I saw poi for the first time in March while traveling thus Central America. Some kids in Granada, Nicaragua were spinning fire and I hooked up with them. They made me some practice poi out of socks, shoelaces and rice, and ever since I have been swinging unlit poi (glow poi, sock poi) around. A week ago my first set of fire poi arrived in the mail.

Saturday night it finally happened - my first burn. We - that would be me, and friends Scott, Rick, June and Thomas - gathered at Cane Bay after sunset. I brought all the gear: Fuel (lamp oil), Water, wet towels, spin out cans, dunk can, first aid kit, fire extinguisher and of course the fire poi and a big bag of assorted other poi. And music.

As this is all completely new for all of us, and we did not have an experienced fire spinner amongst us, we stared off by watching the HOP fire safety video on my laptop up on the dive deck. We looked thru all the gear and we discussed safety procedures. Thomas is an ex firefighter and EMT, so I could not have asked for a better safety. Rick was appointed the official "fuel dude" and June is the videographer. Scott's the guy who tried to talk my into new hobbies such as knitting...

After the safety preparations we hopped to the beach. We found that the boat ramp on the beach was perfect. It has an even layer of sand on top of it so it's soft and nice on feel while relatively flat. There was no debris to stumble on or to set on fire and it's far away from trees and other hazards. We laid out the fuel station away from the spin area, laid out the safety gear etc And we had my car close/ far enough for the music but to keep it safe.

When all was done it was time to light up. We had much trouble getting he poi lit. Apparently we did not soak it long enough to begin with and it was also a bit windy. We were almost about to give up when we decided to try one more time. Voila'. the poi lit and what a flame! Having seen some other fire performers flames, in comparison, these flames were pretty big. Maybe I should have ordered some smaller wicks to start off with. I had read that there will be a loud sound, I was still quite surprised about how loud the flames are! The sound is like a roar! Quite pleasant once you get used to it tho.

Time to start spinning. I had envisioned that I would only do "simple moves" such as 3 bw, 5 bw, 3bw 180 anad 360,hip and shoulder reels and corkscrew i.e. moves that I think I know really well. Well... I had not counted on the psychological effect of having the fire swing behind my back where I can't see it... so I actually ended up doing mostly 3bw, 5bw, corkscrew and an occasional hipreel just to turn. I tried a 3bw 180, but I stared "over analyzing" the move in my mind instead of just letting it happen, and of course I smacked myself pretty hard on the neck... but this was a good thing because the experience showed me that just because I smack myself it doesn't mean I will go up in flames. Also, I found that the flames created a lot of drag and the whole rig was a lot more heavy when fueled and on fire. It was a different sort of experience.

Once I started getting into things, I really enjoyed the experience. It was definetly a very powerful feeling! The fire and the dancing was wonderful, but so was the feeling of being on the beach, under the stars, with the surf crashing on shore, surrounded by some really good friends who were there to support me and keep me safe. It was like magic, beautiful...

The poi kept burning... and burning... I had expected 3- 5 minutes of burn time, but it kept going. At 10 min it was still going strong and I think it was about then that we extinguished them. I was very happy with this first burn.

The experience affected the others as well. They all picked up glow poi and stared jamming. Now at least Thomas and June are ordering their own glow poi and want to get into it. See I am spreading the joy of poi! And I am eagerly waiting for the weekend and burn #2