10 days of windsurfing and 40 days of hopping around in Maui

Well this time it wasn’t to be my most successful trip to Maui…. Everything started off just perfect, it was windy everyday and after not sailing much at all during the end of the competition season I was feeling really motivated…… Unfortunately though 10 days into the trip during a jumping session at Sprecks on my freestlye gear I had a freak accident where I ended up having no idea where I was in the air and came down very flat on my front foot…. consequently breaking my right ankle… Full story of how I managed it and the drama around it can be found in this article I did for Boards magazine… http://boards.co.uk/news/injury-update-max-rowe-broken-in-maui.html#HOewlSPkkJHpzMYw.97

Fortunately it was a very simple break, no surgery required and I didn’t even need a cast. I was however inhibited with a moon boot under the instructions of not to bear any weight on it for at least 4 weeks. I contemplated coming home but had already got quite settled in Maui and paid for all my accommodation etc..  Thankfully my girlfriend Valerie was with me. She took amazing care of me and without her there I would’ve had no choice but to head back to England. I was pretty gutted about the whole thing and I think staying in Maui and experiencing that relaxing lifestyle everyday definitely helped me with the mental aspect of being injured. Very early on I was able to get assisted with some rehab at the Deep Relief centre in Haiku which got me well on the way to a quicker recovery. I’d never experienced a serious injury from windsurfing before so I guess I’ve been pretty lucky until now, it’s also got me very focused now on my training and what I need to improve on physically to avoid it happening again.

Thanks to the help from everyone at Deep Relief I was lucky enough that I could spend my last 10 days actually walking around without the crutches or boot; even though the nervous doctor I first saw had recommended walking with the boot until the 11th January…… I knew windsurfing would be beyond me for a few more weeks at least but I couldn’t resist getting back in the water so I decided to take up body boarding on my mini-mal. It’s amazing how an injury can make you really appreciate even the simplest of things that you would normally take for granted. Currently I’ve made it out to Cape Town where I’ve managed to progress slowly from body boarding back into a bit more windsurfing, I’m still not at 100% but I hope to be in another couple of weeks. More news coming from here shortly…