The Guild of the Golden Helmet
Posted: Fri Jun 08, 2012 8:43 pm
The Guild of the Golden Helmet
November 8 1996. That was my day. I wrote a mid-term and then hustled on down to Cook Street where a solid 25-30 kt. westerly was on. I rigged my red North Zeta 4.5 and plugged it into my trusty Tiga 254. I went zooming out into the bay to meet my destiny: my first forward loop, landed clean with feet in the straps. Bam! Yeehaw!
I met something else that day, something I have never spoken of. You see, when I got back to the cobbled beach, there sat a small wrinkly man, sort of a leprechaun you might say. He winked at me and motioned me over to his driftwood perch where he spoke these words, “young windsurfer, you are pure and full of stoke and you have done a great thing, overcoming your fear and landing your first forward loop. for this I want to gift you this…” and with that he presented me with the magnificent GOLDEN HELMET.
He said a bunch of other things about honour and looking after it yadda yadda I can’t recall.. but what happened next is, I went out to sail some more, forgetting to strap it on- and it flew off and sank. End of story. Or so I thought. You see, last week I met the strange little man on the beach once again. And he had the golden helmet!
“Sweet dude, you found my helmet!” I exclaimed.
“Not so fast,” he smiled and winked, ”I just spent 16 years searching for this helmet and things have changed. Stoke is low. Noobs keep talking about how they will one day try a loop but they don’t follow through. This, in an age when Google and Youtube practically guide you the whole damn way. Yes I will return the helmet to you, but it is not yours to truly own. You see, your responsibility as keeper of the GOLDEN HELMET is to award it to one who is noble and worthy, one who shows they can sack/ovary up and land... their first forward loop. Forthwith, it becomes the responsibility of that sailor to determine who next shall be deemed helmetworthy, and then pass it along . and so on and so on blah de blah. Thusly, in this manner, the chain of stoke will continue in perpetuity.“ ..and with that, he disappeared in a puff of funny smelling smoke.
So that is my tale and this is my burden – to award THE GOLDEN HELMET to a brand new looper. In the sad case of no new loopers, I suppose it could go to ‘sickest trick’ or ‘most savage bail’, as witnessed by me or as gossiped by the peanut gallery on the beach on any given day (this way, guys that already loop can also share in the fun).
BUT if you want it, you have to earn it. And then pay it forward. This is how legends are made.
are you helmetworthy?
November 8 1996. That was my day. I wrote a mid-term and then hustled on down to Cook Street where a solid 25-30 kt. westerly was on. I rigged my red North Zeta 4.5 and plugged it into my trusty Tiga 254. I went zooming out into the bay to meet my destiny: my first forward loop, landed clean with feet in the straps. Bam! Yeehaw!
I met something else that day, something I have never spoken of. You see, when I got back to the cobbled beach, there sat a small wrinkly man, sort of a leprechaun you might say. He winked at me and motioned me over to his driftwood perch where he spoke these words, “young windsurfer, you are pure and full of stoke and you have done a great thing, overcoming your fear and landing your first forward loop. for this I want to gift you this…” and with that he presented me with the magnificent GOLDEN HELMET.
He said a bunch of other things about honour and looking after it yadda yadda I can’t recall.. but what happened next is, I went out to sail some more, forgetting to strap it on- and it flew off and sank. End of story. Or so I thought. You see, last week I met the strange little man on the beach once again. And he had the golden helmet!
“Sweet dude, you found my helmet!” I exclaimed.
“Not so fast,” he smiled and winked, ”I just spent 16 years searching for this helmet and things have changed. Stoke is low. Noobs keep talking about how they will one day try a loop but they don’t follow through. This, in an age when Google and Youtube practically guide you the whole damn way. Yes I will return the helmet to you, but it is not yours to truly own. You see, your responsibility as keeper of the GOLDEN HELMET is to award it to one who is noble and worthy, one who shows they can sack/ovary up and land... their first forward loop. Forthwith, it becomes the responsibility of that sailor to determine who next shall be deemed helmetworthy, and then pass it along . and so on and so on blah de blah. Thusly, in this manner, the chain of stoke will continue in perpetuity.“ ..and with that, he disappeared in a puff of funny smelling smoke.
So that is my tale and this is my burden – to award THE GOLDEN HELMET to a brand new looper. In the sad case of no new loopers, I suppose it could go to ‘sickest trick’ or ‘most savage bail’, as witnessed by me or as gossiped by the peanut gallery on the beach on any given day (this way, guys that already loop can also share in the fun).
BUT if you want it, you have to earn it. And then pay it forward. This is how legends are made.
are you helmetworthy?
looks like you guys might have to pass the helmet back and forth a few times, whoever gets the best result. hopefully it comes down to pistol!! 
