Garden comes alive

Doggy is going for that nice brown tan...

Same board, many days before ;-)

Sean knows what to do with a lip...

Clean shape....

Nice clean shape Sean's taking to the water yesterday at Hookipa.


Picture from mauisurfreport

Bretagne pt 4....

I know, I'm back for a week already and still about Bretagne. I guess I'm just too busy demolishing the bathroom so the builders can start making our new bathroom. Anyway here is some more.

In the end of that big day with too little wind, I went for a nice surf session. I expected to be surfing the rest of the week, because the forecast was poor. Some swell, but not enough wind. However, the next two days were probably the best of the trip. Perfect sunshine, about 14 knots of side-off wind and shoulder high, clean waves. Six or seven bottom turns was not unusual. Most locals even didn't notice these nice conditions, so I was on the water with 3 other guys. I know that Giampaolo (http://mauisurfreport.blogspot.com) always counts the number of waves he has ridden. I don't, but with these two days as a bonus, I would say easily over 150 during the the trip. With six or seven bottom turns on a wave, it makes for a lot of bottom turns ;-P

Sadly no pictures and I was stupid enough to forget the GoPro. So these days are only in my memories, so hopefully Alzheimer doesn't get me soon ;-) (although forgetting the GoPro might be a hint??) But here are some scenery shots made during our long walks along the astonishing cliffs that never cease to amaze me.

Bretagne pt 3....

Everything was arranged for the Tuesday after Easter. In the morning I had a chat with Thierry Belbeoch and his friend Guillaume. The forecast was very good. A nice swell and some light wind from the south. Thierry needed some pictures for the French windsurfing magazine and Guillaume was going to take them. But Guillaume promised me he was going to aim his camera at me too. Conclusion, perfect conditions AND someone was gonna take pictures of me.

But it turned out different. The first spot was way too big for the lack of wind. So we headed to the spot around the corner. Still very big and very, very light wind. The wind was a little bit stronger in the middle of the bay (like 10 knots). But the waves were pounding. 1,5 meters of white water coming at you with no power in your sail meant you had to swim back and try again. No-one got through the waves except for Armand, the former financial guy from Exocet, who miraculously found a gap in the waves after trying several times. He enjoyed a solo session in big waves making 2 bottom turns on the waves and making sure to stay out behind the white water. The enoying fact was that behind the waves there was quite some breeze, but just too difficult to get there. A channel would have been nice in this case.....

Secret spot, but difficult to get to the water.....

Lonely surfgear....

Mountains of white water and no wind in between....

The only guy out, lucky Armand....

And out he stayed....

Bretagne pt 2....

After an almost flat second day, the third day the waves picked up again. I had a nice session in light wind side shore conditions. I actually didn't expect it to be this nice. Although I don't have any pictures of me, I found some pictures of a few French guys sailing a bit more downwind. I am actually amazed I'm not in any of the pictures sailing in the background or something, because I actually saw the guys taking pictures and I was quite close to them.

HSM site got hacked....

Some asshole hacked the Hot Sails Maui website.....


But you can still access it here!! And I also changed the link on the top of the page so the site is reachable.

Update: Now everything is hacked..... :-(

Todays menu..

A nice clear-water shorebreak with a fine touch of sand.

New Bolt has autopilot.....

Bretagne pt 1....

My trip to Bretagne started out pretty well. The first day was da bomb!! It started out in side-on conditions with wind from the left, but when the wind turned more west it got too onshore, so I changed to the other side of the peninsula. Almost perfect side shore. I knew this spot could get big, but I never saw it in real life. Until this day!

The average wave was about shoulder to head high, but every now and then a rare set came with waves easily double overhead. The gusty winds ranging between 15 and 30 knots made it quite challenging. Sometimes making it difficult to get over the white water and sometimes launching you way up in the air.

Ana grabbed the camera and tried to make some pictures from the car. Sadly I had been so smart to leave the camera settings with a far too high ISO value. As this can't easily be seen while taking pictures, Ana didn't notice. So here are a few pictures, but not as clear as they could have been :-(

Bonaire Movie

Bonaire 2010 (Paul Zeper) from Paul Zeper on Vimeo.

Sea-gull between the lines

Click on this pic and share the feeling with the sea-gull

This nice pic is made by Tristan Mausse, a superb surfboard glasser.
Check out glass-sandingjob.blogspot.com and you never wanna ride on plastic popout boards anymore ;-)

Back from Maroc 3

After a last-minute flight to Marrakech, a taxi drive of some hours in an old Benz to the coast and a long deep sleep I found myself in a room with this view..

No electricity in the house means candle's/fire. I really liked it.







Above the hotwater station. Boiling hot water for the shower

The wakeup call.. the sound of the waves





The seawater direct at the coast is a little brownish. Think it's due to the sand. If you go out a little further on the sea it's getting blue.

But a brown tube tastes as good..



The kitchen of Roro's fantastic house. Everyday we got the freshest and tastiest breakfasts/lunches and dinners we could imagine. Thanx Roro!
The only secret that I give away: the best pension you can find: LeKaouki in Sidi Kaouki.
Surfspots you have to find out yourself ;-)

The dinnerplace




Just hangin' out on the beach...