Too Close to the Wind

by Richard Attree

  Mind-altering Substances ...

  Another theme that interested me was psychoactive / mind-altering substances. As a baby boomer coming of age in the 1960s, a student in the early 1970s, and then playing in rock bands, I did my fair share of experimenting with psychedelic drugs. They were part of my (arguably misspent) youth, along with long hair, electric guitars, and open-air rock festivals.

  I was too young (and living in the wrong country) to be a genuine hippie, but I was a trainee ‘freak’ (as we Brits preferred to call the counterculture kids). I read Carlos Castaneda’s ‘A Separate Reality’, Aldous Huxley’s ‘Doors of Perception’, Tom Wolfe’s ‘The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test’, Timothy Leary’s writing about LSD ... and I got my hands on some hands-on experiences.

  On balance, weighing up the dangers and benefits, I’m glad that I had these experiences, and relieved that I survived them. There’s an element of ‘whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger’ in this, but I am glad to have experienced these unusual mental states. It gives you a different perspective on ‘normality’ as just one of the many threads in life’s rich tapestry.

  Nick takes the psychoactive cactus Plant four times: with Nicole in the haunted Haitian rainforest; with Robo, windsurfing in Esperance; with Mandu, in the Ancestor’s cave; and at the Mayor’s ‘soirée’. Two of these are positive, mind-expanding experiences (the first and the third), and two are negative, bad trips (the second and the fourth). The fifty-fifty good-to-bad ratio pretty much mirrors my own experiences.

  Survival at Sea ...

  When I started plotting the story arc for ‘Too Close to the Wind’ I knew I wanted to begin the book with Nick’s survival story. It was based on various real incidents of windsurfers and surfers rescued after drifting for many hours on their boards. A further inspiration was Hemmingway’s ‘The Old Man and the Sea’.

  In the ten years I’ve lived here, in El Médano, there have been several cases of windsurfers going missing. Some were rescued, some drowned. A few just disappeared and their bodies were never found. I imagined myself in Nick’s situation and asked myself how I’d cope. Would I have the strength of will to survive? How long would hope remain?

  I first read Hemmingway’s heroic story of survival at sea when I was fifteen, for my English Literature O level. As I said, the best books live with you long after you first experience them. I reread it, fifty years later, while writing chapter two and I readily acknowledge his influence.

  Nick’s Missions and Travel Writing ...

  The main story begins when the Master offers Nick a way out of his stalled life: a series of missions that lead him around the world on a journey of self-discovery—first to the Dominican Republic, then back home to confront his past in Australia, and finally to Ireland. The novel is the story of Nick’s travel adventures and his spiritual journey.

  These locations are all places Nikki and I have visited in our own search for wind and waves. The descriptions, texture, and some of the local incidents are often fictionalised extrapolations from my autobiography.

  The Caribbean, Nicole ...

  Nikki and I first visited Cabarete, the location of Nick’s first mission, in the early 1990s. We’ve been back many times since. We have a painting in our living room that we brought back rolled up in one of our sails. It depicts the waves on the reef, the beach, and the little huts in the jungle incorporating bits of old windsurfing equipment in their construction, as described in the book. It could be one of Nicole and Jacqueline’s ‘tourist paintings’.

  My wife’s name is Nicole Jacqueline. She’s also an artist, and she’s my soulmate. She helped me a lot with these chapters.

  The Outback, Mandu ...

  I’ve been to Australia a few times, spent time in Sydney, Perth, and some of the well-known windsurfing spots. Nick’s hometown is loosely based on the windsurfing / cray fishing town of Lancelin. It was there that I heard about the Bungle Bungles—ancient, strangely shaped hills hidden away in the remote Kimberly region of WA. I was fascinated by the evocative name. Twenty years later when I was searching for Mandu’s whereabouts, I looked up the Bungle Bungles on the internet. Through the magic of Google Earth, I was able to make a virtual visit and explore the extraordinary landscape.

  Mandu, the Aboriginal shaman, is my favourite character in the novel. If you know Carlos Castaneda’s books you’ll find similarities between Mandu and Don Juan, the Yaqui Indian brujo, or sorcerer, who teaches Castaneda about his way of knowledge. They each use naturally growing psychoactive substances (peyote for Don Juan and the cactus Plant for Mandu) to access altered states of reality. They both live self-sufficient lives off-grid in the remote desert/outback, but they’re also completely at ease in a modern city. When Nick meets Mandu in Perth, dressed as a city slicker, he’s as shocked as Castaneda when he finds Don Juan in downtown Mexico City.

  Mandu’s knowledge, the Dreamtime, the Creation Myths, have been passed down from the Ancestors and live on in his people’s collective unconscious. When Nick shows him Nicole’s painting: ‘The Kangaroo Kid and his Voodoo Child’, Mandu sees the links between his Dreamtime and Nicole’s Vodou. He takes Nick to the tribe’s most sacred place, a cave in a meteorite crater at the centre of the Bungle Bungles. They take the Plant together and Mandu shows him the Ancestors’ paintings on the cave’s walls. The idea of ‘scraping’ the figures, animals etc from the paintings and watching them come to life was based on a similar, hallucinatory experience that I had during an LSD trip.

  Living the Dream ...

  At its heart, my novel is the story of Nick’s journey to discover who he is, to ‘fulfil his potential’ (to quote the Master), and ‘live the dream’ (to use the jargon of reality TV). It’s a ‘coming of age’ story in which the hero eventually realises he needs to find a goal worth pursuing.

  In some ways, Nick is me at twenty-five. When he dreams of being a writer he is, of course, expressing my own aspirations. I’m incredibly fortunate to be able to ‘live my dream’, here in El Médano, writing about what I love. I’ve left it quite late to write my first novel, but ‘better late than never’, no?

  What’s Next? ...

  Earlier, I mentioned my ‘Future Projects’ folder. Let me share some of the contents with you ...

  ‘The Rhythm of Time’ is about three musicians who live in the same city, London, in three different centuries (17th, 21st, and 24th). They are so interlinked by the ‘reincarnation of ideas’ that it seems as if they share one life. The novel explores the magical, mysterious phenomenon of music, and the soul of that labyrinthine city—how they can change through the centuries, and yet stay the same. It will combine historical fiction, contemporary fiction, and science fiction.

  As mentioned, I’m also working on an autobiography: ‘The Wind of Change—memoir of a Windsurfing Baby Boomer’, which will unite windsurfing and music with the story of my generation. We’ve lived through some of the most exciting, eventful decades in human history ... and we’ve also witnessed climate change, extremism, Thatcher, Trump, and selfies. So you should expect a few rants. As mentioned, this project has been put on hold until it becomes the real life of a somebody, rather than a nobody :-)

  I’m also considering a sequel to ‘Too Close to the Wind’. Here’s where you, my readers, can influence me. I’m not going to promise anything ... but perhaps, just maybe, if enough people convince me that it’s worth doing, I might be persuaded to revisit Nick and write a sequel. After all, I didn’t kill him off along with the Master, and in some ways, his life is just beginning.

  Signing off ...

  So, that’s it from me. I hope you enjoyed this peek into an author’s mind and that you’ll be with me for the rest of my writing journey.

  If you’d like to receive my newsletter, advance copies of my books, special offers, and get a FREE PREQUEL STORY with exclusive scenes from Nick’s eventful backstory … subscribe by clicking HERE

  My motivation for writing ‘Too Close to the Wind’ was to ‘
share the stoke’ (as Nick might say) with both my fellow surfaholics and a wider audience. It would be fantastic if you could take a photo with the Ebook on your screen on your home beach (if you’re a windsurfer), or in an exotic holiday location, and share it.

  You can connect with me via my WEBSITE or my FACEBOOK PAGE … I’d love to hear from you, and it would be great if you could help to help spread the word about the book.

  Indie writers depend on reviews, shares, and word-of-mouth recommendations. If you post a review of ‘Too Close to the Wind’ on Amazon, and share my books on your social networks, you’ll motivate this author to Keep Scribbling (my motto).

  Click HERE and it should take you to the book’s Amazon page to post your review.

  I’ll sign off now, with Ludwig Langer’s final words:

  Again I thank you, my dear reader, for your time and patience. I hope you have found something of interest in this journal.

  Auf Wiedersehen.

  Richard Attree, December 2018, El Médano, Tenerife.

  FootNotes

  2. Drifting

  1 Chronicled in Tom Wolfe’s book: ‘The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test’.

  6. Salsa On Speed

  1 The legendary waterman Brian Talma, the ‘Irie Man’.

  10. In Transit

  1 A local bus, literally ‘stuffed’ with people.

  14. This Land Is Our Land

  1 Author’s note: I changed the name of the main town in the Kimberley region of Western Australia from Broome to Broom to make it quite clear that my town, and its citizens, are fictional.

  24. To The Edge Of The Earth

  1 ‘To the Edge of the Earth’ by Brian McDowell, Windsurfer International magazine, issue #14, December 2010. Title used with Brian’s permission.

  25. Epilogue: Why?

  1 As a postscript ... Timothy Leary died on May 31, 1996, aged 75. His death was videotaped for posterity at his request, capturing his final words. According to his son Zachary, during his final moments, he clenched his fist and said: “Why?” Then unclenching his fist, he said, “Why not?”. He continued to repeat these rhetorical questions, in different intonations, and died soon after.

  A Note to my Readers

  1 ‘Too Close to the Wind’ is my first solo book. I’ve co-written two others with my wife: Nobody’s Poodle (2013), a short novel written from the perspective of our rescue dog, and Somebody’s Doodle (2016), a fast moving, heady mix of crime, humour, romance, and a few dogs.

  2 The solution? Live as close as possible to the beach, only take on work that allows one to skive off whenever it’s windy, and as for children ... do dogs count?

  3 Notably Kem Nunn, credited with inventing the surf-noir genre.

  Acknowledgments

  I’d like to thank all the people who encouraged me to make writing more than a distraction, and helped me to make the novel that was rattling around my head, real.

  Thanks to all my beta readers for their generosity and constructive, critical feedback. Especially: members of the Tenerife Authors’ Group: Linda Wainwright, for insisting that I flesh out my narrator; Erica Greaves for spotting a plot inconsistency; Bradley Chermside for his attention to detail and style; Leonie Brook, for her eagle-eyed proofreading; novelist Randy Landenberger https://randco.me for paring down my worst excesses—especially my addiction to adverbs; writer and expert windsurfer, Brian McDowel, for his excellent feedback, local knowledge, brilliant suggestions re the Cliffs of Moher, windsurfing Aileens, and for permission to use his evocative title: ‘To the Edge of the Earth’.

  Spillane’s Bar (www.spillanesbar.com) is a real pub and makes an appearance with their permission. If you are ever in the Maharees pay them a visit (and mention my name :-)

  A huge thank-you to John Carter (Facebook: JohnCarterPhotography), one of the world’s leading windsurfing photographers, for allowing me to use his amazing shot of Julien Taboulet in free fall, as my cover image. It was taken at the 2013 Red Bull Storm Chase, in Brandon Bay, Ireland—where Nick windsurfs, in chapter 22.

  Another thank-you to my cover designer, Sylvia Frost (http://sfrostcovers.com) for translating my vague ideas into such a cool cover.

  Anyone who leaves a review on Amazon please feel acknowledged here.

  Finally to my wife, Nikki, with whom I’ve shared more than half my life, and without whom this novel would not have been written ... for her many roles: plot consultant, developmental editor, alpha reader, beta reader, line editor, and for enduring my endless ramblings.

  About the Author

  RICHARD ATTREE always wanted to be a writer but was diverted into writing music rather than books.

  Growing up in London in the 1960s Richard studied, experimented with sex, drugs, rock ‘n roll, and grew his hair. By the mid-1970s he had a degree in philosophy, his hair had reached its zenith, and he was playing keyboards in jazz, rock, and soul bands.

  For the next thirty years, he composed music for TV, working at the BBC’s renowned Radiophonic Workshop, before going freelance.

  In 2007 he retired from the media music business and downshifted to El Médano—a sunny, windy, surfy town in the Canary Islands, off the coast of Africa. This gave him the opportunity to get to grips with writing while pursuing his other passion: windsurfing, combining them in a series of articles for ‘Boards’ magazine: ‘Life on the Reef’.

  Richard has been a windsurfer for most of his life. Like Nick (the main character in his novel: ‘Too Close to the Wind’) he sometimes jokes that it’s his ‘religion’. It’s certainly an obsession that has taken him around the world searching for wind, waves, and adventure.

  These days there’s not much hair left and he focusses on writing (when it’s not windy). His motto is: ‘Keep Scribbling!’

  He’s published two books co-authored with his wife, Nikki: ‘Nobody’s Poodle’ (2013), a short novel written from the perspective of their rescue dog, and ‘Somebody’s Doodle’ (2016), a fast-moving, heady mix of crime, humour, romance, and a few more dogs.

  ‘Too Close to the Wind’ (2019) is his debut solo novel. It’s a journey of self-discovery narrated by a young Australian windsurfer. Dogs don’t feature in it.

  You can connect with him at www.RichardAttree.com (where there’s a more revealing and entertaining version of this biog, complete with some occasionally embarrassing pics illustrating how the haircuts have reflected the zeitgeist of the decades he’s lived through) and on his FaceBook page: Richard Attree - Author.