4 fins @ a lake, does it work?

My 4 small fins board works superb at the sea with nice waves to surf on. But what about flat, choppy water.. still that sensation? We got some wind so we headed last minute to the flat waters.

Where others had to walk through the undeep water (sandbars..) I allready could sail ;-)
first points for the 4 fins..

The water at picture above and below is about 30 cm deep.. sometimes even less.. It's a tricky spot. Not crowded cause a hit with a sandbar is common. (aka catapult alley..)

During normal sailing I couldn't find any advantages. A single fin does most things better. But it all has to do with the board shape. You don't need an ultra loose board in the chop. You like it secure, steady and grippy. But fun it brings. If you want faster you have to go for a slalom board with a racing sail

At these places you always spot the latest prototypes. 2011/12 model?


The board is wide/short, so it jumps/loops better than a slalom shape. But this has nothing to do with the fins...

Erik, one big fin and a wide board...

Yup, this is flatwater sailing... ;-)

Erik again. In his elements with his Firepowers

Small bbq at the weekend. Lambchops with a nice melon salad. Just as in the holidays...



Just had a fine weekend. No matter what board you sail/how much fins/or at what place, it's just about sharing the fun with some friends.

4 small fins are superb at lo-water spots full with sandbars........

Barn find, SDB's sit down boats

Fresh in Holland, and I allready scored some new watertools. A classic barn find. This time some vintage kayaks. Build in 1982, but still ok for the job. Picked them up and brought them home.


After some intensive cleaning I found some spots that need some glas and resin. That's the job for the comming evenings.
Together with the kayaks I also got some old water"road"maps. How nice is that! Treasure maps with Holland's finest hidden canals, ditches etc..


Ella's first fin. Nop Winfried this is not for use under your board ;-)

Flower at dining table

Pasta just as basic and tasty you can get... Fresh made noodles, some butter, some cheese and a few drops op ketchup.

Trip home..

Almost out of free days, so it's time to pack the car and travel north. And as the bus is
not that mega fast travel machine (and offcourse we don't that have to "rush home" feeling..)
we always enjoy that ride through the beautiful area's.

Some fine swim places in the forrests of North Portugal. So sad to hear and see that there are so many people are trying to destroy such nice places. People are still so easy with their trash and the most bushfires are made by humans...

From Portugal we take some very small curvy mountain roads into Spain. From green northern Portugal we arrive in the ultra dried out yellow mainland of Spain.



A very old wall

But if you search, you can also find in the heat of middle Spain some nice places to cool down.
Here at small lake to have a swim. (actually we saw along the road a small sign with "beach" written on it.., we had to check that out..) Superb shadow places to have a nap+snack.


Our place for the night. no neighbours..


Driving through the heat of Spain

The nose of the train..

Crossing high mountain passes.


Endless fields of sunflowers

View from the train :-)


The co-pilot keeps an eye on the road too

At the gasstation in Spain. At the most places they got superb tapas and bocadillas (super sandwiches..)



In the South of France we took the small road along the coast. Visited some classice "surfcities"
as Biaritz, Hossegor etc... Sure nice places, but I prefer those places in spring/winter/autum. Way more relaxed/better surf. Now in summer that whole south coast of france looks like one big tourist trap. And the "surfer style" look is the big money maker.



Our favorite french bakery along the road where we always stop/camp.
St.Vincent de Tyrosse. A quit nice place, just 15 minutes away from Hossegor.


Driving through the evening sun in France heading north.

2 days later we arrived home safe. Rain...no waves... no wind... wanna go back!! ;-)

God rays and frequent flyer miles....

Yesterday was a nice sunny day. We try to take a walk with Ella everyday and yesterday was perfect for a walk along the beach of a lake near to our house.

In the end of the afternoon some clouds came in. A nice view was the result. You could clearly see the rays of the sun. Also called "god rays"....

And today I had a nice windsurf session at Ouddorp with 4.7 and my SOS Classic 88. With shoulder high ramps it was a good day for collecting frequent flyer miles :-)

In the end the wind turned more onshore and it got choppy. After sailing for 4 hrs and with the wind increasing to 30+ kts, no smaller sails to change to (only took 5.3 and 4.7), it was time to head back to the girls ;-)

Damaged sails..

A nice day with stormy winds. Especially at the end of the harbour, between the 2 piers

After a while I saw a sailboat comming from the open sea. Still with al his sails to the max. Outside on the ocean there was a solid windforce 7, but I guess at that time between the piers we had a force 9 with gusts. So when he came in het got that "surprise"..

The boat also turned nonstop around it's ax.. 30/40 rounds..
Did they have problems with steering?

Asked for help at the lifeguard at the beach and sailed to boat the check it out. when I arrived there I saw that the ends of the broken sails had broken the windows and many other polyester..

They gave me the thumb up, so I assumed it was under control.

After some time the boat went on his engine into the harbour. A pricy entrance..






Shrips with garlic in boiling oil/on a hot plate