Jeremy Jones said .....Father snowboarding goes by the name Celime. I met him two years ago in Turkey. (Read Post) Celime has been riding longer then anyone else in the world. He is a goofy footer. He has a certain sparkle in his eyes and content demeanor that can only be achieved from a life well spent in the mountains. He is a happy and peaceful man who has found his fountain of youth, riding everyday. He does not move like a seventy year old man, he is agile, and graceful. I did a sit down interview with him and although we had a interpreter much was lost in translation. Now I have a precise translation of the interview and his words pack even more meaning then I realized at the time.
“It started 400 years ago. When I say 400 years ago, its according to the statements of our grandfathers. The grandfather tells his grandson who tells his own son. Nothing else was left from our grandfathers, except riding.
I am approximately 70 years old. And now it’s my son Halim who keeps it going.
I have been riding with this board since 1946. And before this it was our ancestors.
I learnt it from my father, it’s him who showed me.
We find wooden boards and nail them together and attach a cord to the front. You rest your foot here and the other foot here, you take the cord, you place the stick at the back And of course you will fall a few times before you master it. If you get the right position, you cannot fall. Once you learn, you’re like a pilot, you fly.
There was no café at the time when our grandfathers lived. It was a game, leisure. They were so closely bound with each other, that if one yelled, all of them gathered to go riding. We had no other toy, and that’s how it remained a tradition, and because with the friends we could stay connected and that’s why the story is repeated generation after generation.
That’s what our fathers taught us. It’s bee passed down from fathers to sons for 400 years. And it will go on like this. Life goes on.
If I am not riding, I get sick and even lose my appetite. I’ll go up and down, up and down
Without it, my body is sick. I haven’t “Lazboarding,” I feel bad. It’s a necessity, I can’t live with out it. But I will continue “Lazboaridng” until my last day. It was the same for our grandfathers.”
-Celime
