Satisfied....

Yesterday my doctor gave me a green light for physical effort. So when I realized it was windy today nobody could keep me away from the water. The first time on the water after being hospitalized almost six weeks ago. I chose for a safe and easy spot and sailed for about 3 hours. In the end I was really satisfied, I needed this......

I have to give a big compliment to Sean for the SOS Classic 88. It's not only an awesome waveboard, it turns out to be extremely fast as well. I didn't have a gps, so I don't know my topspeed, but I could easily keep up with most of the guys on slalom gear (and jibing on the SOS is a lot easier ;-) ). About two months ago I tested the Classic 88 with a gps in very choppy conditions and reach a top speed of 55,2 km/hr. I am certain I went faster today, because some places were almost completely flat. Maybe in Portugal, on flat days, I should grab a gps again and test it full speed. See if I can crack 60 km/hr on my Classic 88 and a Superfreak.

In the end I spotted two other freaks on the water. I don't know who they are, but (as with all freaks) they were easy to spot.

Corvette, JSF, Space Shuttle.......

Corvette, Boeing X-32 Joint Strike Fighter, Space Shuttle, Amtrak NEC High Speed Train, Wind Turbines .... What do all of these have in common??

They all use balsa, and lots of it!!!

Boeing bought a lot of it during the last months for use in their X-32 Joint Strike Fighter. The result is that, here in western Europe, the stock of balsa has dropped considerably. The specific balsa products we need for our next projects are completely sold out in Holland and will only be in stock in a couple of weeks. It is available in Germany, but for almost double the price. So, there is no other option but to wait till after my trip to Portugal to continue our projects......

Smoking fishes....

Nice fishes to play in the water with...


But you also have to feed the belly ;-)





It's full summer now. Long days and warm weather...
Normally I would pack the bus and drive to the south of Europe, not this time cause there is something comming... my first own home ;-)

Doggy style....

Dogs of Maalaea from ACL Productions on Vimeo.

Madnes festival Ameland

Last weekend we went to a small/cozy 3 days festival (MadNes) on a smal Dutch island called Ameland. Besides the "normal" themes like : music, party, drinking, fun etc... there was also surfing! So a must go for us ;-)
Joost came with his car+trailer full of material so that the people could try out/see the Hotsails Maui, SOS boards, Witchcraft boards etc..
We would help him with the job ;-) Of course it became also a kind of Maui/ Zuidwest6 teamrider meet.

This island got superb surfspots for most wind/waves directions. So we will go there back for sure... From now on I'll wait for that Northwesterly storm that turns to west/southwest..

With the bus on the ferryboat. I was that friday so tired.. Think I felt asleep everytime I shut down the engine of the car. Luckely I made it to the boat in time.


Had A nice pizza with Joost and Vanessa. Afterthat a looongggg sleep behind the dunes. There was a nice campingplace walking distance to the festival terrain.

Below some pics during the day. A very nice/cozy terrain on a nice location. 2 main tents with music, culture and activities. Also a miniramp for skateboarding
During the night it was absolute parytime!! The roof went off!

We spend the day at the beach. The weather was great.
wind could be better to give better demo's/free surfing but for people who wanted to try it was ok.

Paul in a world of his own.

Checking out the 7,0 Superfreak

Friday east (sideshore) force 5, saturday 4, and sunday became hot with a force 3 breez


Great food cantina's and a very relaxed atmosphere



Paul got himself a new sponsor : DAKINE, so he felt so free to use the bus during the fotoshoot.
So who shine's the most? The bus or Paul ... ;-)

Torben and Paul going for airtime!

Copycats....killing the aloha spirit

Today we found a thread on a SUP-forum that pissed us off. Off course all of us think surfing, windsurfing and all related sports are all about the aloha spirit. We are all one big family. But apparently every family has a few rotten apples.

A few posts ago I already wrote that Stand Up Paddling isn't really my thing. Standing on top of one of those boards with a big paddle in your hand is already quite a challenge. I just prefer to get my forward motion and my balance from a sail instead of a paddle. But looking at pioneers of Stand Up Paddling, like Laird Hamilton, Dave Kalama and Sean Ordonez, in double overhead waves deserves a lot of respect. These guys aren't just Stand Up Paddlers, they are real watermen.


Sean is not only a waterman, he is also a very very very good shaper. He shapes for all kinds of watermen and women. Windsurfboards, surfboards, tow-in boards and SUP's for guys like Kevin Prittchard, Kai Lenny, his WQS surfer girl Paige and a few awesome guys that paddle into jaws. We consider him the best shaper and defenitily the most allround shaper.

Besides all this we got to know Sean as a very passionate shaper. Trying to push the sports further. A real inspiration. It is a joy talking with him about surfing, shaping and lots of other stuff. We consider him, Paige and their dog Mocha dear friends, that's why the thread we found today really pissed us off. Honest guys like Sean and Joe Blair with the ultimate aloha spirit got screwed over by some money horny jackass called Jeremy Fry. For the inovative shaper Sean is, this wasn't the first time...... Let's at least hope it will be the last time!!!!

Read the whole story here....

Easy and nice weekend..

Summertime in Holland. Time for another weekend trip! This time we went to our nearby Ijselmeer (big lake) The wind/weather forecast wasn't that great but they were wrong...
Linda could sail the 5.3 fire, and I was on the 6.0 firepower.


Found myself a perfect beach chair/bed... a supersoft deck of a catamaran with waterview. As more clouds came in... and for even more comfort I took a boardbag and went in it...
perfect sleeping ;-)

The typical landscape with dykes that prevents that the water come in our houses...

At Molkwerum we met some friends. They stayed on a small local camping, we joined them
(normally we go for the "wild"camp) It became a very nice meet with loads of fun, stories etc..
Ofcourse we went all together on the water.

Mini vw meet. we 'had" to do it with the oldest Van....
I really like the T3 Vw van.. they still beat the t4/t5. A true future classic. If I had more space
a T3 Syncro 16' would be on my wishlist

Linda found the speedstrip! Just behind the islands full of birds.
In the meantime the beast went for the mouses , rabbits and rats

Awesome footage.....

Hollow balsa surfboard

When Winfried arrived, he also brought in some work ;-)
He was working on something special. A hollow surfboard totally made of balsa wood. The 'frame' inside is also from balsa. If you use Balsa the right way it's ultra light, strong and you can get the right flex/response out of it... (I can't tell all 'secrect' construction details overhere..)
To get an idea of the frame inside : below a picture of a wooden board we made more than 20 years ago.

The rails are made from 'massive' balsa, so that you can shape them as you want.



The shape room. Just outside in our garden. Fresh air as much as you want. Sounds of the birds and the ocean (just a small walk away)

Below the laminating room. Yup also made from wood.

View from the 'glas' room. Yup that's LaPalue/Lostmarch. The testing grounds of the boards..


There's only one way to refresh after the epoxy fumes. Drink some beers and grap a board and walk to the beach..
The shaper/builder in his element ;-)
Always nice moments... talking about ideas, comming projects etc. We will come with something special for sure!

The Bug thought that he landed on a piece of fresh wood/nature product. A perfect compliment!

Super light!
The final result! Nice perfect working boards and happy woman... what do you want more?