to rescind the bigoted ammendment. He sent out this letter and these pictures, and said I could repost them here. I hope you find them inspiring. In Tom's words...

Dearest Friends and Family:

This is a very important time of change. While I am thrilled by the election of Obama, I am personally insulted that in this modern day gay people are still denied equal rights, especially in a country that claims to the land of the free and the leader of the free world. It seems odd to me that other countries that don't make these kinds of claims have to show America how to be free. Somehow homosexuality is being called a threat to national security and a sign of the coming apocalypse. In truth, it is that kind of ignorance is a far greater threat to our global security! For how long are we going to deny the realities of the world in which we live? This is no time to make false accusations and encourage superstitions.

Please enjoy the photos I have attached from a few of the world-wide protests that have taken place since the elections. Some of these photos I took myself, others are ones the press took. All of these images are from protest marches that I took part in at West Hollywood, Hollywood, and in Downtown Los Angeles. The numbers of people who come out to make themselves heard and the energy of those who participate is very inspiring. Let's ALL join together and take a stand once and for all for equality.

Thank you and my best wishes to each of you,

Tom H.

Fixed, Enriched

Last week I was in a bit of a tight spot, as described in the post "Broke, Broken".

Yeah, well, now it's all better thanks to a perfect storm of good fortune. (Be warned, the ensuing post is a bit of a shaggy-dog story.)

It started on Thursday when aspiring Olympic Windsurfer Farrah Hall stopped by Fort Pierce on her way to Miami for a regatta. She took me to meet one of her windsurfing mentors, 5-time Olympian, 2-time medal winner Mike "Gebi" Gebhardt. I knew Gebi lived in Fort Pierce, but I hadn't met him yet because he had only recently returned from Luderitz, Namibia. Down there he was coaching world-speed-record-breaking kiteboarder Rob Douglas. (Kiteboarders recently took the speed record away from windsurfers and will probably keep it because they can generate more power with less drag.)



Anyway, Farrah and Gebi are really into to natural foods because of their athletic training, so the first thing we all did together was go to Publix to buy a bunch of organic fruits and vegetables.

While we were having dinner at Gebi's house his neighbor Mike, who is also a windsurfer, came over to say hi. Mike offered to give me his 460 cm mast on an indefinite loan because he has become a wind snob who never uses the large mast anymore. I gladly accepted. That was the first bit of good luck.

The next bit of luck was when Farrah took my for-sale board down to Miami with her and for-sold it, putting moolah back in my pocket. That moolah joined some more moolah I made moonlighting Saturday as a windsurfing instructor at the Jensen Beach Sailing Center. I felt so rich I treated myself to a subway sandwich - I even splurged for the combo meal. (I was actually going to treat myself to a hotdog from a quaint roadside stand in Jensen, but I overheard the quaint proprietor telling a really nasty n-word joke to some guffawing redneck repugnicans in line ahead of me, so I peeled out of there and will never go back. If any of y'all are visiting Jensen Beach, skip the racist hot-dog stand just north of Mulligan's bar.)

Then yesterday I ran into John P. (the guy who sold me the bum mast) at the beach and told him the story about the mast breaking. He was such a gentleman that he refunded most of my money before I even hinted at anything. Shucks, all I was gonna ask for was a subway sandwich.

In honor of honest-John, here is a picture of him riding my gear the other day.

The End

The Worst People at the Beach

The ocean is huge, but not huge enough, apparently, for everyone to share it nicely. When there are a lot of people who want to use the water in different ways, conflict among opposing groups is inevitable. But which group of water users is the worst; the grouchiest, the grumpiest, the most obnoxious, territorial, self-absorbed, reckless, annoying, and/or dangerous? I'll let YOU decide, with the new poll in the sidebar and the "voters guide" below.

VOTERS' GUIDE - Note: Visual aids have been selected for entertainment value and may be only vaguely relevant

*Is it recreational fishermen? Camraderie among the brotherhood of anglers is usually pretty good, uniting generations, ethnic groups, and once-in-a-while gender. Yet, recreational fishers can have a somewhat inflated sense of entitlement with regards to "their" fish, "their" turf, "their" water, etc. Occasionially this leads to "rod rage" (the cousin of road rage and 'roid rage). Why, just the other day at the Fort Pierce Jetty, a fisherman irked by the close-passes of some kiteboarders deliberately cast a heavy lure at one, horribly entangling it in the woman's hair.


*But maybe it's the kiteboarders' fault? They do tend to get awfully caught up in their own showing-off, they take up a ton of space on the water and on the beach, and whether they're in control or not, they always seem like an accident waiting impatiently to happen.


*It's hard to turn a critical eye to ones' self, but windsurfers like me might not be the sweetest sharers, either. Our sail-side blind spots and myopic, zoned-out speeding make us like errant asteroids on collision trajectories with whoever or whatever else is on the water. Even on the beach, our scythe-like fins, battering ram boards, and swinging mast-lances are a menace to passers by.


*But what's up with those aimless beach-goers and looky-loos crowding like lemmings around the water's edge, right in the way of our more serious recreation? Why must they torment us with their blank stares, and the same, stupid questions over and over. "Lotta para-boarders out today, huh? Are there any sharks in this lake?"


*One group most people can agree to hate are the jet-skiers. Noisy, stupid, instant-gratification water-play for those without the skill to bait a hook, the fitness to pull a paddle, or the focus to balance on a board. But darn if those overpowered water-hornets aren't fun when you actually ride one yourself.


*The opposite of jet-skiers are the surfers. Surely they must be the most peaceful, low-key, in-tune players in the ocean? Nope. They've got a ridiculous, Lord-Of-The-Flies - style pecking order for who gets "their" waves. They're quick to administer verbal assaults and aquatic beatdowns among their own, and even quicker to gang up on other water users who might stray into their turf.


So, who is it gonna be?

Broke, Broken

I knew this month would be an interesting challenge when I spent most of my money on a new windsurf board last weekend.

It got more interesting this morning when I broke my only 460 cm mast.

It was a cheap, used one that I bought to replace the one I gave to my dad to take to South Carolina. It kinked at the joint when I was pumping my 6.6 sail in marginal conditions. Fortunately, I was able to sail back to the beach and didn't rip the mast sleeve.

So, that makes me a wind-snob for the rest of the month. The biggest sail I can rig on my next biggest mast is a 5.8, which takes close to 20 mph to work right. Dang.

On a not-totally-unrelated note, I still have a board for sale, some fins for sale, and I'm offering beginner windsurfing lessons evenings and weekends! All cheap.
...

Changeitude

This blog post is made up of scraps, each, in itself, much too boring to merit an entire blog post. My hope, however, is that by tying the disparate pieces together under the common theme of "changeitude", I can create an integrated whole that is less uninteresting than the second most uninteresting thing you might read on the Internet during the course of a day, thereby meriting your attention.

I'll start with the obvious: WE WON! Happy happy joy joy! How awesome that FLORIDA and VIRGINA went blue, too. Makes me happy to have lived and voted and sneezed my liberal germs all over both those places. The future of this country might actually be pretty good. Although progressives still have a lot of work to do, including undoing the stupid anti-gay laws that passed in several states.

Next up is an exciting (to me) change in my habitations that I have hinted at in previous posts: the giant board rack that my dad built for my apartment. Johnny Douglass prides himself as a connoisseur of racks - with this wonderful creation he successfully defends his reputation. Thanks, dad.

The final change to report is also windsurfing-related. I bought a new board! I have to live the rest of the month on peanut butter and crackers to pay for it, but I rode the thing Tuesday after work and have to say - it was worth it! The board is an Exocet Cross II 106 2008 (the blue one in the picture), and it replaces the Fanatic Skate 63 2001 (the white one in the picture) that was my favorite moderate-wind shortboard up until Tuesday. The main difference between the Cross and the Skate is that the Cross is shorter (242 vs. 263 cm) and has slightly less volume (106 vs. 114 liters). It still planes early, though, because it remains wide, especially in the tail section where it counts most.

The fin for the Cross (right) is really different from the one I've been using on the Skate (left). Its longer and skinner, with a higher "aspect ratio" as they say. Normally that makes a fin faster and more efficient, but more susceptible to spinning out. Also because it's not raked, it won't shed weeds. And because it doesn't have as much surface area it won't balance out as large a sail. Anyway, I'm going to try the old fin on the new board next time I go out to see how that works.

PS- The Skate (still an awesome board) is for sale, and I need to sell it quick to afford the peanut butter and crackers. I put an ad here on the Treasure Coast Windsurfing Forum.

Windsurfing Pictures - Dad and Me

I didn't think it was windy today. It just looked rainy. So I had a lazy day of reading and helping my dad build a board rack. That is, until my mom came back from a walk saying she'd just been at the beach where it was windy and there were "five windsurfers!".

Naturally, pops and I hustled down to the beach as fast as we could. There was no sign of the mystery windsurfers anymore, but there was still some side-off breeze. We rigged up 7.8 and 6.6 msq sails for our respective longboards and set out. Though the winds were marginal for planing, there was a big, smooth swell making things interesting. A squall started looming towards the end of the session so we quit before too long. It was fun, though.

Windsurfing Pictures - Me, me, and me

On Wednesday my folks drove down from South Carolina to stay with me for a week. It's nice having them here. A lot of stuff I'd been putting off, like fully furnishing and decorating my apartment, has now gotten done thanks to parental guidance. Also, I got to go windsurfing with my dad on Thursday, and he liked the big board I bought for his middle-aged re-entry into the sport (a Fanatic Viper 85 from Calema Windsurfing).

On Halloween Friday the wind and waves were rougher and my dad was complaining more than usual about his chronic hand eczema, so I didn't make him go windsurfing. I went after work, though, and my mom took some pictures from the jetty. Thanks, mom.

The pictures-

Going out. I was sailing a 6.6 Aerotech Charge on a 114 liter Fanatic Skate. That's my go-to setup for a typical breezy Fort Pierce day.

Coming in...

Carving - maybe a jibe initiation?

Life is rough in Florida.

Today the wind was a no-show, but I worked some with my dad on building a board rack. It should be cool when it's done.