“Jamie Lever you liar! Get out from the shower, get out with your friend, do you think that Spanish people are stupid?!”

Arnon, the extremely tall and lean Israeli rider, with long, shaggy dark hair and a welcoming smile sits down inside a small tent alongside the beach in front of the event area. The tent is for the racing competition, a chill-out area for the riders in between races. Surrounding Arnon sits a small crowd, built from the other windsurfers and event staff, boys and girls who are waiting for the wind to come. The locals and tourists on the beach are passing by, burning they bodies in the hot sun; relaxing.

On the relatively quiet beach area a calm but strong voice overtakes the silence; bursting from the loud speakers straight across the beach and to the heavens. Ah ha! Arnon Dagan with the microphone in his hand talks to anyone in the world that is able to hear his voice across the beach, telling a story from his younger windsurfing years. I cannot say with sureness that this story is heard in the hotel apartments high above us or not… it might have happened. The other guys in the tent look at him with airy smiles, like children looking on at their teacher while he is reading them a book. People on the beach try to guess from where the voice might be coming from; they maybe listen if they speak English.

My good windsurfing friend Jamie Lever and I drove to Tarifa (Spain) for a windsurfing competition after Jamie’s Dad bought me a van. Conditions of our staying there were horrible; we had money just for food. We were sleeping in the van!

- Arnon describes precisely. He continues to talk about his trip to Tenerife. The first thing that makes your life on Tenerife difficult is the relentless wind. Tenerife is famous for the fact, that people there often commit suicide just because of that insane wind which you cannot control. You open the door from the van, and that door almost fly’s away with the power of the blow. Anyhow – continuous Arnon – with our little budget but huge passion we didn’t wash ourselves that much, because we hadn’t the money for it – (Arnon laughs) - actually we stank quite a bit after a couple of days. When the Prizegiving Ceremony for the competition began – Arnon makes his voice more secret and softer – Jamie and I decided that we needed to take a shower. Because otherwise how could we stand next to that “Danish, rich bastard Jesper” (laughter) - [Arnon and Jesper are very good friends, Arnon made this irony about Jesper, but in a very positive way, just to make people laugh!] – so… - Arnon still talks to the beach with the microphone – we thought that we could go to the camping and have a shower over there – and here Arnon make a pause – BUT! We had money just for one shower token. So Jamie went to the shower and gives his ID card to the camping’s owner and when nobody was watching him, calls me to come over and have a shower for free. – Arnon smiles widely – and in that moment I was enjoying my shower we heard a strong voice outside of showers: “Jamie Lever you liar, get out from the shower, get out with your friend, do you think that Spanish people are stupid?!”

With shame on their faces and a feeling of embarrassment due to the harsh look of the others inside the shower complex, still with soap on their bodies, the boys went back to the van – named thieves! Thieves of water and soap.

That’s what you can do for windsurfing! That’s how much we love the sport!!

Arnon finishes his story and the tent is full of applause. It seems that Arnon wasn’t really looking for the appraise, he just spontaneously took the microphone. He was bored on the beach that day, waiting for the wind. He wanted to deliver to the people some fun. I suppose he does appreciate when people listen but being in the centre of attention is not his purpose. He just is there. Because it is him.

- If you look carefully at the reality around you. You can see a big mass - world. Huge organizations and corporations are trying to overtake the world… everything seems to be similar and familiar. We are getting to be more and more the same. Why windsurfing? I wanted to break that trend – says Arnon. The Windsurfing lifestyle is being completely yourself in that world of similarities. It is being different when it is so easy to be the same.

The first step to breaking down the pattern of this corporate world was done by Arnon when he was 14 - I did always a lot of sport. When it came to water sports, I was thinking firstly more about surfing. - Arnon takes a breath - Unfortunately my mother saw the movie “Big Wednesday”, in which one of the stories’ heroes, a surfer, was killed by a wave. From that moment I was forbidden to try it – smiles Arnon – Windsurfing? Once I went with my brother to the lake in Israel and he brought a windsurfing board with him. Despite the fact I was forbidden by my coach to use it I secretly jumped on it. I jumped once and I have stayed on it until now… - At the beginning Arnon was training for windsurfing with his brother. That was his time as a teenager. When asked about school, he smiles.

Unlucky for my teachers my school was near the water. You could see the waves from the window!

– says Arnon’s with voice that begs for understanding. Everything is clear. Whenever the wind came up, Arnon’s desk was empty. – Once – again starts Arnon – I woke up and it was very windy outside. My dad already knew that it had completely no sense to ask me to go to school because I would go straight to the beach anyway. Then my father decided to drive me to the beach, permitting me to skip school this special windy day. It was very early in the morning at that moment, my dad was supposed to be at work. He promised to take me to the beach before work. Unfortunately to get to the beach it was needed to pass one crossroad, right in front of my school. The traffic was insane that day and our car was stuck exactly in front of the traffic lights where youth were crossing the street to get to our school. We sat there, waiting for the lights to change and then someone knocked on the window. It was my teacher, who was already going to start the lesson where I was supposed to be! Obviously she asked us what we were doing in the car, facing in the beach direction not in the school direction. – But it is windy, look! – said my dad to her and I repeat it like an echo, trying to find at least a bit of understanding in my teacher’s face. – so what? – she answered completely confused. – so what??? – me and dad almost shouted – Arnon is going windsurfing – said my dad with conviction and without leaving teacher any other choice as accept this fact. Anyhow – adds Arnon – my parents lost hope to me. I was all the time sitting in the front seat of class making problems for the teachers. Once his mother asked him to ‘shut up for one month’ and so he did, he sat silently in the back row of class for a little while but after one week was back to disturbing his teachers again. Arnon smiles widely as he recounts this story.

Girls at school?

The dark haired Israeli looks at me with mystery as I pose this question. Well I was too shy, I guess, girls were attracted to me, but I didn’t do nothing, Oh! How many opportunities I lost!

When Arnon was in his last year of school he decided to leave the school for windsurfing. - I passed all the exams by myself – he explains. His first job was at a windsurfing shop, obviously. His mentor, Elan – one of Israel’s windsurfing legends - motivated Arnon to take his windsurfing more seriously. Beginning competitions in Israel under Elan’s advice, in his first junior competition Arnon finished 2nd. Shortly after school he travelled to Hawaii for one year to train and compete in his first international competitions. A new chapter in Arnon’s life was born, but it was going to take a lot of time and effort to continue writing it.

Devotion

To be able to stay one year on Hawaii, to follow his windsurfing dream, to break the social patterns, to live his own way, Arnon had to work very hard.

- I was working in bars, washing dishes, many things… In some point I even opened a night club with my partner - Arnon even had to stop windsurfing a couple of times to earn enough money to be able to start his passion again. The Windsurfing Lifestyle can be wonderful and allow a lot of freedom, but windsurfers often need to walk a long road to keep the dream alive. But it is always worth it.

When you choose living by your own way, your own rules, you choose a lifestyle not living by a standard way. Arnon thinks sometimes how it would be if he went to University, had a normal relationship, job, mortgage, just like his friends back home. He thinks about this with feelings of longing and a smile, but he knows that life is an art of choice. Arnon has a lot of friends but 1 or 2 he takes as his closest ones. They are people who are working in jobs from 9-5 each day. Arnon is jealous about their stability and they are jealous about his freedom.

And then Strongly and Powerfully Up…

If you strongly believe in your dreams they have to come true some day. For Arnon everything started from the help of the windsurfing brand Fanatic and huge support from the drink company RedBull. Fanatic sponsored him in his early years and helped him achieve better and better results. RedBull helped Arnon organize a big windsurfing competition in 2006; the Redbull StormRiders. This competition takes the best and most fearless windsurfers from around Europe and surrounds and pushes them to sail in the vicious storms of late Autumn in Europe. Competitors check the weather every day, waiting for the storm to hit; with no more than 3 days warning for a big storms’ arrival to prepare. One leg of the competition took place at Bat Galim (Daughter of the Sea) beach in Israel. The outcome of this competition and Arnon’s activity saved this beach from a government sanctioned development. – It was something amazing – says Arnon –

People against government! And we won! We saved that beach!

Battle for Daughter of the Sea

Demonstrations, Websites, Lawyers, and SONG:
It was one of Arnon’s greatest successes in the public sphere. This beach named Bat Galim located on the Mediterranean Coast was poised to be overtaken by the government and used for their purposes. It meant no longer tourists or people from the city could visit this beautiful beach. But Arnon with the help of his friends saved the beach. – it was great – says Arnon – demonstrations, website, lawyers, a song which I wrote! We were in the News!

In one of these shots taken by the Israeli TV news you can see Arnon, playing on the keyboard and singing into the microphone in front of people who demonstrate with him and the crowd who was passing by stops to listen. On that exact beach Arnon helped start the Redbull StormRiders competition which is still running to this day. When you look at Arnon it is clear that with his charisma many things might become possible.

Windsurfing Is…

Windsurfing is… - Expensive! Ha ha! – wide smile on Arnon’s face as he says this - no seriously, to describe it in couple of words…

Windsurfing; it is freedom, speed, nature and power.

It contains many things together. If you go windsurfing you are there alone with just the wind and water. So in some point you can treat it as an individual fight with the power of nature.

When I have bad day, as happen to everybody, I can go windsurfing and it frees my mind. Being on water helps me to overcome everything. Windsurfing enjoys so much fun and passion, I don’t think that you can compare it with anything else in the world - finishes Arnon.

Being An Artist.

Arnon is also musician; writing lyrics and composing music. He puts this passion on the level as his windsurfing. The feelings that I have for windsurfing are close to feelings which I have while I am creating music.

As windsurfing for Arnon is about breaking barriers, the first song of Arnon’s was exactly about that topic. Arnon creates his music when it is “right time” as he says. Music just comes to him. Something can happen to you; your girlfriend didn’t answer the phone… – Arnon smiles widely – It is just one second, you are sitting down near the piano and writing music. - Arnon’s thinks little while, takes a break and then adds -

But the best stuff is coming from singing in the shower!!!

Love

Windsurfers are renowned for - as public opinion might think - having a girl everywhere. Most windsurfers admit this is kind of true, but more or less they are like everyone else, guys and girls who are searching until they find the right person. The rules of love are the same for everyone. Arnon is very clear in his concept of love – My face doesn’t lie – he says – if I want to be with a girl (have relationship) I know it and I can always have it. Because I am sure what I am looking for and what I can give to other person.

So the Dream is?

“My dreams are like everybody else’s. Good wife, a couple of kids, relaxing life.” Living a dream does not mean that you are not staying human anymore. Windsurfers lead an amazing life but really they are just like every other person out there; dreaming about the same things.

I am a person who never gives up. I have to full fill all my dreams.

Culture

Australia and Chile have made the biggest impression on Arnon. Australia, because people are more relaxed there. They care about more about quality of life than money as he describes. Chile because of the nature. It is such a beautiful place says Arnon. And Europe? Arnon thinks a short while… Europe? We windsurfers are always looking at countries through the perspective of beaches. For sure the best beaches are in Hawaii. Hawaii is just a dream. Europe is great if you explore it better. Arnon would love to have more time to go to the museums and learn more about the culture and history of the countries he visits. Arnon’s mother was working as a school teacher. She taught him a lot about being sensitive for history and culture as well as music. Israel? – Arnon wonders - It is for sure a very difficult country. A country which through history went up and down, but while you are travelling to other parts of world you discover that finally it is still a good place to live. Difficulties have been present in Arnon’s family’s past also. The family of Arnon’s father was killed in the Holocaust in Poland in Krakow. The experience of the Holocaust left its mark in his family life. - That will never be forgotten – says Arnon. History has shaped Arnon in to the strong person he is today. A strong person who dares to dream…

A Person Who Dares

What does Arnon see as the most valuable trait in a person? He knows the answer without thinking.
It will be person who dares, you know? – his eyes look straight into mine.

I like it when people dare to be successful. It require a lot of courage to follow your own dreams.

He stops to find the words - People who are successful first took a lot of risks – he says with sureness. Especially in this world which is described by Arnon as a square; where everybody expects you to behave as social norms dictate. It is a lot to decide to be different and be successful for doing that. Arnon did. He tried for a different way of living and is successful from doing that. Daring to break out of the ‘square’, daring not to be ashamed, daring to give hope and inspiration to others and daring to live his dream. Arnon is very open towards every people, but he always appreciative to find the sought of courage he possesses in other people. His Windsurfing Lifestyle; travel, being different, daring to dream. Because…“He knows it, He loves it. He’s like a fish in the water” – like Arnon’s favourite motto says.