You might find it strange, but even if I’m not a fervent “technologist” (i.e., a technology-mad), once in my life I really loved a telephone. It was my Nokia 6021, a simple device without any frill, which always worked perfectly and which died in the sea of Sabaudia just last Sunday. To be more exact, I dived in with the mobile in my pocket. To my defence, I must say that I wasn’t paying attention because I was walking on sharp rocks and I am always afraid to hurt myself (what a sissy). I noticed that it was in the pocket of my boxer only after almost ten minutes of swimming. Poor 6021! Fancy that for three years it had been the most important object of my life, and I really held it dear. What I liked the most was the ringtone I chosen from the first day I bought it. A Gymnopedie Nr.1 by Erik Satie, satirical musical par excellence, destruction of the pretentious with his own instruments. The number one, flat and original at the same time, touching and romantic as the best songwriter’s love ballads always are. In a word, Satie: founder of crazy personal churches, anarchistic bear who always lived in isolation, always all alone apart from the model, painter and ex trapeze artist Suzanne Valadon, the only one with whom he had a known love affair. In short, a sound meter who surely would have a lot in common with the people about whom we often talk about on this blog. Satie and his ringtone. A way to say goodbye to my old phone but also to remember, if necessary, that electric guitars and synths are not the only things to live for. To remember that everything could vanish from your life in a minute, and how fragile all the things around us are: for years, this device seemed to be eternal, then it completely disappeared in about ten minutes.
I’ll buy a new mobile. I’ll try to swim in that sea of technology stuff, growing kitschier by the day. But I think I can manage it. 6021 is not on the market anymore, but I’ll look for something similar. Let’s hope it’ll work as well. Let’s hope that it’ll have a Gymnopedie ringtone, or at least something similar.

Vi sembrerà strano, ma pur non essendo affatto un fervente “tecnologo” (leggi, fanatico di tecnologia) nella mia vita ho amato molto un telefono. È il mio Nokia 6021, senza fronzoli e orpelli, ma sempre perfettamente funzionante, che è finito nel mare di Sabaudia proprio domenica scorsa.
Di più, mi ci sono proprio tuffato, col cellulare in tasca. A mia parziale discolpa, il fatto che ero distratto dal fatto di camminare sulle rocce e avevo paura di farmi male (che donnetta). Mi sono accorto che era nella tasca del costume dopo almeno dieci minuti di nuotata. Povero 6021! E pensare che per tre anni è stato probabilmente l’oggetto più presente nella mia vita, mi ci ero proprio affezionato.
Mi piaceva soprattutto la suoneria che, fin dall’inizio, vi ho sempre associato. Una Gymnopedie Nr.1 di Erik Satie, satira in musica per eccellenza, distruzione dell’accademismo con gli strumenti dell’accademia. La numero uno, monocorde e originale al tempo stesso, commovente e romantica come le migliori ballate da cantautore.
Satie, insomma: fondatore di folli chiese personali, orso anarcoide che viveva isolato da tutto e tutti, sempre solo a parte la modella, pittrice ed ex trapezista Suzanne Valadon, l’unica con la quale si sappia che ha avuto una storia. Insomma, un misuratore del suono che sarebbe sicuramente stato bene tra quelli di cui si parla spesso in questo blog. Satie e la sua suoneria. Un modo per salutare il mio vecchio telefono, ma anche per ricordare, se ce ne fosse bisogno, che chitarre elettriche e sintetizzatori non sono poi tutto, nella vita. Ma per ricordarsi anche che tutto può svanire all’improvviso, di quanto siano fragili le cose che ci circondano: per anni questo apparecchio sembrava una presenza immutabile, e nel giro di dieci minuti è scomparso totalmente.
Comprerò un nuovo telefono. Dovrò districarmi in quel mare di tecnologia sempre più kitsch ma ce la farò. Il 6021 non è più in commercio, cercherò qualcosa di simile. Speriamo che funzioni altrettanto bene. E che tra le suonerie abbia la Gymnopedie, o almeno qualcosa di simile.

clicca per ingrandire

Nello  specifico, la mostra contiene le opere del ciclo de La nuotatrice (vedi immagine in alto) tema prediletto e soggetto caratteristico dell'autore, vera e propria ossessione necessaria, da alcuni anni vocazione pressoché esclusiva della sua pittura. [Nelle grandi tele azzurre e calde della Nuotatrice, dolcemente ossimoriche nella loro avvolgente freddezza
che assorbe con tepore, è racchiusa tutta la poetica di Francesco Canini. Per questo egli afferma che la
Nuotatrice lo accompagnerà per tutta la vita. [...]

I suoi quadri tornano ad essere universi in sé conchiusi, rarefatti eppure densi, che proprio grazie al loro
isolamento riescono a comunicare con la realtà; una realtà non più imitata, quella che Francesco Canini
dipinge nelle sue opere, bensì trasfigurata: scissa dal mondo e dal tempo, la Nuotatrice ci parla della Storia e
della Natura.

Attraverso un grande lavoro di ricerca sui toni e sui colori, tratto fondamentale e peculiare dell'autore,
Francesco Canini attua e suggerisce un approccio emozionale con il reale, al fine di trovare un assoluto
pittorico: la pelle della nuotatrice, accarezzata dall'acqua, compenetrata dal mare e sovente fusa con esso, si
fa anima incarnata, ma d'una sovrannaturalità che appartiene tutta alla sfera artistica.
La nuotatrice di Canini è una divinità insieme degli abissi e delle altezze, delle profondità marine e dei picchi
celesti del pensiero; una dea desacralizzata, terrigena e terrena, ma improfanabile nella sua impenetrabile
placidità che sa d'ignoto, d'infinito e imperituro.
Francesco Canini ci svela il più intenso dei segreti: l'arte è il luogo eletto dell'immortalità. L'unico.
E viceversa.

(citazioni dal testo critico di Claudio Gianvincenzi).

Per informazioni:

Museo Emilio Greco, piazza del Comune, Sabaudia

0773.515791 0773.514263
servizio.cultura@comune.sabaudia.latina.it

www.francescocanini.it

info@francescocanini.it

]]> http://apienavoce.wordpress.com/?p=37 Sun, 01 Jun 2008 13:41:42 +0000 apienavoce http://apienavoce.wordpress.com/?p=37

Pier Paolo Pasolini e le dune di Sabaudia - febbraio 1974

[...] Comunque, tutte le "realtà" e le "fantasie" possono prendere forma solo attraverso la scrittura, nella quale esteriorità o interiorità, mondo ed io, esperienza e fantasia, appaiono composte della stessa materia verbale; le visioni polimorfe degli occhi e dell'anima si trovano contenute in righe uniformi di caratteri minuscoli e maiuscoli, di punti, di virgole, di parentesi; di pagine , di segni allineati fitti fitti come granelli di sabbia rappresentano lo spettacolo variopinto del mondo in una superficie sempre uguale e sempre diversa, come le dune spinte dal vento del deserto.

Beh, con calma oggi mi concedo alcune riflessioni... in fin dei conti il mio viaggio nel Centro dell'Italia è stato dal primo Maggio al sei compreso, quindi di cose cavolo... ne ho fatte e viste!

Frosinone stessa col suo Belvedere presenta un panorama gradevole, deve esser spettacolare la sera con quella leggera brezza che ho avuto il piacere di cogliere... certo poi lo spettacolo vero doveva ancora venire pur avendo provato quanto è duro... il pavimento a dormirci su! Hihihi, il resto si censura, però l'approccio con Roma è stato... Caos!

Ma come si fa a far certe strade o certi svincoli!!! Milano a paragone è una città che non sa che è il traffico!!! Dovevo guidare con gli occhi sulle spalle, sul navigatore ed ai lati per non farmi passar sopra e mi son adeguato! Di Ikea ne parlerò in un futuro post... però si... ho passato anche le forche caudine svedesi.

La spettacolarità di Roma si è presentata nei giorni seguenti girando per le vie del Centro... luoghi difficili da affrontare con chi ho avuto la fortuna di aver condiviso questa esperienza e... pur coi miei limiti credo che again... step by step on the stairs of life...

Ultimo ma non ultimo, il Mare... Sabaudia... "Tony" ed il suo pesce in riva al Mare... sul lungoMara, ed una spiaggia, un azzardato tuffo nell'acqua ancora gelida e lo spettacolo dell'azzurro del Cielo che circondava  il Tuo Viso al Vento... Tutto ciò... resterà dentro me.

L'architettura è un segno della vita di una società e rappresenta il livello di sviluppo culturale, economico e politico di un'epoca. Dunque, possiamo dire che l'architettura è la testimonianza storica dei progressi di questa era rappresentata. La città difatti è il sistema artificiale più complesso e che vive i cambiamenti più lenti, perché più stabilizzatori, tra quelli ideati dall'uomo, e la progettazione, la costruzione e l'organizzazione di questo sistema artificiale è la sfida più grande per l'intelletto umano. Non è un caso se storicamente, ogni grande imperatore, o regnante in generale, che si sia rispettato abbia, tra le prime cose, fondato la propria città, o modificato completamente le città esistenti. Dalle trasformazioni della Roma rinascimentale e barocca da parte dei papi, fino alle città di puro marchio fascista, la forma urbana è stato il principale brand con cui il governo di tutto mostra l'applicazione pratica della propria ideologia.
Non a caso Piccinnato parla così della sua Sabaudia:

[...] Non più la città murata contrapposta alla campagna, la città che impone enormi spese e non produce, la città fine a se stessa e che in sé si conclude, ma nuove forme urbane aperte e decentrate, ragionevoli ed equilibrate con la loro funzione [...] Una città indissolubilmente legata al suo territorio [...]

Rappresentativo di una città nato per volere di un fascismo che si presentava allora come ente modernizzante assoluto, ed allo stesso tempo promotore dell'autarchia.

Agli inizi del ventunesimo secolo l'evento urbanistico di maggiore spicco è la crescente urbanizzazione della Cina che, guidata da un governo fortemente presente il quale si fa ideologia di se, non poteva sottrarsi a questa sorta di legge storica. Pechino, Beijing e Guangzhou sono le tre città che stanno aumentando il vantaggio concorrenziale al livello globale. Forgiati sotto il segno di produzione, sport, cultura, questi centri mondiali non potevano che essere lo specchio dell'ideologia nazionalistica cinese: produttività esasperata, consumismo edilizio che preme affinché studi mettano a punto edifici in tempi strettissimi, con conseguente calo di qualità diffusa e frequente abbattimento diffuso di edifici realizzati poco tempo prima, ma ormai considerati (giustamente, vista la qualità di produzione) fatiscenti. Consumismo per consumismo. Della Cina in architettese spesso si citano i progetti virtuosi degli europei e delle loro bizzarrie, i quali, viste le possibilità offerte, si sentono di poter sperimentare quanto di meglio hanno nel loro repertorio. Ed anche di più. Questo con effetti positivi su una generazione di architetti che si trova, dopo il predominio dell'influenza del neo realismo URSS, assolutamente senza maestri. Sotto quest'ottica è facile comprendere i motivi dell'esplosione (in termini numerici) di un'enormità di studi clone formati dal riflesso degli stranieri. Come ad esempio succede nel rapporto tra lo studio MAD e Zaha Hadid. Ma ovviamente il pensiero torna ancora una volta al razionalismo italiano: cosa sarebbe stato Terragni senza aver capito la lezione franco/tedesca? Sotto questa luce il fenomeno di questi ennesimi manieristi ci appare del tutto nuovo e certamente più interessante che come viene dipinto dalla deriva antiglobalizzatrice. E' certo, la Cina è una dittatura, e la sua politica è un danno sia ambientale che economico per il resto del mondo, ma come il revisionismo storico recupera architetti schierati verso il fascismo, per noi deve essere interessante capire con cosa ci dobbiamo scontrare. Dunque, se la città cinese è dominata dal consumo e riuso continuo di territorio organizzato in modo pessimo, è anche vero che i medio/piccoli studi di architettura stanno imparando a giocare con le armi della scenografia e dell'architettura effimera.
Si sta vivendo quello che in Europa si viveva con le avanguardie storiche, con l'accettabile vittima della tradizione immolata per uno sviluppo del tutto inatteso da parte degli utenti della città: la gente comune.

Per costi, prenotazioni e informazioni, scaricate la locandina cliccando sull'immagine:

Per il lunedì di Pasquetta, 24 marzo, è stata organizzata una coppia di escursioni: Lavori in corso - Tra lestre e carbonai (ore 9.30 e ore 11 dal centro visitatori del Parco del Circeo) e Il bello della palude (alle 15.30 da Cerasella). La partecipazione è gratuita, è comunque gradita la prenotazione. Per informazioni, c'è la seconda locandina qui sotto:

ma la sorpresona arriva con TravelCast, un algoritmo che, basandosi sulle ricerche e sui post degli utenti, predice le future destinazioni top. ebbene sì, queste sono le future star del 2008 (comparate con la classifica del 2007 a destra, così per curiosità):

  1.  Jerba, Tunisia                       Pamukkale, Turkey 
  2.  Makandi Bay, Egypt                   Parga, Greece
  3.  Phangnga, Thailand                   Ayr, Scotland 
  4.  Kovalam, India                       Campeche, Mexico
  5.  Sabaudia, Italy                      Marrakech, Morocco
  6.  Asilah, Morocco                      Naxos, Greece 
  7.  Ko Phangan, Thailand                 Puno, Peru 
  8.  La Plagne, France                    Soller, Spain 
  9.  Yangshuo, China                      Salvador, Bahia, Brazil 
  10. Kotor, Montenegro                    Fes, Morocco

Fanno parte del circuito di Trip Advisor anche indipendenttraveller.com, bookingbuddy.com, cruisecritic.com, seatguru.com, smartertravel.com, travel-library.com e travelpod.com. il tutto dà vita alla più grande comunità di turisti al mondo (5 milioni di utenti registrati, 10 milioni di recensioni, 25+ milioni di visitatori mensili).

immagino saremo tutti a Sabaudia la prossima estate (non pensavamo ad altro).

We've been back in DC for just over a week now. Things got a little hectic before leaving Italy. It's tough dealing w/ a 2 year old and a 2.5 month old. And to top it off, the waves were pretty flat, hence the Spinal Tap reference (better yet, see here). The point being, if they measured in feet what they measured in inches, the waves would have been fantastic. But they were best measured in inches (measuring in feet would have resulted in some small and confusing fractions).

I did learn something important about the Mediterranean sea. When the waves are flat, head out on the boat. Here's a few pictures of how we enjoyed ourselves doing that. Here's a cove, just south of us, outside a town call Sperlonga.

Here's a picture of Circeo from the boat. Our house is on the opposite side of the Mountain.

Now that we am back from Italy, I should write a final post summarizing my Sabaudia progress. But I'll wait on that. What's really on my mind now is the board I ordered for here in the U.S. (basically the same exact set-up as my Italy board, but in mustard yellow). I am heading down to the Outer Banks of NC to pick it up and try it out in two weekends. Expect more pictures and updates. Until then, I am mostly landlocked.

To compensate for my lack of energy, I tried catching the medium sized waves (2 to 3 feet?) rather than the very biggest (3 to 4 feet?). As I sit here now, I still think that plan was conceptually sound. I just didn't execute it very well. I paddled and missed some medium sized waves and then ended up far enough in where the bigger ones got me for another round of pounding. That's pretty much how the morning went. I came to conclusion that it wasn't my day and decided to head back to the beach without catching much of anything. I hated the idea of leaving the water on a sour note for the same reasons I don't like to leave the gym without making my last basket. But I did. Both the body and brain need a rest sometimes and you always see people, especially aging out-of-their-element athlete types, get hurt by pushing themselves when they are tired. So I went to play with Irene and Milo on the beach.

I had fun doing that. After a while, I noticed that the waves had died down just a bit. The temptation to head out again set in. I thought about it for a while. The lingering sour taste trumped wisdom and I went back out. (I am only 36, after all. And give wisdom it's due. At least there was a debate. ) My medium-sized wave strategy worked a little better in the marginally smaller waves and I caught a good ride within about 5 minutes. I realized when paddling back out, my reasoning no longer tainted by this morning's frustrations, that my legs really were pretty tired. So I turned around and took a leisurely and very content paddle back to the beach. I think that return paddle might have even included a little dance as well. Not entirely sure on that. But I am sure that the one ride made a big difference morale-wise. I am also sure that I should at least seriously contemplate a day or two away from the board for purposes of recuperation.

Neither my one ride or return paddle dance was caught on film. But I did get a good picture of somebody having a lot more fun on "Papa's boat" this morning than me:

Note To Commenters: We are working on getting some pictures of the girl, but it's hard because she doesn't do all that much yet.

Note to Serious Surf Types: This picture doesn't show waves the size of the ones that mowed me down earlier. Those waves break over to the right. Or, you can think of it like my good friend Mike C. Who are you going to believe? Me or your lying eyes?

Here is what I have learned so far:

General Comments:

• Everything you might have read about this sport being a good way to get exercise is true.
• The board is heavy, so getting it to and from the beach is non-trivial. I use carry my board and paddle in a 12' travel bag and get to the beach by walking down a steep 100 yard path. My body is plenty sore from a week of SUPing. That includes a little bit of shoulder burn from the bag's shoulder strap.
• This is pretty much a solo effort for me. I have yet to have any interaction with anybody else that has ever SUPed. Everything I know about the sport I have learned from the internet or on the phone from the people I bought the board from. There are surfers here, but not that many, especially during the week when hardly anybody is at the beach. So I haven't had much interaction with them., either. While I am somebody who is comfortable with figuring things out on my own, this is a sport where some sort of live mentoring would surely be helpful as would a fellow novice to share the experience with. Some friends will join us here at the house starting this weekend, so that may change things a little.

Sabaudia Conditions:

• This is a beach break and does not at all resemble the beautiful flowing waves that you see on some of the online videos in surf meccas like Hawaii (e.g. this). Beach break waves like those here are inconsistent in height and location and also tend to be choppy. The distance between ridable waves is often about 20 yards and the time between waves seems to be as little as 5 seconds. In comparison, the online SUP videos I have seen show what is effectively a giant flat lake between beautiful rolling waves. My experience so far is largely about what happens between the waves and, in Sabaudia, that makes for a relatively scrappy experience. I look at some of those Hawaii videos in the same way a kid that plays sandlot baseball looks at Yankee stadium. It looks like a beautiful place to play. But, it is not where I play. Someday...
• That said, the waves here are surfable. There have been two prohibitively flat days. The rest all had ridable waves. I am not an expert in the art of measuring wave height, but it seems to me that the biggest waves I've seen peek in the 3 to 4 foot range.
• The best day of all was one where the wind/chop was light and the waves were big enough to break at an outer sandbar about 100 yards from the beach. Stronger wind makes for bigger waves, but also choppier waves.
• Overall, it seems like this is a good place to learn many of the basics. My balance has been tested by the chop and has improved. But, because the waves are unpredictable, I haven't really ridden waves as much as having been propelled forward by them. Hopefully that is a function of my ability rather than a limitation of the wave conditions here. I can do something about the one, but not the other.

Paddling Out:

• Everybody says this, so I just want to reemphasize the point. It is way easier to balance and paddle when the board is pointed at the waves, your shoulders square, your feet are near the outside edges the board, width-wise, and you are standing midway down the board, length-wise.
• Even waves as small as 1 foot can bang the board around. So when the waves are choppy and frequent (like those here in Sabaudia), it is way easier to get outside of the breakers when you are on top of the board than it is to try to swim the board out. The surf just throws an unmanned board all over the place. On top of the board you can put those little 1 and 2 foot waves in their place (beneath a 6 foot man, you gotta learn 'em). At the very beginning, your balance may not be good enough to stand, so kneel, or even straddle, and paddle out.
• Along the same lines, I have found that I got a good sense of how stable I could and should be on my feet by paddling around on my knees. By kneeling, I learned how easy it was to deal with the variety of situations one faces out there and used that as a target for what I should be able to do on my feet.
• At the same time, don't give in to temptation to kneel too often. I have been diligent about standing-up whenever possible and have found that I have made a good deal of progress over the week in terms of overall overall balance. At the beginning of the week the slightest of rolling waves had a high probability of tossing me if I was standing parallel to the wave. Now I can handle them pretty comfortably. It's almost second nature, though surprise waves still throw me every so often or, worse, force me to do some sort of awkward, wounded-bird balancing act until the next wave comes and throws me.
• Keeping a low center of gravity helps. That is, bend you legs just like you would (should?) when playing defense in basket ball. You can just balance and react a whole lot better. But, that's easier said than done after you've been out there for a while and your legs are burning.
• I am still wrestling with the ideal paddle length. I bought both a wood paddle and a carbon paddle. I have been using the wood paddle until I get the length issue worked out. The standard recommendation seems to be ~7" longer than you. Given my height, I didn't have to cut the paddle at all, but it feels to long.
• My Jimmy Lewis 11-footer has a Jimmy Lewis deckpad. I cannot imagine waxing this whole board regularly, so I think the deck pad is the way to go. It definitely gives good traction. It beat up my knees at the beginning, but that's not a problem anymore.
• My 12' leash is always getting caught up in things. This mainly happens when I get caught inside and I am trying to get back on the board before the next wave breaks on me. Once the leash got wrapped around my pinky-toe when and a wave caught and dragged the board. It felt like my toe was about to get severed, but it didn't. I can see the appeal of booties, but I like the leverage I get from my toes.

Catching Waves:

• I can catch waves fairly regularly if they hit me as I am facing toward the beach and paddling into the wave.
• But that is a big if. I am not very good at positioning myself to catch waves. As best I can tell, that is part SUP ability and part wave knowledge. That said, I only have so much in the way of tips to offer here. Any advice/suggestion from more experienced SUPers would be appreciated.
• The big thing I am wrestling with is where I should position myself as I am looking out at incoming waves. I now have enough of sense of the wave patterns here to be able to reasonably anticipate when and where good waves will come. But I cannot yet do a full 180 turn in the 5 seconds or so between when two good waves arrive. I am working on the lean back and pivot turn described in other places. But that takes a while to perfect and, in the meantime, I want catch some waves.
• The most effective wave catching approach for me so far is to let wave 1 pass, start turning, not make it in time for wave 2, but not get knocked over either, continue my turn and be ready to paddle for wave 3. While not graceful, it seems to work for me.
• Another approach that I toy with is just pointing the board in and looking over my shoulder at the oncoming waves. The problem here is the waves push you in and you cannot really backpaddle effectively enough to keep that from happening.
• Ultimately, the solution is to improve my turn time. This is where being in Sabaudia makes a real difference, though, because there just isn't much turn time to work with.
• I don't know the ideal stance for when you are paddling for a wave. I have found that I like to be just back from the center of the board. Sometimes I am squared up. Sometimes I am in a part-goofy foot stance. Practically speaking, I am wherever my pivot to catch the wave left me. The key thing I have learned is to be back a little so the board doesn't nosedive.
• Once the wave is actually caught, it is pretty easy to move around the board. Though, more often than not, I am still paralyzed with glee to take advantage of that.
• I have not really done much turning yet. Some have suggested changing the stock 13" JL fin with a 9" fin I brought along as well. That seems like a good idea, but I think most of why I don't turn is, essentially, ability. That' just something I need to work on.

These are my thoughts so far. As noted in earlier posts, Pono Bill's Post 158 has a more complete set of tips and useful discussion for beginning stand up paddle surfers. This page has some good pictures from my first day and this picture is the one that best captures by Sabaudia SUPing experience so far:

From my perspective, the strike wasn’t all bad. The waves on the strike day were lake-like flat. That can happen here because the waves are pretty much driven by the wind. And, as Zio Claudio explained to me, no wind and flat waves are not at all uncommon here on the Mediterranean. In fact, the lack of wind delayed the Achean assault on Troy in the Trojan War.

But like Odysseus and the rest of his army, I wasn’t going to be stopped. The next day waves picked up. They were peaking at over two feet, were very smooth (as in hardly any chop) and they were pretty predictable. I am still having trouble positioning myself very effectively to catch the waves. I rarely turn fast enough to catch the one I start off trying to catch. But every so often I get lucky and, on this day, I had a number of long rides. I called it day when I caught a sunset wave from as far out as the waves were breaking all the way in to the beach (which made for a ride of between 50 and 100 meters). I was out there alone, so I don’t have any pictures, but I pretty much felt like this guy:

Link to photo source.

Anyway, subject to the outcome of the strike, I am off for an indeterminate amount of time. I cannot go into to it in more detail now. The strike has already started and I am worried what might happen if I go on (but I am hopeful that, because my Italian is rotten, I'll get some leeway). Also, a bunch of my fellow bloggers are waiting for me at down the espresso bar.

Gotta run.

Photo from Flickr.

• Pono House Post 158
• Pohaku Beachboy Paddles Video Tips

The real story today is that I had a lot of trouble getting out of bed this morning. I was, and still am, rather sore. It’s hard for me to describe, but I think Minamoto-no-Yorimasa had it right we he talks about feeling like a rotten log half buried in the ground. Yorimasa (1104 to 1180), was Japanese nobleman and general that served eight emperors. He is known for heroically defeating a monstrous bird that threatened the imperial palace. The rotten log line was uttered, in the tradition of Japanese death poems, after losing his final battle and just before taking his own life with a sword to the gut. Here is the poem in its entirety:

Thanks to Yoel Hoffman, who compiled Japanese Death Poems, written by Zen monks and Haiku Poets on the verge of death. Without that book, which happened to be just lying around here at the house, I surely would not have been able to provide the Japanese translation. Out of respect to Yorimasa, today’s post will not include a picture.

[GRANDPARENT ALERT: You will be rewarded for continuing to read through this SUP stuff.]

After about 20 minutes of trying to walk through the waves with the board, I learned a valuable lesson. In the off chance that somebody in the future reads this blog for beginner tips, here’s one: the board is your friend. You may not be able to stand up and paddle out on your first (or second) day trying, but it’s not all that hard to sit and straddle the thing like a horse (at least not for me, being a mostly lanky 6’2”). With that in mind, I did some serious sit-down paddle surfing for a while. It’s a lot easier to deal with oncoming waves if you can glide over them. I then got in some decent kneel and paddle surfing.

Just as things were going well, I looked up and realized that the much-spoken-of undercurrent had got me. I was never in danger, but I was almost a mile south of where I started, down near Saporetti, one of Sabaudia’s two now infamous beach restaurants (for diligent readers of this blog, that is). The walk back was just another lesson in how big and heavy my SUP board is. When I realized I was needed to help get ready for this evening’s encore birthday gathering for the boy, I called it a day. It was a little bit of a buzz kill, buy my muscles were burning.

Part of this evening’s preparation was a family trip back to the beach (my way of coping with the terrible-twos is to run the boy silly and burn a lot of energy). Down at the beach I noticed a 30-something Italian guy with a shortboard who had been there during my earlier session. We talked a little. He is a beginner too. I asked him if he got out at all today. He says, “No-uh, I am not as-uh… proud-uh as you.” I took that to mean he is a little more self-conscious than me. I-uh told him that if he thinks today looked rough, he should see yesterday’s post.

Anyway, my new plan is to head out to the beach about an hour before dinner and tell the family to, depending of the riptide, to meet my at either the restaurant to the north or the one to the south. It’ll save a walk. Also, since every post needs a good pic, here’s one of a very excited birthday boy:

I have to say, I was fairly pleased with myself out on the lake. I got up and paddled around just fine. I could turn. In anticipation of being in the waves, I worked on my quick turn moves. That was a little tougher, but doable and something that can be honed. At one point I thought about heading back to the house with my hair still dry to make a subtle little dig at Irene, who is still a little skeptical about all this. Luckily for us all, though, she came down to take some pictures and saw me take a tumble. Overall, though, the only real challenge on the lake was avoiding a water skiiing class taking place right near me.

Milo's jet-lag driven nap continued and I, supremely confident, convinced Irene to head down to the beach. We noticed coming in that the waves were as big as I had ever seen. In the back of my mind I was worried that this might be the one day during the month that the waves would be this good (check out this blog's banner) and I didn't want to risk not giving it a shot. And, like I said, things went well on the lake. But we didn't make it out without a Karen C. warning about the undertow. As it turned out, it was a red flag day. That is, the surf was anomalously..., well, anomalously something. To me, that was a good thing. It's the Mediterranean after all. I was worried I would need something anomalous waves in order for this whole SUP thing to work. Anyway, the warnings were heeded and I headed out, ready to ride some waves.

Wave riding was something that didn't really happen...

What happened was that I got pummeled. If grandmothers didn't make up such a significant part of my readership, I'd certainly use stronger language because it would more accurately reflect how badly I got beaten around. The red flags really meant that the waves were way too sloppy, choppy and rough for a beginner. In retrospect, I was every bit the stereotypical surf kook, except that I didn't put anybody in danger. In fact, I didn't have any effect on anybody in the water because I was the only kook out there. I am sure the people watching on the beach had some laughs. First and foremost among them was my ever-dedicated and supporting wife who took these pictures:


| View Show | Create Your Own

[Note: This is my first time using the slide show feature and the internet connection here in Sabaudia isn't great, so I don't know how this will turn out. Also, the accompanying song, My Chemical Romance's Welcome to the Black Parade isn't all right (e.g., it'd be nice if the color reference were red), but it isn't all wrong, either, and it's a flat out jam.]

[Note 2:  Just looked at this on MS Internet Explorer. It seems to work way better on Mozilla's Firefox.]

The truth is, though, these pictures way overstate how much time I spent "standing up" (the S in SUP). That said, I had a great time. The equipment certainly outperformed me. It was very good exercise. And it's a lot of fun to play in the water. While I risk whatever surfer machismo I might still have by saying this, I hope the sea is a little calmer next time. But I can't wait to try again. All told, the fair way to end this post is with this picture of a beaten man:

I have an idea...

Chris

progetto di due villini quadrifamiliari sul lungomare di Sabaudia (LT), in collaborazione con l'arch. Susanna Pierini