sunday 14 may 2023
19 degrees and sun predicted.
Sailed with the Banzai 5.3, first on the F-Cross 113, later with the Goya One 95.
Unfortunately, the stamina is gone after having been sick twice last month, so quickly tired. The weather was lovely. Wind not too gusty and clear blue and finally not too cold. [Read...]
tuesday 18 april 2023
Forecast: north and increasing in late afternoon, normally typical summer weather, but now with only 12 degrees.
Sailed with the Banzai 5.3 with F-Cross 113, first with the Patrik 32cm, later with the MFC 34cm.
The F-Cross 113 didn't feel too big for the Banzai 5.3.
Sailed until I was tired, condition still not back.
It was nice. Gusty as always with north at Brouwersdam Zuid. I should have taken the 6.0. [Read...]
sunday 16 april 2023
Good SW wind forecast, increasing in the afternoon. Started with the Banzai 6.0 on the F-Cross 113, when the wind increased switched to the Banzai 4.7 and the One 95.
With the F-Cross, wonderfully long runs. Water relatively flat. With the One 95, jumping and back-side waveriding.
I sailed on until I was empty. Just been sick so condition hadn't returned yet. It was delicious. A bit gusty though. But with clear blue sky and wind from the right direction, it was lovely. [Read...]
sunday 02 april 2023
Today more wind predicted than yesterday. Sailed with the 3.7 and tested with the Custom3 81 en AHD 253.
Started with the Custom3, more work for the knees in the tricky chop. The AHD sails easier, but harder to jibe and to get planing.
Both are fun for waveriding.
The Chop was tricky, hardly any sun. Not really very cold either.
It was wonderful to sail in a storm again. Good test of the 2 high-wind waveboards. That AHD remains a level apart.
It was fun with many friends on the water. [Read...]
sunday 02 april 2023
Very good wind predicted in the afternoon. Used my Banzai 4.2 on the Wave Slate 96 with 18/12cm fins.
Waves were still a bit low in the beginning, they slowly got higher, even half an hour really beautiful waves: long lines. After that, it became more chaos chop.
After the wind decreased, I stopped. More wind tomorrow. Save a little energy.
It was delicious. Clear blue sky, even if it was only 12 degrees, it didn't feel cold at all. Wind was a bit gusty, but because of the range of the Banzai I didn't have to change. Great day! [Read...]
wednesday 15 march 2023
I arrived to find some windsurfers struggling in the 40-45kn SW winds. I stubbornly chose to rig my 4.2m sail, though it was too big for the conditions even with max trim. The gusts were nearly unmanageable. After switching to my 3.7 sailing was good and I was able to handle the gusts. Managed to land some backside hits. I enjoyed discovering the potential of the Thruster 81 combo. Next time I'll be sure to bring my old AHD too, for some back-to-back comparison! [Read...]
tuesday 14 march 2023
Finally suitable conditions, after a long cold period. With temperatures up to 11 degrees and a SW wind, I was able to test the F-Cross 113 with Banzai 6.0 and the FX Freecarve 31cm fin. I was able to get planing with a bit of effort. The fin felt a bit too small for the amount of wind, making upwind sailing hard even with minimumd trim. Towards the end the wind improved, planing got a lot easier, but it unfortunately did not last long. The board showed promise, but I'll definitely have to try it out with a bigger fin and better wind conditions. [Read...]
tuesday 21 february 2023
2nd day sailing on St Martin. The wind seems a little stronger.
Same set packed to start with: Ezzy Cheetah 6.0 on Fanatic Blast 130 with Finnish 46cm.
Direct planing from the beach, wind just as good as yesterday when I stopped. I just didn't pay attention and was almost immediately on the reef, so immediately downwind to stay in the bay.
Wind was clearly stronger. Unfortunately, there was a lot more weed, really 2 or 3x as much. So I had to stop a lot more to get weed off the fin. Really about 3 to 4 times per run.
Again was delicious, set worked well, a weedfin would have been nice. [Read...]
monday 13 february 2023
During a week visiting a friend on St Maarten, chance to go windsurfing. Unfortunately there was only a limited number of boards and sails available, I sailed with an Ezzy Cheetah 6.0 on a Fanatic Blast 130. The wind was a a bit light for 6.0. But I still managed to plane nicely with minimal wind. Occasionally a little weed. It was a real pleasure to sail in the warm, crystal clear water, even with the lesser equipment. Occasionally I even saw flying fish. [Read...]
monday 30 january 2023
Wind forecast was perfect, 25 to 30 knots, WNW. Sailed with the Banzai 4.7 and One 95 with MFC 21/10 fins. Beautiful waves for waveriding and jumping.
First hour sailed with the zipper of my suit open: stupid.
Wonderful session: enjoy, what fun the Grevelingendam can be. [Read...]
monday 23 january 2023
Do you have a router and are you looking for a way to use it with a guide rail? In this blog post you can read how I use my unbranded (KBM) router with my DeWalt (DWS5021-XJ) guide rail. For this I bought a Makita guide rail adapter (194579-2). I modded this to make it fit on the DeWalt guide rail. [Read...]
sunday 15 january 2023
I had a great start to the season today. It was dry with solid SW winds, forecasted to be between 35-48 knots. Most surfers were sailing with 3.2-3.5 sails, I used the 4.2 and the Goya Thruster 81. The waves were beautiful, with some long lines for a couple of backside hits. Jumping conditions weren't the best, but still some nice jumps. Wind picked up later on which made it necessary to trim the sail in further, but the Banzai 4.2 had a great range. I sailed until I was completely exhausted - the perfect start to the season! [Read...]
friday 30 december 2022
In recent months, if SW winds were predicted, it always changed to south or even SSE. Fortunately not today.
Sailed with the Banzai 5.3 with Wave Slate 96 and 20/12cm MFC fins
Not cold at all, sailed in a dry period, between large showers.
Wind turned a bit, but was not too gusty.
Was a nice year ending. [Read...]
friday 30 december 2022
Wind dead south, almost ZZO. So the water was very, very flat.
Sailed the Banzai 5.3 with the Wave Slate 96 and 21/11cm fins.
5.3 was the largest size I had with me. With minimal trim in the 5.3 I could always plane, but 6.0 would have been better.
Not cold, no rain while sailing. Unfortunately, the direction was very SO. [Read...]
friday 18 november 2022
30 to 40 knots SW wind forecasted, turning from South to SW and decreasing after 14:00. Unfortunately also a lot of rain.
Upon arrival, most surfers appeared to sail with 4.2 to 4.5. Looking at the predictions, I expected 3.7s.
Sailed with the Banzai 4.2 on the Slate 96 and MFC 20/12cm fins.
Quite nice sailing, despite the gusty wind and all that rain. Sailed with cap and gloves, but not really cold yet.
The Wave Slate 96 certainly didn't feel too big, although I never really had much power. [Read...]
wednesday 16 november 2022
Wind forecast, unfortunately south east. But dry, and agenda was free. Let's go surfing.
Sailed with the Banzai 6.0 and JP FSW 102. Tested my new Select Freecarve 31 against the MFC Freewave 32cm.
It was gusty, that was to be expected. With 12 degrees it was not that warm anymore, unfortunately the sun disappeared after an hour.
Set worked well for today. Nice sailing. [Read...]
thursday 03 november 2022
Light wind afternoon at sea. Perfect to test both stubby waveboards.
Sailed with the Banzai 4.7.
Started with the Fanatic Stubby 99, then sailed for a while with the JP Wave Slate 96 then the Stubby again.
Good day to test both stubbies. Unfortunately, the wind direction was not good and there were few waves to really test the wave riding well. First impression of both boards is good. Haven't figured out yet which one stays.
Nice sun, wonderful weather, and that on November 1st. [Read...]
friday 21 october 2022
From about 11 to 12 good east wind forecasted, in combination with sun.
Sailed with the S-Type SL 8.3 and iSonic 117.
The weather was lovely, nice sun. Wind was a bit gusty. But for east wind with nowadays the windmills it was not at all disappointing: enjoyed. [Read...]
sunday 16 october 2022
Prediction: around 3 o'clock the wind would become perfect
Sailed with Goya Banzai 6.0 and JP FSW 102. Floating, a lot of floating. Until 17:00 the wind turned direction and switched on. It was a long wait for the real wind. But that 1.5 hours wind and sun made up for a lot. [Read...]