- Upwind towards the kindergarten
- by Ewa Siwon
After the first look through the window I knew that it was going to be „the day” – the trees were dancing with the wind. I drove Bartek, my 4 years old son to the kindergarten, packed my stuff: wetsuit, harness and a towel in the car and off I went to the Zegrze lake (20 km away from my home). It was after 11:00 a.m. – the boys from the spot were still sleepy as they always are after a good party last night but I met one freak who just finished the morning windsurfing session and he told me where the wind was blowing at its best. Going all the time downwind I sailed away from my shore and found myself in the center part of the lake. It was better than I expected – being slightly overpowered I started blasting to and fro with a smile on my face.
It wasn’t a well-thought move but at that time I didn’t have time to think how long would it take to go back upwind all the time. After like 2.5 hours I decided to finish the fun and return home – I had to take my boy from the kindergarten before 4:00 p.m and I was in the most northern part of my city while he was in the most southern one.
So I started the upwind session – unfortunately I was not very good at it and the effects were rather miserable – as soon as I earned some height I lost almost the whole of it after the next tack. It was 2:30 p.m. and I was still stuck in the middle of the lake with my 7.4 m sail and the energy running out. Finally I made a decision – I need to get to the spot on the „wild beach”. I recalled that guys who work there have an old van and can give a lift to those who cannot manage on the water. Luckily, I came across one of them. Seeing my begging eyes with the visible maternal instinct he agreed to drive me to my original spot after I have disassembled my rig. Within the next few minutes I must have made a great show for everybody – a young mother struggling with the gear trying to keep the Guinness World Record pace.
Uhh, at last I managed to pack all these things into the van and we arrived at the spot. It was 3:30 p.m.– in half an hour I was supposed to knock on the kindergarten door but I was still standing there 20 km away in my wetsuit and harness, completely wet and in chaos. My dear friends helped me put my stuff into the storage while I rushed to change my clothes. I made my take off at 3:45. Racing through the small villages surrounding my city I was praying for the absence of tractors, traffic jams and cops but I knew that my arrival to the kindergarten on time was impossible.
Using my mobile I called the teacher from the kindergarten and suppressing the feeling of guilt toward my kid I mumbled something about the traffic jams in the downtown and tried to excuse my delay. At 4:20 p.m. I reach the place – of course my Bartek was the only one soldier in the battlefield at that time so I apologized the teacher-auntie for being late. „Never mind – she said – no one can help the traffic jams. O dear, you must have been sweating in that car, your hair is completely wet ...” Yeah, I was sweating – especially at my 20th tack. Next time I will come to the kindergarten in my black wetsuit – at least this will let me save another 15 minutes.