Another example of copycats.....

It seems that JP has copied the MUFins. Read the whole story here.

Pollution....

Yesterday there were two incidents threatening our best spots. Things like this happen more often, but two incidents at the same day?

About 40km of the coast of south Holland two cargo ships collided. According to the news hardly any oil has leaked into the water. But three containers are missing. This part of the North Sea is probably the busiest shipping route in the world. I guess we are just lucky it wasn't a big oiltanker this time. We just need to watch out so we don't crash into those containers. And off course hope the shipment for Zuidwest6 wasn't in one of them....


A little bit more to the north, things looked worse. A strange yellow substance washed up on the beach. They have no idea where it's from, what it is and therefore they have no idea if it's harmful or not. They just advised people not to touch it. How would you sail or surf if you can't touch the yellow stuff? I guess in this case we were just lucky that wind and waves weren't worth taking the risk today. They cleaned the beach so hopefully it's save next Thursday, cause the forecast is good....

Test day...

Yesterday we had a test day for some members of a windsurfing student association. They could try some of the gear like the Smack, Crossfire, Superfreak, Liquid, Speeddemon and GPS. With about 16 knots of wind on a lake called 'Oostvoornse meer' it turned out to be a fun day. I sailed the slalom and freeride sails (GPS, Speeddemon and Liquid) and enjoyed sessions on all three of them.

I also took my camera into the water and tried to take some shots off Paul. The wind in the front wasn't really constant. So it was difficult to get some good shots, but I managed to get this shot........ Paul, I hope you get your wildcard!

Ouddorp....

It was my first time in Ouddorp. I had planned to go to another spot, but the wind turned out to be more west than expected. Ouddorp is more or less the backyard of Joost's 'summer residence'. He told me it's good with westwind. And as it's always nicer to sail with friends (Bas and Bart were there as well), I changed my plans and went to Ouddorp.

Joost wasn't lying, the wind was sideshore and in the beginning the waves were perfect for jumping. The wind was a lot stronger than the forecast and even picked up more during the afternoon. When the tide came up the conditions improved for waveriding and I managed to catch a some waves.

After a very satisfying afternoon I took a few pictures....

In the background the third biggest harbour of the world.... Rotterdam....

Bart had spotted me on a picture at the dutch windsurfing forum. I think it's the first picture with my 4.7 freak....Thanx jaapjxs!!!

The rest of the trip back.....

After some nice stops in Galicia we continued our trip home further along the Spanish coast...

One our way back we stayed at a nice campsite. The view from our tent was amazing....

A small beach right in front of the camping...

The view of the rivermouth....
... and the view the other way. In the back the mountains of the 'Picos de Europa'....

Crossing the border with France, we soon arrive in Capbreton and Hossegor. Time to say goodbye to quiet beaches and small sleapy villages...
But also in the south of France the ocean was flat...

Galicia pt 2....

If there was a part 1 there has to be at least a part 2 as well. So here it is.

Leaving the first bay, practically around the corner there was another bay. Just as beautiful. A little less exposed, but with a cute harbour with some restaurants worth checking out in the winter...
Sometimes you have to leave beautiful places behind you, but I wil always remember what they looked like in my rearview mirror....

It just keeps on going. Here we were, again only a few kilometers further, at another beautiful beach...
... and again no crowd!

Proud South African....

Sean Made this board for a friend from South Africa. Turned out amazing....
Another great resinwork example...
... just a shame the dutch flag isn't so colorful, maybe that's why David chose orange for one of his boards ;-)

The forgotten place....

Years ago 'The Gorge' was famous. Right up there with the other classic spots like Hookipa, La Torche, etc. You couldn't buy a magazine without pictures or stories of 'The Gorge'. Brands used it for marketing and testing. I recall Hot Sails Maui making small 'Spiderlok' sails for the nuclear winds of 'The Gorge'. And even having a Hot Sails Maui - retail shop in Hood River.

From the 1998 Hot Sails website:

Spiderlok: The name equals the lightweight in windsurfing. Engineered with the ultimate weight to strength ratio of any sail, the Spiderlok is built for easier handling and longer sailing. The design is a proven all round wave sail suitable for hard core waves, Gorge winds, or flat water freestyle. Easily the best sail value available today.

I don't know why 'The Gorge' isn't in the magazines anymore, it's a great windsurfing place, with a lot of windsurfing history. And it's one of the best places for bump and jump. Especially JUMP!!! As this next video shows. We often complain about kitesurfers not knowing where they will land after a jump. With this guy it's a bit similar. Definately a place to visit once....

Back in PWA

I was looking at the results of the PWA in Fuerteventura to see how Diony did. This year Hot Sails Maui has returned in the PWA circuit and Diony is the main man. With 17th place in wave and 15th place in slalom in Pozo and a 17th place in slalom in Fuerteventura, he's doing a very decent job.

Off course I also checked the pictures of the event. Find out more on the PWA site.

I was kinda confused by the title of this picture...... "Hot babes". A Hot Sails Maui promotion team????

Seems like Diony spotted them as well ;-)

Diony full speed...

The title of this picture on the PWA site says it's Diony, but then he is using the gear of his buddy Juan Marino...
... because this is clearly V103!

Galicia, pt 1....

Galicia has a lot of cliffs with sandy beaches in between. These beaches are more or less secluded and face different directions. We were there on a flat day (and it was already mesmerizing), but when waves are up, this must be an awesome place to be. No matter the swell direction or size, there must be countless perfect beaches to surf. Worth to check it out in winter...

Just have a look at a small google earth cutout...... a lot of bays with different beaches, facing different directions.

We had driven for a few hours from the north of portugal, so time for a stop near ferrol...
... this place reminded me a lot of Brest. This was actually right next to the naval base around the corner.

Then it was time to head to the beaches...
... the name of this beer says it all: Estrela de Galicia. This place was awesome!!

There seemed to be a funneling effect on the wind in this particular place...
... as it was flat and we were kind of on a time schedule we didn't rig our sails, but we'll be back to do this one day!!!

And that pier at the harbour isn't there without a reason...
... I am very curious how the waves can be here.

Nice house...
... with a sweet view.

And this view is in both directions...
... this is the view to the east.

Nice color of the water...
... and very crowded, right? It was about 28 degrees celcius, so I guess this beach doesn't really get crowded... I like it like that ;-)

Definately a place worth a visit in winter. Saved it on my gps ;-)

Goodbye Viana, see you in christmass...

Some last shots from Viana. The holidays are almost over, so it's time to slowly had back up north. We are planning some site seeing on our way back along the Spanish and French coast. But for now it's goodbye to Viana. We'll be back here for christmass. The chances for wind are slim in winter, but waves will be good for surfing...

Viana as seen from the pier...

The beach...

The view from the beach towards Santa Luzia...

The Santa Luzia church on top of the mountain...

The view down to the beach...

Time to head back and see David and Linda's new house. Fire up the bbq guys!!!

Wrong kind of wave...

Since yesterday I think we can officially call this a heatwave. Not the kind of wave I was hoping for. The seas are completely flat and the other bad thing about temperatures going well over 30 degrees Celcius is that the winds usually don't work anymore. Unless you've got a big, very big freeride sail the fun days are over. It was my goal to be sailing 7 days straight, but I only got up to six. As the winds won't return before we have to leave, the statistics for these holidays are going to be 17 days sailing out of 25 days in Portugal. A classic Viana summer!! Most of these days even had a bit of waves :-p

Flat days...

For many people a picture like this might seem like the end of the world, but sometimes here in Viana this is where it all starts, behind the pier. On these days you just have to float out about 300 meters to get some good wind. This usually happens when temperatures go up. With waves dropping to zero, all we could do was go and have some fun in the open seas. Going way out behind the big pier (at least 1km out) the windswell can get pretty big. With some steep sections it makes a nice ramp for jumping. The jumps usually aren't that high, but the drop down behind the swell can easily be 3 meters. It's just a little bit difficult to get pictures that far out ;-) Maybe we need to get one of those GoPro's.....

A big plus for going out to open seas is the lack of kiters. Kiters like to stay near the beach, and on weekends a lot of kiters show up in Viana.

The wind usually drops a little at about 5-6pm. It's a nice time for some lonely cruising in the bay. Maybe I need to get myself a nice 8.0 gps or something ;-)

Multi purpose pocket...

Every Hot Sails Maui sail has a pocket inside the pad. This pocket can be used for many purposes. Jeff, for example, uses it for excess downhaul rope. David uses it for some safety rope. You can off course keep a lot of things in there. But on days without waves, when you're just cruising around the bay, it's a good thing to keep some coins in there. Go upwind to the bar at the beach and get yourself a nice cold coke or even better a beer. It also gives a nice sound effect when going through the chop, a little bit like christmass bells ;-)

Just take care when you're in the south of France, because there the amount of change needed could easily double the weight of your rig ;-)

Norway...

My friend Robin is in Norway this holidays. The surf (but also the country) overthere is amazing.
Above I posted some pics. I kept them small, otherwise no one will go to the well known tropical surfplaces anymore ;-)
**update..... After some phonecalls with questions about the pics... I posted them in a more normal size... I don't name the spot on the web. Just travel along the Norway coast ;-)**

I've been in Norway for a short visit, but I'll come back! -- actually to tell you the truth: I've been there with Linda looking for a new place to live... (checking the area's/houses/job interviews etc..)