swinging bench
Cox Football Pool
A few years back Stephan began to participate in our inter-office college football gameday contest – a college football pick-em contest, strictly for fun, that we do every fall.
Stephan professed to know nothing about football, being from South Africa, and assured us he would be as bad at the picks as all of the rest of us.
He’s won the contest 3 out of the last 4 years and steadfastly refused to tell us his formula for picking the games.
He came in 2nd the one year he didn't win.
Windsurfing Adventures
I knew Stephan through windsurfing together. I first met him several years ago when he was beginning to get back in the sport and raced in our local annual club regatta. He talked about learning to windsurf as a teen and shared stories of paragliding that were thrilling, such as soaring with raptors.
We ended up sailing a lot together. Because of his family and work committments, he didn't have a lot of time to windsurf so he was willing to come out even if the forecast wasn't for much wind or comfortable temperatures. While we rigged our gear, he loved to update me on his family and whatever sports his boys were playing at the time.
We ended up having a number of "adventures" - one of us would suggest we do something out of the ordinary such as sail several miles from our launch to visit another part of Lake Lanier. These adventures were always memorable; and more than a few because quite often the wind would quit and we'd have to vigorously pump our sails to make it the several miles back to where we'd started.
Other times we'd launch and find more wind than we bargained for and somehow skitter home across the whitecaps. When we'd be out on chill winter days with temperatures barely 40, we'd enjoy the beauty that comes with those days - when the sun just peaks through the clouds and the cold spray bites at you
So often, one or the other would ring up or text; and say, "Hey, are you going?" That's all it took for whoever was reluctant because of the dodgy forecast to say, "what the heck, sure."
One of the most memorable times was last fall, the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. The forecast suggested there might be some wind in the afternoon and, for both of us, it was about our only available time as the rest of the weekend would be devoted to family. We traded calls and text for an hour trying to decide if it was worth the gas to go. I'm pretty sure that he probably talked me into it as I don't remember the forecast being very good. We scurried up GA 400, met at the park and launched in a late afternoon sun. The breeze freshened as the sun slowly began to lower in the sky and we zipped back and forth. As dusk approached, we both went back to the park only to find a gentleman who was so entrhalled with watching us, he offered us a beer through the window of his truck. It was the perfect way to end a perfect afternoon.
He approached his windsurfing like, it seems, so much of the rest of his life. He enjoyed every moment, no matter if the conditions were good or bad. I'm absolutely shattered that we won't have any more adventures together. My condolences to his family, friends and colleagues.
HIs other windsurfing friends have shared better pictures but here's one I took of Stephan last winter in early January. It was probably not much more than 40-42 degrees but we were all eager to go.