Here’s another guest post from Sharon:
I went to Boracay to wait for my husband he never came…
I went to a beautiful island for 4 days with supplies for 4 days and remained castaway for 15…windsurfing really does take you on many adventures.
I was to meet my husband and our crew (one great guy called Jess, and 2 four-legged cattie friends) on our boat Tai Mo Shan off the island of Boracay. They never came: they had their own adventure. I had an island adventure all about and more of windsurfing.
Tai Mo Shan
While David battled storms, I flew across the bay on a Starboard Kode 80 with a 4.0 sail, I have never flown so far so fast alone – I think I earned my Wings, sometimes on flat water, sometimes on rolling waves and sometimes on chop. A lesson from Chris the Lounge Lizard soooooooooo relaxed instructor gave me a more relaxed planing stance and together we blasted from one side of the bay to the other. Not many people sailing so some days I got to sail with the owners of the Starboard Center, two very dubious possible rogue Swiss guys, who I am sure walked a fine line between coolness and madness. Some days I sailed with Matt, an English lovable guy who ran the hotel but would much rather be on the water. On other days, 4 Filipino guys, all self-taught, who shared incredible rivalry amongst themselves but were real gentlemen when it came to blasting past me. There were also the French bon viveur, and the guy who lives in Singapore who sails on the rough coast of Maui.
I suddenly discovered going fast is good, getting on the plane even better, and if you can jump a wave the board does a little twist of freedom before you land and plane on.
That was windsurfing but windsurfing is a bit more…it’s about chances, chances to find more.
15 days meant I got to do stuff…I got to hang out with the locals, watch the children – descendants of the Antie, original inhabitants of the island – build gardens in the sand, play with the biggest piece of styrofoam and turn it into a boat, and to sing together and run at great speed up and down the beach. I got a massage from a blind man, his ability to find my muscles and stretch them incredible. I taught the Filipinos how to wash the two dogs I found in the rubbish pile my last visit. We did have to use human shampoo but the dogs seem to enjoy the touch but may be not so keen on the smell. Every night I went to a little sit by the street and watch the people walk by, a restaurant where the owner cooked your food when you arrived and for practically nothing I could eat a wonderful vegetarian meal and drink beer. I was given a far-out dress by the best lady windsurfer on the island, and she chatted long about carve gybing. A gentle man with physical challenges who landed on the island in the 1980’s from Switzerland taught a yoga class that not only challenged my body but also my mind. I went to a very poor church high in the hills, all white with a few statues where village Filipinos so proudly dressed in their very best brought their babies to be baptised; I became a godmother to a baby so dark but so tiny and most of all so noisy, Daniela. We did lots of crosses on her head and she was going to be OK. Then we all gathered around a table and ate together fish and chicken and beef and rice mmmm good tastes.
So yes I flew with a sail on a board – it took some doing but I was lucky and windsurfing brought me closer to the real life on Boracay.
Happy Days
Sharon
[Sharon and David live in Hong Kong and sail in a variety of destinations.]
Sailing through life 
