P.C_simpson said...

hey thought this topic was about doing drugs then going sailing, seams to be transformed into a drug and alcohol lecture.

Annoying isn't it!!

But one could also question the ethics and responsibility of even putting up such a topic? What the F have drugs got to do with windsurfing? Isn't the buzz of windsurfing enough? Is it part of our culture that we even have to consider such a question? If someone "should" have the right to freedom of speech and put this topic on a public forum, then those old fuddy duddy father figure types such as myself who see the damage alcohol and drugs do on a daily basis, also have the right to respond and vigorously challenge the whole drug issue!!

I mean how demeaning: Can I take drugs while windsurfing so I can get more of a buzz? F me dead, the whole topic should be deleted by laurie, I find it quite irresponsible and offensive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And you wanna defend it!!!!! As if this topic contributes to the sport or life in some way? If this topic has a right to exist, then the negatives have to be stated, whether you feel it's a temperence lecture or not.

If ya don't like the lecture, then ask laurie to ban it!!!!!! As if we don't have enough f'ing problems with drugs in our culture without putting this crap up, and then some young dude reads this and says "Oh I might try ecstacy next time I go w'surfing coz XXX says it's way cool"

stehsegler said...

easy tiger...

If ya want the freedom to express, without filtering, nor thinking about the consequences of who might read this, (age, vulnerability, people who work in the field), then accept the consequences!!

I'm personally offended by the topic, and I want people to know, the negative side of this issue. My 10 yr old daughter occassionally reads this while looking over my shoulder, and Of course, I stop her reading when this sort of crap appears, but who else is reading this, who is around to filter this crap?????

If any child or adolecsent reads this topic, then I want them to read what I've got to say, and not just what you cool dudes have to say on the subject

hey don't shoot the messenger. I have never said you are not entitled to your opinion. You say I'm entitled but you you say "easy tiger", contradiction here?


At the same time I hope you have had a good with your 10 year old about the use of drugs. Here in Sydney I know kids that age who have already been offered drugs at their local school yard. happens here in Perth

Some people might take the blanked "drugs are bad, mkay" approach. But as we all know that what is forbidden seems to have the biggest attraction to teens and pre-teens alike. Well supply and demand is one of the key issues here, there is too much supply and therefore demand. Demand is created by Social acceptabilty and cultural rights of passage, and associating drugs with windsurfing is a way of creating social acceptability and another right of passge, which I think is very harmful.

Hence I still stand by my point of open eduction about drugs and effects rather then a blanket demonising of the subject. Open education is fine with me, and I thought I was opening up the education. Blanket demonizing isn't always helpful either, but creating a socially acceptable pathway to drugs through windsurfing......a I think is totally f'ed.

But that's just my opinion. You are entitled to your opinion as I am to mine.

I mean what is the point to aging if ya don't get some wisdom and share it? You have too many losses with ageing, but you get experience and some wisdom, and since I haved worked in drug rehab, and continue to work in this field, I think I have an obligation to put a very negative spin on it. The positives of drug taking which there are a few such as pain management, anxiety reduction, mood alteration, are far outweighed by the mechanisms which these drugs produce these effects. Just take alcohol, long term pain management gets worse, anxiety disorders increase over time, depressive mood and clinical depression deteriorate significantly, brain damage, early onset memory loss, liver damage, relationship breakdown, Motor vehicle accidents, violence and crime, the list is never ending....... There are many more healthy ways to heal these things than D&A.

Just have to say that studies have shown that even one glass of alcohol can cause slower reflexes..
Surely this then comes down to a safety aspect, especially when you are blasting along at 20 knots.
Are you able to react as quickly as you should when that floating object suddenly appears before you?
Or that wave starts to break before it usually does?
Or that bikini babe suddenly loses her top right in front of you..

I think I will stick to having a nice cool beer after I have been sailing

BTW, both cases I described where one off's. Neither of us usually get drunk first before going out on the water. In both cases there are back stories to the reasons behind I don't want to get into here.

Wet Willy asked if anyone had ever done it before and what their experience was. I described mine.

If any of you reading this are teenagers please note that drugs are bad mkay... and don't bother with the beer. Most of the stuff brewed in this country is s*** anyway and you most likely won't be able to afford the good stuff.

Have to go back to work so I can go for a sail shortly...

I used to race sailing dinghies (cherubs).

It was a well recognised fact that on drifters (wind<5knots), you sailed MUCH better with a hangover. I think because you would just sit completely still, so your movements wouldn't slow the boat down.

Don't think that really applies to windsurfing/kitesurfing in any sort of a breeze but

I regularly drive under the influence of windsurfing..

On the way there, I'm all edgy, often sweaty and twitching, impatient, and sometimes not that courteous to other traffic.

After a good dose of windsurfing I'm on a buzz, real laid back, and I don't care who pulls into my lane or whether they indicate or not. My speed tends to be lower, as does my heart rate. I find that often my use of hands and feet is slightly impaired, and if it's been a big session I'll ache all over.

Personally, those effects are more than enough to deal with without adding to the stress on my body artificially.

Drugs are bad.. Beer is good, but only in small doses, and not if you're driving. (especially if you're having a beer immediately after sailing, and before driving home!)

unless your an olympic snowboarder

A couple of years ago I went skiing with some mates. There was one run that was a bit challenging for me, I'd made it down a couple of times with only one or two offs, so it was a good test of abilities.

Somehow a joint was shared between me and my mate at the top of the run.

Holy dooley... I'd make it about five metres before coming unstuck and then have to find my skis and poles when I'd stopped sliding. Lather, rinse, repeat, for the next 20 minutes before I finally made it to the bottom of the slope. I'm never doing that again

I'd imagine windsurfing would be much the same, with the added risk of drowning if something odd happened. No way I'd ever try it.

That said, the deepest dive I made and most connected with the ocean I felt was the morning after an all night rave where a disco biscuit was consumed... I guess Wet Willy might be right, cocaine or speed might be something that would work better than a relaxant/hallucinogen such as pot, acid or MDMA.

I get such a natural high from windsurfing and trying new stuff that I can't see any reason to take anything beforehand. A cold beer afterwards, however, is a very nice thing to do

I reckon a flat water blast on a sunny afternoon in 15-20 knots with a couple of beers under your belt could be quite relaxingGiven the right conditions you could probably manage to consume one whilst under way!

However as has been dicsussed earlier in this thread, as fun as it may be, being under the influence of alcohol whilst windsurfing is not to be recommended.

nebbian said...





I get such a natural high from windsurfing and trying new stuff that I can't see any reason to take anything beforehand. A cold beer afterwards, however, is a very nice thing to do

Oh yeah

Hardie you need to relax. I understand you may be offended by the subject matter, but the title of the thread is "Drugs and windsurfing". That is a clue to the content of the thread so don't open it especially if you have a 10 year old daughter hanging around. This is a watersports forum and there will inevitably be innappropriate comments and threads so I think it would be pertinent to access this forum when your daughter isn't around. I'm sure Wet Willy wasn't promoting drugs, he was being lighthearted. Even if he was condoning drug taking I don't think that would warrant your response. This isn't a family forum. 90% of the topics in here would be fine for a young un to read, but 10% wouldn't be. Some of that 10% I find amusing some of it I don't. But I would hate for Big Brother to descend on Seabreeze.com.au and dictate what can and cannot be said. The majority of people visiting this forum are young - middle-aged males and some do or have done drugs in the past, so I think it's quite a relevant and important topic and in my opinion should be discussed here albeit in the 'general' section.

Richiefish said...

windsurfing is the buzz. It releases natural "drugs" in ones brain(adrenaline, endorphins) but unlike other drugs you dont feel like sh1t afterwoods. In fact you feel great.

I DO SUFFER AFTER, i spend that evening on seabreeze and bom hoping to get more wind , AM I ADICTED ,

funny that, i personally knew two normal vibrant people who windsurfed who were feeling a bit down in the dumps after relationship breakups and were prescribed anti depressents and finished themselves off with a rope after there personalities radically changed upon taking said prescription "medicine" and other similar scenarios where people i know (i work in retail i know lots of people ok)have been subscribed anti depressents and said they fried their brains and don't feel like the same person. scary

Greenroom said...

Sailing under the influence is not only hurting yourself but think about the other water users. If you crashed into someone and seriously hurt them...

That's funny... when I sailed hangover bay after a few beers I nearly had a collision with another sailor because the fool jibed on the way out with out looking.

There are plenty of people that have nearly crashed into me not because of DUI but mainly because they either don't look be they jibe or jump or the drop in onto your before either because they don't know the right of way or simply because the don't look.

Remember people always look back and down wind before you jibe or jump!