Awesome...

The forecast was good, looking over the dune it seemed even better. Totally stoked, I got out on the water as soon as I could. Near the pier the conditions were side-offshore with waves a little over a meter. The waves were small, but they were long. Four or five bottomturns was easily possible. Ana took some pictures before it became crowded. About six or seven 'local' Spanish guys on the water, and me. These Spanish guys come down from Galicia every time it's good. They know these conditions like no other and really rip. And with their average weight of about 60kg, lightwind conditions don't really seem lightwind for them ;) Here you have some more pictures of these guys, some in really awesome conditions (check out the ones on december 13th of 2008). I guess you can find Dirk in some of them as well...

After about one and a half hour I realised I forgot to put suncream and it showed. As the waves near the pier got really crowded I headed downwind a little, got me some suncream and enjoyed shoulder high waves in front of the camping. The waves are always a little higher in front of the camping, but the wind isn't side-offshore there and the waves aren't as long. But there is less crowd and more space (and a few rocks....)

Here are some pictures Ana made in the first hour near the pier.

De Nieuwe vecht / Mill

My new house is along a old canal, called De Nieuwe Vecht. It's made around 1600 as a shortcut from the town (Zwolle) to a river called De Vecht. On the picture above, the house is on the right side at the first tree.
At the end of the street there is a classic , but still functional windmill (made in 1776) It made oil out of almost everything ;-)

now...
1906...

some pics from the inside

A very gusty day....

The forecast for yesterday was good. Waves should build up during the afternoon and winds should be there. So I asked Ana to take some pictures at the end of the afternoon.

The next picture of a spanish guy shows that small waves started breaking near the pier as well and it was side-offshore there. So lets head up wind and catch some waves there....

But arriving there the wind completely dropped... :(
(let's see what today brings)

Two consecutive windless days... pt 2

The beach where the bodyboard championships were is called Afife. Facing northwest this beach gets a lot more waves in summer than Viana do Castelo, but sadly the thermical winds dont't work here at all...
Time to get some nice lunch in Moledo...
... a small restauriant with an outside grill. This to me is what portuguese food is all about. Good but simple ingredients. Grilled fish or meat, some home cut fries, a bit of rice and some salad. The ingredients are bought from small traditional local farmers and fishermen. And although it might not be a 100% organic, it gets awfully close....

Driving on to Valenca, a small city on the border with spain, you can see that Europeans didn't always get along. Valenca is a very nice example of a fortified city. In current times the portuguese gladly welcome the spanish tourists and try to sell them al kinds of traditional products.

Well, enough site seeing for now.... It's time fro some wind again....

Sean at Lanes

Found this nice pic of Sean. Riding a nice one at Lanes (Hawaii)

Two consecutive windless days... pt 1

What to do now? Well, let's do some site seeing. Most places we've been before, but it's still nice to go back.

At first Ponte de Lima...Ponte de Lima's legend: The story is about a Roman legion arriving at the Lima river. They thought this place was so beautiful that crossing the river would make them forget everything they ever learnt. To proof this wasn't true the commander road his horse through the river and called every soldier by his first name.... Or was it something else? I forgot....


A nice seaside lunch... (there is a steak somewhere under the fries and the egg)

A nature reserve with beautiful colors...
... and a stunning beach view!

On that beach they had a bodyboard championship, so we stayed there a while to watch.

Part two of the site seeing will follow.......

Summer in Holland!

I knew that Torben likes to spread his legs easy
But to do it so obvious in front of the camera.. ;-)


It isn't that bad overhere .. A very nicy pic of Lampie. It is if it's made on a tropical spot on the other side of the world.

The nice pics are made by JanPeter (JePe)

Some snapshots of the house I'm working on

evening view from top window

tropical shadows on the wall

frontdoor

old windows. glas in a lead frame

lunch... lamb

spanish tiles in the kitchen

old window closures

of course a own room/house for the gear

a relax jetstream/bubble bad .... can't wait to test it after a januari below zero surfsession!

We miss photo Paul...

As a reaction to David´s previous post, I would like to add that having a semi professional photographer on the beach making over a hundred pictures almost everyday, makes it a lot easier to post pictures like that. Sadly, photo Paul is not here this year and taking photos isn´t Ana´s biggest hobby. But I´ll try my best to get some spiced up pictures this week. Forecast looks good... ;)

By the way, the counter this year, until today, stands on 11 days out of 15. A classic Viana summer so far... ;)

Time to spice it up ;-)

Come-on guys... we wanna see some action/spray/agression pics.. ;-) So here a example ..
(some old pics of viana..)



Spice it up baby!! above a lightwind spray

small waves too, but destroyed to the max...

Lightwind day...

This day we had a nice lightwind session. Ana had some fun in the waves as well. Nice safety colors, huh?

Erik had to say goodbye to the ocean. Sadly, his holidays are over... :(
It was lightwind and almost no waves, but every now and then a set would come in. You just had to be lucky to be in the right place at the right time.... ;)