Im guessing many on this forum are between the ages of 50 and 60. The question Ive been meaning to ask you all is if you could turn back time to 20 years ago what would you change. Im guessing 'more time on water' would be a common answer but id be keen to also hear things not related to wind or waves.

Getting married, so l could spend more time on the water!

By the time I was 58 I'd fairly well got my schit together.
Go back another 30 years though, and I'd persever with a few projects I gave up on too early.
Later on other people had similar thoughts and bought the ideas to the mainstream.
Back in 67, I tried attaching a small dinghy sail to two mals tied together like a cat.
Then mals got too small, and I moved away from the ski lake I was experimenting on and gave the idea away.
Aout the same time, I thought twin fins would hold in better on bottom turns. But the one I made was impossible to turn. I didn't twig the need for toe in.
A few years later I tried to make a surf ski, but with only large mal blnks to work with. This thing was going to have pedals to work a rudder. I left the surfshop before even putting it in the water.

So yeah 3 main things, if I'd persisted, I may have been ahead of my time. Not sure about windsurfing though, I had catamaran fairly fixed in my head. the leap to a uni base for the mast was a bigun.

missed to many waves so more volume in my boards instead of riding a toothpick.

If I could turn back time, I would have altered the laws that govern the universe as we currently understand. I'd write some verse, maybe songs & books, informing my followers on socials they'd been lied to and encourage them to spread the TRUTH in this newly revealed space-time continuum.
This would all be pointless because jumping back in time would inevitably alter the present+future and place everyone/thing in a multiverse of continual flux where all moments in time across all possible universes exist all at once. Humans can barely cope in the here & now.... it would not end well.

Travel o/s more when younger. For some reason I just didn't really think about doing it, then ended up having to drag three kids around the world with me years later, which was a lot of fun, but I certainly wasn't able to do the same stuff with them that I could have done without them.

Make strategic career moves based on building future potential, not short term gains.

Invest more time and effort into music practice. (I did a few pub gigs in my early 20s, then let it slip due to study/work/kids, etc.)

Take advantage of salary sacrifice into super. (Well, this one isn't a change for me, but is something I'd recommend. I did it very early on and a couple of decades later the power of concessional tax rates and compound interest has done wonders.)

Have two kids instead of three. (Did I just say that? )

Don't sell my HQ wagon.

I also did not travel when I was younger - for some reason I was just not interested, and ended up with a mortgage at 21yo - kids at 27yo... I also did not salary sacrifice as soon as I should and only started at 51yo once I got the mortgage paid off and had a good stable job (I did short term contracts for 4 years).

Probably my main wind the clock back moment would be to avoid an 'avoidable' cycling accident where I broke my back at 33yo. I got off lucky with lifelong back pain - but it has slowed me down a few too many times, and continues to cause me problems from time to time...

Oh - and I wish I had held on to my LH Torana... Purchased for $4k in 1984 - would be worth a whole lot more now.

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decrepit said..
By the time I was 58 I'd fairly well got my schit together.
Go back another 30 years though, and I'd persever with a few projects I gave up on too early.
Later on other people had similar thoughts and bought the ideas to the mainstream.
Back in 67, I tried attaching a small dinghy sail to two mals tied together like a cat.
Then mals got too small, and I moved away from the ski lake I was experimenting on and gave the idea away.
Aout the same time, I thought twin fins would hold in better on bottom turns. But the one I made was impossible to turn. I didn't twig the need for toe in.
A few years later I tried to make a surf ski, but with only large mal blnks to work with. This thing was going to have pedals to work a rudder. I left the surfshop before even putting it in the water.

So yeah 3 main things, if I'd persisted, I may have been ahead of my time. Not sure about windsurfing though, I had catamaran fairly fixed in my head. the leap to a uni base for the mast was a bigun.

I agree. Not following through with certain goals or ideas would be a big one for many. The thought of what could have been would bother me relentlessly.

Yep not getting to travel while young is a missed opportunity. Luckily I was able to do that as soon as I was able to save up a bit of money.

I meet a lot of people on the beach who seem to be living their life to the fullest in the later years. Work and family seem to consume so much of our time in the 'prime' of our lives. I see a few people in their 60s finding foiling or winging and absolutely killing it. Its like they're getting their 2nd wind, so to speak.

I was fortunate enough to work for a cancer victim early in life. When I asked about the difference it made he said it's pretty much life as usual but when he'd see something interesting instead of going back later he'd check it out instantly. This may have programmed my ambitious spontaneity.
And my regret was listening to my stock broker when I picked a penny dreadful on it's first day to the stars, I'd have made up to $400,000 that week, probably would have wussed out at 100,000

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psychojoe said..
I was fortunate enough to work for a cancer victim early in life. When I asked about the difference it made he said it's pretty much life as usual but when he'd see something interesting instead of going back later he'd check it out instantly. This may have programmed my ambitious spontaneity.
And my regret was listening to my stock broker when I picked a penny dreadful on it's first day to the stars, I'd have made up to $400,000 that week, probably would have wussed out at 100,000

Experiences like that can have a huge impact on the decisions you make in life. I remember in my high school days being at a party and drinking with a bunch of older kids who were building a massive beer can wall on a table and talking about how they regretted not finishing high school and going to Uni. After that night I was determined to get a high enough exam score to choose a Uni course I was interested in. The beer wall is still fresh in my memory like it was yesterday.

Nothing.

Not plant the tree
Sonny Bono