It’s the middle of June and I’m chasing my wave kitesurfing dreams off the desert coast of Northern Peru. Sparkling sun diamonds line the horizon and I’m lining up to catch the next wave coming in. I scan the area, catch the wave and my heart lights up in a way that only wave riding can bring. Instantly, my situation went from pure joy to complete helplessness as my kite fell from the sky and into the rolling wave. I’m dragged underwater and completely scared as my choices are simple: compose myself and fight for the beach or do nothing and potentially drown.
Over the past five years, kitesurfing and studying Krav Maga (self-defence) are two recreational constants in my life. With both pursuits I started simple, found a deeper connection with them, and developed my skill over time. Both journeys have brought me twisting joy and heartache, renewed athleticism and injuries, confidence and occasional self-doubt. That being said, life would be no fun without taking any chances and sometimes our passions create new tests. This little coffee read I’ve composed is basically a description of how the tenacity of one pursuit came to the rescue of the other while I was chasing a dream.
So here’s how it all went down:
To be blunt, basically I lost focus in the anticipated euphoria of the wave ride and ignored how I was presently riding the wave. Wave kitesurfing has a subtle and yet distinct way of riding a wave. Fundamentally, I rode the wave like my kite did not exist so it stopped flying and dropped in front of the breaking wave. In a wave impact zone, you do not have time to relaunch your kite and you must release it immediately. I hesitated as the kite hit the water, so the wave buried it and pulled me underwater with an intensity that felt like time itself was suspended.
Kitesurfing self-rescues are not new to me, I’ve been comically blessed with experience from having to do many of them. However this new situation was so aggressive that it knocked me temporarily senseless. I was moving but couldn’t move, suspended but free falling, untouched but trapped and squeezed. Pressure training from Krav Maga helped me restart my mind, compose myself, and trigger my kitesurfing self-rescue muscle memory. My first attempt to get out of my gear failed because the pressure of the underwater drag was jamming up the release mechanism. I intimately know my safety systems, so I improvised and managed a successful release while underwater.
But the thing about waves is that they just keep coming.
I’ll never forget the sensations of this situation: I’m underwater with my lungs burning, completely disoriented, and feel zero strength in my limbs. Despite feeling like I was being bear hugged, I know that I have to do something and get some air. I breached the surface, wiped the salt water from my eyes and simply accepted that the next wave was coming in and this was not over. This next decision sucked the most: I had to swim further out to sea towards the incoming swell and try to dive underneath it. If I immediately go for the shore, the wave would either pick me up at the point of cresting (maximum throw and drop) or it comes down directly on top of me pushing me deeper underwater. My strategy half worked.
I managed three hard strokes and kicks underwater but felt the wave collect me and throw me back into the proverbial rinse cycle. From my experience on the ocean, you can’t fight the tumble and you have to be patient for the moment the wave releases you. I lost count of the head over heel rolls while underwater but I felt a pause and kicked like hell for the surface. After a second gulp of air, I saw that I was much closer to shore so I scrambled to the beach with everything I had left.
While crawling on my hands and knees from the merciless water onto the welcoming sand, I had a hard time standing up as my brain felt that I was still in danger. As my breathing calmed, my sailing partners came running to assist me, grab the equipment and check me over. On close inspection, nothing was ripped, torn, broken, dented, or destroyed, and much to the amusement of the wave guides, I was very Canadian and said “sorry about the gear.” In the din of the surrounding laughter and the roar of the ocean, a sense of calm came over me. The sun filled my back with warmth as I realized how far I have come these past few years and I quietly offered gratitude to the ocean for showing me how all my Krav Maga training has ultimately changed me.
I know that this story is neither a standard kitesurfing or martial arts tale. The physical and mental training have helped me recover a decade long loss of personal drive and added a tested mindset that has forever become my base layer of quiet self-confidence. In a way, kitesurfing has done the same for me and that’s why both pursuits are fundamentally part of my life despite the occasional misadventure. Funny enough, it was this kitesurfing (mis)adventure that finalized the confidence I needed to face our school’s most difficult test scheduled for me within a few months of returning home; the Green Belt.
The most Krav-like thing of the whole scenario: I reset my gear and went back out.
Kida.
Written by: Ted E. – UTKM Green Belt
Audio by Jonathan Fader
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