YOU WILL FIND some startling articles and news in this issue of American Windsurfer. Aside from the fact that we have a nude (it seems that we can’t seem to learn from the past) on the cover and some inside pages—this issue, only two months since our last—bears witness, as well as delivering a statement, about the circle of change.
One big change since our last issue is the news that Bjorn Dunkerbeck is no longer the World Champion. The twelve-time reigning force has been unseated by an American by the name of Kevin Pritchard. Before this, only two people have held the World Title; they are Bjorn and Robby Naish. Certainly, congratulations are in order and you can read more about this in this issue.
Another change, or in this case, un-change, is the IMCO status with the Olympics. Unfortunately for those promoting the Formula Class this was a major setback. The winds of change did not blow for the popular class and many organizations, whose hopes were shattered by the decision, must find a future in shifty winds. This too you will find in this issue.
The change also is happening on Maui. Those involved in capturing the allure and beauty of the sport are faced with the bureaucratic nightmare caused by one man. One careless and confrontational windsurfer on Maui has single-handedly managed to possibly shut down the whole infrastructure of support helicopter pilots flying to capture the beauty of our sport on film. You can read more about this as well.
So the Circle of Change which our cover embodies does represent the karmic message of interaction and interconnection. Do unto others and it will come back to you. Destroy a sanctuary and the ripple of destruction reverts back to you. It is a grand circle of action and payback, reactions. It is quite simple. The circle can be positive or it can easily become negative.
We have that choice. What one man can do to crumble the works of many. What a smile can bring when we look at the mirror. What humanity can do to destroy the delicacies of a living earth. What love can do to make the world go round. Or, what one magazine cover might stir up with a blatant display of beauty and provocation.
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Our hope is to provoke you to listen to the message scribed by our Editor Diane Buccheri. Her article LifeSource is a message that we don’t want to whisper quietly. This is the message of survival! Windsurfers, like surfers, kitesurfers, swimmers, divers, kayakers, and all those whose lifesource are found in the cleansing waters we take for granted—are the ones that must take heed and awaken the first step of a global ecological trumpet.
The circle of healing must begin!
We have in our lifetime saw more destruction of the ecology than any other lifetimes. We have also inherited more individual power than any previous generations to create change. Whether this power is used constructively or destructively, we hold the key that affects change.
It all comes down to an attitude that empowers the circle of change. This circle can spiral upwards towards the heavens or spiral downwards to a living hell. Before our time is over, we will all face the consequences of our actions. For the choices we make, however big or small, reverberate through the circle of life and come back either filled with life or filled with death, filled with happiness or filled with sorrow.
For the circle cannot be broken, and no one can escape. We are either carried upwards towards fulfillment or downwards towards desperation. But we do hold the key. That key is the simple mental freedom to choose what is right and what is wrong.
Our destiny—the destiny of our sanctuary, rests on this simple choice. The choice of love, for ourselves, our neighbors, and our mother earth—or a choice of self-hatred, despise, and destruction. It is an attitude that encircles our lives. A powerful instrument that will define our brief moment in life.
—John Chao
Publisher/Editor