Adventure Magazine Issue 227

"The more skills we have, the more we use
those skills, the more we learn new skills,
the more confidence we build."
The benefit? The learning curve becomes steeper the more
things you learn.
When I reflect on my journey with the foil, not only did I have
to figure it out and teach myself, but I was in a place of fickle
wind and cold waters doing something that was new and
unknown and simply had to do the time and figure it out on
the fly (literally).
There were moments of overwhelm, changes of wind
direction, the wind dying and having to paddle in and multiple
walks of shame. But each time there would be at least one
or two things that I’d take from the time spent doing that fed
into the bank of overall progress. Quite simply, I committed
to doing the time and progression naturally came with it and
now you’ll find me out in 40 knots finding the big rolling swells
in the middle of Lake Wanaka knowing I’m the only one out
there.
Likewise with getting my head around the more technical side
of mountain biking. If only I’d known years ago that dropper
posts were game changers in the confidence department and
that a combination of the addition of a bouncy bike, access to
progressive flow trails and riding (when possible) with a group
of others not only layered foundational skills but also layered
much needed confidence when it came to drops, jumps, rocky
terrain and more. The reminder of what I took from winter of
‘raising my gaze’ and ‘eyes up’ also made the transition from
snow to dirt.
Both of these recent examples have demonstrated how far
I have come not only in the skill department but also the
confidence and comfort in much more technical and critical
situations (weather, terrain and the likes).
The stimulation of learning and mastering new movements
keeps our mind in the game and our motivation levels higher.
It keeps us humble and heightens our awareness of the little
things that collectively make big differences.
The crux of it is this.
The more skills we have, the more we use those skills, the
more we learn new skills, the more confidence we build
allowing us to create more opportunities to enjoy more things.
In a way, it is self-perpetuating as well as keeping our minds
fresh and our hearts young.
And when we see embracing diversity of outdoor activity
as an opportunity and a gift, we might just have another
Covid-induced opportunity staring us in the face that we may
have overlooked otherwise if we choose to embrace a multidiscipline
approach to what we do.
Top to bottom: Taking the gym beneath the surface of Lake Wanaka / If in doubt, rock retro fluoro + lycra + lycra. Eagle, CO
The lure of back country turns is always worth the effort / Chasing my morning shadow along the shallows of Lake Wanaka
Did that just happen? Delayed flights, a broken board, lost luggage and borrowed gear resulted in total disbelief after
stomping the field to win the ISA World Championship race around the waters of Copenhagen Opera House, Denmark.
12//WHERE ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS/#227 ADVENTUREMAGAZINE.CO.NZ 13