Alright everyone, as you can tell by the title of this post I was on Paros last weekend. A good friend of mine has her birthday right in the middle of August and she also has a fantastic house overlooking New Golden and Golden Beach. For those of you who aren’t into windsurfing, Golden Beach is the absolute paradise for windsurfers of all levels! My friend Maria has invited me over many times over the last few years but I have been so busy setting up my new career, being in London, studying for my personal trainer diploma and all, that I never came round to making the boat trip to Paros… This summer I needed a much deserved mini-break, so I decided to visit her for a long weekend to celebrate her birthday and name-day (which are only 2 days apart)!

Paros is super crowded this time of the year but if you know the island well enough, there are beautiful places to swim and eat away from August madness and all the tourists. Paros is one of the most well known greek destinations for windsurfing, as New Golden Beach has hosted the PWA World Championship for many seasons in a row back in the ‘90s. There is no windsurfer in the world who hasn’t heard about or visited Paros.

Relaxing in Golden Beach Surf Club

I’m sure you all know that I haven’t been windsurfing at all for the past 2.5 years following my accident. A car hit me in April 2014 whilst I was crossing the street on foot and I broke my tibial plateau and front ligament. Even before I had the accident, I hadn’t been windsurfing much since 2011, after I last took part in the PWA Wave championship. Life is a circle though, so sometime during this long weekend on Paros, I fell in love with windsurfing again!

We spent the first day relaxing by the pool, reading and celebrating Marias’ birthday. I really needed to spend some time doing anything other than coaching. This was the first day after a long period of time that I spent a whole 24hrs relaxing, catching up with my friend and literally doing nothing!

Fantastic view from Marias’ house

Then, Aeolus -the wind god- realised that I was back on Paros island after 6 years, and decided to send us three days in a row of fantastic conditions in my favourite spot for waves, Tsoukalia beach! Last time I was there was back in 2010 and it was so nice to ride waves there after such a long time…
I don’t have my own wavesailing equipment – as I sold everything after the accident- but my friend Thodoris and his family were there so I borrowed their spare gear and we were all sailing together! Dimitris also gave me his 63lt board on the last day! This board felt fantastic under my feet! I had such a great time.

Tsoukalia beach downwind spot

I have been getting many messages and questions throughout these past 5 years that I have been absent from the windsurfing scene. Mostly all of you asking me why I have stopped windsurfing. I will write about that in one of my next posts. For now, I want to share with you that I am back in windsurfing and starting to wavesail again! I love it so much and I have missed it all these years. I want to spread the love for this sport through coaching children and adults and I want to also enjoy it myself, catching waves on the water, trying out new things and experimenting with my body (and my knee, which is not 100% recovered yet), cheering other people on and sharing this beautiful journey with those I care about.
I want to share with you how grateful I am for being in the sport of windsurfing!

Below you can see a few pictures from my weekend on Paros. The beautiful view from my friends’ house, Golden beach, New Golden beach and Tsoukalia beach.
Oh and one last thing: I am organising an active escape there on the last weekend of September, which will include windsurfing, SUP and SUP Fitness, so stay tuned for all the details!

Talk to you soon!
Evi

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