Christmas @ Tarifa

Hello everybody

Been a while since I updated my blog, much too long but because of all the cold in the Netherlands, no surfing action and so nothing special, till the beginning of this week.

As every year with Christmas it was time to escape from the cold waters of the Netherlands and search for warmer waters with our camper, so time to hit south again for 2 weeks and leave to the aria of Tarifa, Capital windsurf city of Europe with 17°C water and 16°C air temperature and of course wind!

All though I have to admit that it was waiting a little bit in the weekend before the wind would show up. Monday the wind started a bit out of the levante direction but was a bit hesitating and didn’t really want to come true at Playa Chica where the wind always starts first if its levante, I gave it a try but after an hour of really gusty sailing  I took my surf board and went to take some waves on the other side of the beach. Eventually we went to Bolonia where there was just enough wind to get out trough the waves and have some nice wave rides on the Kode 86 and S1 5.3 sail.

The next day the levante started early at playa chica and we had a whole day of great freestyle sailing finally after being a whole month of the water! It went really well in the pretty choppy conditions and after 4 hours I was more than satisfied and tired after the great session. Already thinking about the next day!

As there was still good swell around and strong winds from levante it was time to get Bolonia like I’ve never had before, good waves sometimes 2,5-3m in the sets, strong winds around  30-40 knots side-to side offshore and a new Quad IQ 69 to test. I rigged up my S1 3.7 pulled on my wetsuit and went out for a very long day. The Quad was just awesome, it was getting used to it in the beginning a bit as you have to ride the wave a bit more as on a surfing board but ones you got used to it you could make such tight turns and hit every lip you could. It was a day of pure wave riding mostly and occasionally some jumping. It was probably the best wave day of my live with my biggest aerials yet in my life, definitely tasting for more!! After again a day of 4 hours I decided to put on my twinfin set up on my Quad as its easily convertible and see the difference. The big difference was that you were now making more bigger turns as with the Quad setup you had more tight turns but the board works perfect both in the Quad as in the Twinfin setup which makes it definitely so far my best wave board ever.

Today it was over with levante and searching again for wind which we found “a bit gusty” at Valdelagrana a beach close to Cadiz which gave as an hour of goods wind enough for my S1 4.7 and Flare 88 to have a nice short freestyle session.

So this was my last updated for this year, Happy New year already to all of you and lets pray for a lot of wind for all of us!!

Cheers

Stormy Wave Sailing & NK Wave

Hello everybody

After my last update 2 weeks ago we saw the forecast not the conditions that I expected with only 2 days of surfing. Although I have to say Friday I finally could test my new 3.3 in the waves at the Belgian coast in good jumping conditions although my 3.3 was still to big sometimes. It was a perfect day with around 40-45 kts out of the W turning in the afternoon to WSW which means perfect sailing conditions in Bredene with waves around 2-3 meters but also with some nice steep ramps for my biggest jumps ever. I was not to much busy with trying back loops as I didn’t have to much control in the air as the wind was sometimes taking me away as I went in the air which is a great feeling. After 2 hours on 3.3 the wind dropped a bit more and I couldn’t plane not so good anymore on the way out because it became gustier which made it impossible to get planning on my 3.3 and gave me a nice wipe out all the way to the beach. Time to take a bigger sail to enjoy the wind as long as possible now there was still wind as it would drop in the afternoon. After another 2 hours the wind was totally over and everybody left home looking back at a really good stormy wave day.

The next morning it would be the Dutch Championships which I decided to enter because I was curious what the level in the Netherlands was as there are much more spots there than here in Belgium. The forecast said still some good winds for the morning till 11 with around 25 knts out of W which would have been perfect on Scheveningen. Which would be perfect, if there would have been 25 knts but it turned out to be only 13-15 knts, far from enough wind for wave sailing competition. I ended up giving it a try on my S-1 5.3 and Kode 86 but couldn’t get planning and didn’t have any power to do some wave rides although I tried as you can see on the pictures on the end of the blog.

Sunday it would get windy but very late and it was a big guess whether it would get there fast enough before getting dark. In the end we left as the wind picked up and went on the water around 5 o’clock in the evening, knowing the sunset was at 5.20 it gave us a nice session on my 4.7 with half hour in light where we still could see the shop and see further than 10m and half hour in dark where you could not see the chop till it was one meter in front of your board which made freestyling pretty interesting as you could not use your vision to see how the water was but you just did everything on feeling which makes it a lot harder. In the end it became really to dark at 6 and me and my dad decided to go back to the side before we couldn’t see each other anymore. Now this is still my last surf session so far but for sure it was worth every second, even if it would have been only 15 min.!

Now it’s getting colder with temp. around 0°C and will even drop more as they are predicting around -6°C next week and maybe already the first snow, Winter is coming way to fast!!!

Chears Dieter

Good surfing with first small storm.

Hello everybody

After BK wave was done the wind dropped for 3 days which gave me the time to work a bit on my school again as I missed some lessons because I went windsurfing and also had to go to school again the next week. But the wind came back in the second part of the week which gave me a good day with south winds and low tide for some wave riding out on sea behind a sandbank with small waves around 1 meter but perfect for at least 5 turns if you picked the right one! Afterwards when the water came up again I went back to the lake for another freestyle session from about an hour.

The second week, so last week from now, I had holiday with of course some good winds. Although we came to late to the water on Wednesday I still had 3 days of really good sailing. One was nice with 4.7 all alone on the water with a friend as we went to a spot closer to home where not to many people sail especially not with high tide. After a good 3 hours the wind gave up and we rigged of watching people arrive and knowing they where  bit to late to still have the good wind we had, worth waking up early enough. Thursday we had the first small storm of the year here in the Netherlands wind winds up to 45 knts, so perfect for freestyle… Not really in the beginning of the day as I didn’t have to much control anymore with my 3.7 as I left my 3.3 home because I thought it wouldn’t be that strong. In the evening the wind dropped of a bit but still strong which gave a great freestyle session together with Davy as we where both training to get as high as possible in our skopus on the flat water which gave some beginnings of airskopus and made it in the end a perfect day with a lot of sailing!! Friday the wind would drop early they said on the forecast so we arrived at the water around 9 in the morning to pic all  the wind there still was and giving the perfect freestyle conditions. Flat water, 4.3 fully powered up and all your friends around you just enjoying the morning surf, just perfect! And the best thing of al was that the wind didn’t drop till around 4 in the afternoon so we were actually dead tired waiting till the wind would drop but it didn’t so we stopped around 2 because we were still to tiered from the day before. That was the end of the week and also my last day of sailing so far, but now worries tomorrow the next storm arrives with even much more wind but also more rain and only 8°C the first day but afterwards 11-12°C so we won’t complain!! If you have time have a look on windguru and then you will see its going to be windy till the end of the week!!

Also yesterday I did my first part-time exam of school which went good so that test for me is also done now, now I’m sure I can make both school and surfing in a perfect combination hopefully with still a lot of sailing this year here in the Netherlands!

Here are still some pictures from 2 weeks ago with a session on Brouwersdam on my new 5.3 which I started using since the new 2011 arrived because they don’t feel like a 5.3 and give me the power I need in low wind conditions!

BK Wave was on!!

hello everybody

As I hoped last week on my blog BK wave finally happened in very hard conditions with typical Belgian or in this case French conditions as the competition was held at La Pointe. It was rainy, cloudy almost no sun but very strong wind with big waves which were getting bigger every hour. It all started very early as we all knew the wind was going to drop in the afternoon and turn onshore so the competition started at 9 just half an hour after sunset which made it impossible to warm up. Luckily I did some wave sailing the week before in side onshore conditions so I was totally used to it again and could find fast my rhythm. The first heat the wind was still quite side shore with waves from 2-3 meters and a very strong increasing wind so I was fully overpowered on my 4.0 but past the first round so I could go back and rig up my 3.7.

By the second round the wind even increased more and also turned more onshore which made it really hard to do some good wave rides and keep you're height as it the currents was really strong. I did a good heat although it was not my best but for the conditions there where is was more than good enough to pas.

Now I was up against Olivier Pas one of the only Belgian riders who can do the tweaked push loop good and landed it every heat so one of the favorites as he did also some good wave rides. The wind was just howling and the waves where now sometimes getting up to mast high and the wind was almost onshore which made it almost impossible to do front side wave rides. I did make it to my 2 wave rides with some good turns but could only do one jump where I needed to so I knew I had lost, although in the end I found out it was pretty close as my wave rides did score high. The competition was over for me and I finished in a nice 5th shared place. The final took place in Sangatte as there was still some wind and side to side-onshore wind and moderated waves. In the final we saw Jonas Handekyn winning it as young gun against the rest with nice wave rides and the best clean landed back loop from whole the competition! In second Olivier Pas with a nice push loop and good wave rides follow by Fabrice Devos who got the highest jumping score of the final. In fourth came Arno who was the wave champion of last year.

Cheers Dieter

End of the competition year, time for some wave!

hello everybody

It's been since Sylt since I wrote something on my blog. Now the year in the PWA and also the last freestyle event happend here in the netherlands I can look back at a good year. In my first year at the PWA I finished 12th far above my expactations and also became 2nd in the first EFPT event in the beginning of the year which in the end gave me still a 7the place in the overall ranking although I only did 2 events! This was also the first year I didn't compete at the national competitions as there was no wind on the last event 1 week ago and so no chance to defend my netherlands and belguam freestyle championship this year, maybe next year will see.

Now freestyle competitions are over I'm trying to go more wavesailing when the wind is good as I will compete in the belguim championships of wave so I can get a bit used to the waves again. This saterday we got some great conditions with a strong NE wind from 25 knts and nice waves from sometimes 2meters and in the back even 2.5-3 meter gave us Bredene (belguim) at it's best with wind from the right and a great day of sailing. I put some nice new pictures on my slideshow so you can have a look there how it was saterday.

For next week the conditions look assome although it's going to get colder but that doesn't matter if you see the windforcast from brouwersdam with probably also some good waveaction again with wind from the left this time and hopefully on saterday the Belguim championships of wave!!

Stay tuned as hopefully there will be a update next week from the Belguim Championships of wave!

Cheers Dieter

Sylt day 5-7

hello everybody

After my last update and after ore first single there was not much action going on anymore beside's just hanging around in the Sailorsclub and watching the slalom during the first day. The wind that day was maybe even a bit stronger than when we had to sail ore single but the gust where les strong so it ended up in a race who could make the best out of the lowwind conditions. Bjorn sailed a very solid heat and didn't give Albeau any chance to take him over again which made him win the first day of racing.

The second day the wind was totally away and there was not much to do till they decided to go for a tow in freestyle session right in front of all the people. Golitto, Steven, Taty, Tonky and Nicolas gave their best shot and landed some sick moves but also sick crashes right in front of a beach full of people. The sickest crash was the one from golitto when he over rotated his burner which gave a big crash. Taty did a perfect dubbel funnel to take with it the 3the place after Golito with his over rotated burner. The king in tow in from Austria stayed undivided with landing first a perfect culo in no wind and on he's last running doing a massive airfunnel into funnel where he launched himself perfectly in the air and in my point of view actually could have jumped around the whole way but maybe that's for the next time!

The third day from this blog there was not much going on during the day, no wind no tow in and so also no action, just watching the action of the quicksilver pro surf in France on the live stream to make the day pas faster away. In the evening although we went out to celebrate Bjorn Saragoza his 19the birthday which he became at 12 O'clock so again Happy Birthday Bjorn!

So that is it for this blog as for the moment the slalom just started again in 16 to 22 knots but full offshore so no chance for freestyle in the front, maybe the next days!!

Cheers Dieter

Sylt Day 2-4

hello everybody

The past days been very busy with staying standby on the beach as I was in one of the first heats.

Day 2 was still okay with some relaxing and watching the surfers taking the nice waves there where that day and also enjoying the sun for the last day before the wind should kick in for the next day.

Day 3 started with a lot of rain, wet clothes and cold temperatures compared to day 2. The wind was nothing but as I was already in my wetsuit because it was warmer than my wet jeans and wet sweater I could borrow a surfboard from Max Droege and could catch some nice waves after one year without normal surfing. After being 3 hours in the water I went to rent a bike to ride to my tent to get some dry clothes and by the time I came back the wind kicked in and I could put my wetsuit back on again. The wind was really light and by the time it was my heat it dropped totally so my heat got cancelled. Time to go home and have a good sleep for the next day.

Day 4 we finished a whole single in very light conditions with 12 minuts heats to make sure everybody got there moves. After 3 times we finally got enough wind for my heat and I could pass to the next round altough it was far from my best heat and it was pretty close. The next heat was against Kiri with even less wind then before I could only try 3 moves on the way out which I all landed but was not good enough to land my shaka on the way out clean enough which would maybe made the diffrence between winning and losing. in the end I lost my heat with a 2-1 decision which is very close against vice worldchampion from last year! The conditions didn't inprove anymore but stayed the same and in the half final was pretty good again where I saw some really good sailing from all the guys and especially from Taty with a sick kono and double spock coming in and Steven who just crashed the biggest kono of the day and made him lose from Gollito. In the finals the conditions where really getting crazy with a lot of non planning moments and a lot of pomping and was both really close till Golitto pulled out in the last minute a ponch and a burner out of no where!! Now the day is over and we at least already have one result will see wat the next days will say!

Cheers!

Sylt Day 1

hello everybody

Since yesterday morning I arrived at Sylt together with Maarten van Ochten and Paul Zeper who's car we drove with. Although we missed our train and drove too far that we even ended up in Denmark and arrived at the boat to Sylt on the next island. But after some searching we eventually found the train station to Sylt and could go on the train at 5 in the morning after waiting the whole night.

After we arrived we just started to rig up everything and find a place in the equipment tent to make sure we still would have place. After doing this Paul drove me to the campsite which is 20 min. walking from the competition area and started to built up my tent for the rest of the week.

Afterwards I went back to the beach to sign me in and welcome Yarden Meir who came here for his first PWA event ever! Than the day went on with some relaxing and sleeping as I only slept 3 hours during the night and ended with the opening ceremony for all the crowd here in Sylt.

Afterwards I went for an early sleep to be rested for the 2nd Day here at Sylt and first day of competition.

Cheers Dieter

Last 2 Days in Dahab and back to school

hello everybody

I want to say sorry for the late update because I said I would do it already last week Tuesday but didn't find any time the past week as I had it extremely busy with of course also some windsurfing!

But first about my last 2 days in dahab, lets say they where just perfect, one day all day long on my 4.0 just surfing till I almost crashed death on the beach off too much surfing because the conditions where just perfect and it was almost my last day. My last day it was windy for 4.3 and in the afternoon it was way to overpowered sailing on my 4.3 as I already riged off my 4.0 to give me some more windsurfing time on the water. It was just the perfect last day altough my mussles where really hurting from the day before it was just enjoying every last minut in Dahab.

The next day I left for home and was already fully stocked because I knew I finally could go wavesailing again after 6 months only freestyle and they even didn't give any rain on the forcast! Just perfect! But now first getting back, because I got dropped of on the wrong terminal I had to go to the other terminal which was 800 m further with not the easiest path as I couldn't stay on the footpath and had to go over the road but eventually after a lot off problems because my boardbag kept falling of my trollyI made it and even had the time to go trough the pictures Danielle from http://www.getwindsurfing.com/ took from me on my last day which where absolutly amazing. Thanks for that!

Back we packed everything out for the next day of sailing in the waves. We went to Ouddorp which turned out to be a really good choice only taking 4.3 the first hour wasn't as it's one km walking to beach which is a long way to go back and change your sail, but after I went to take 3.7 it was one of my best wavesailing sessions ever. Most of the time I was waveriding as I like this the most but also was practicing some jumping and could land some backloops nice dry. It was really feeling good to be on a waveboard again and getting used to sailing on the nordsee before I leave to Sylt.

I had 2 more days of surfing one day underpowered with 4.7 and the second day 4.3 with boots again (which really feels terrible) but very gusty and not the best anymore so the wave day was the top day off the week.

But besides windsurfing I also had to arrange a lot of other things with school which I had again for the first time yesterday. Since this year I started the study mechanical design and product technology but not full time which gives me more time for windsurfing than last year but doesn't leave me without a study which I think I will need one day in live and also is intresting me very much.

So now you know what I'm doing on a not vacation week and do in times without windsurfing.
Now packing everything for Sylt where I will leave to Thursday morning with Paul Zeper and go for the last PWA event of the year in freestyle!

cheers

week 3

hello everybody

It's seems like the windgods really like me here ore its just that dahab is very windy because the past 4 days have been windy everyday again with some really good days on 4.3 but also one day on 4.7 but at least everytime 2 hours off sailing. If been more sailing on the boing which just is a bit more downwind at the bay where there's some more shop but no people at all as the othor spots can really get beasy from 10 till 12.

Also I worked together with Timon Hagen to finish my movie from leucate and Fuerte which now is finisched and probably come online very soon, so keep watching my website I would say!

Still 2 days of sailing as the windforcasts are really looking good so I will have a good goodbye from dahab!
I make probably one more update monday evening ore tuesday evening.

And than one week home and than of to Sylt for the last PWA!

Cheers Dieter

Dahab week 2

hello everybody

Its been another 4 days off great sailing here in Dahab. Most of the time we where sailing 4.3 at Baby bay to do some filiming which gave some really good material for the movie i want to make off this trip afterwartes.
Most of the time I'm sailing here with Laura and Alex from Austria who we are filming with.

One day was very special as it was super windy in the afternoon. In the morning it was just 4.3 weather which is pretty normal but in the afternoon the wind picked up full power increasing till 35 knots which gave me a fully overpowerd session on 4.0 with only 10 people on the water just amazing! It was Alex he's last day so he found it a good goodbye!

Just 6 more days of surfing hopefully and than this trip to dahab is over for me so hoppefully i get some good winds!

cheers Dieter

Dahab windy days!

Hello everybody


Dahab the past few days have been so amazing that I was happy today it was a bit less so I could rest a bit more in the afternoon. It where 2 days of hectic sailing with one of the days also a nice walk to a spot in the desert which was really sick.

The first day after I last updated my blog Dahab was on fire the wind was strong in the morning for 4.3 and in the afternoon it even picked up more so I was fully powerd up on my 4.0 for the first time. I had really sick sailing session at Babybay for the first time and had a good session in the afternoon at speedys with almost now people on the water just amazing.

Afterwartes it was heading fast home for a shower and pack ore stuff for one night because we where going to a spot more north from Dahab where we would stay in small huts on the beach but first we had to walk 1,5 hour to there in the dark of a rocky pad on flipflops, terrible! But one’s we where far enough away from Dahab you could see the stars so perfect, the sky was just filled with stars and for the first time in my live I saw the milkway which was so nice! So it was a nice walk but not a nice sleep because the matras was like stone and wasn’t soft at al so after 3 hours off sleep everybody was awake at 5 to see the sunrise and didn’t get much sleep afterwartes anymore. With everybody I mean all the 13 people who came with us, some guy’s from Nelson, most off the people of Club Dahab, Marco who arranged everything for us and Laura Treboux with here brother who are here for 3 weeks of training.

After the gear arrived we went for a session before we went eating afterwartes. It was really windy which left me a bit overpowerd on my 4.0 but was great to sail with all you’re friends alone on such a sick lagoon! The rest of the day was surfing bit of rest and surfing again till the wind start died around 3 which gave us enouf time to pack everything down and walk back with sunset. 24hours later we wear back where everything started Dahab city. Time to eat something and go to sleep, I was even so tiered I slept 11 hours in on time!

Today the wind wasn’t to strong but good for 4.7 for around an hour more than enough because I was still feeling the last 2 days.

Here are also finally a few pictures from Dahab!

Cheers Dieter

Dahab Day 6-7

Hello everybody


Been 3 days since I wrote on my blog. The last 2 days where really good here with the first day sailing on 4.7 in the morning which was really good but only for 2 hours and then the wind went down a little bit so that was the freestyle sailing session for that day. In the afternoon I went for some slalom sailing with alex what was really cool and made it a perfect day.

The second day was my best day here so far I was sailing for 4 hours on my 4.3 fully powered up and was trying all the spots a bit here in Dahab. You have 4 main spots in the bay of Dahab. The lagoon where so far I haven’t surfed jet because its pretty full with beginners usually and can get really crowded but should have some nice shops for shaka if been told so maybe I go check it out tomorrow. Than you have the 2 flat water place’s Speedy’s where you surf next to a small reef which give nice flat water and has been so far the place where I had my best session and the most consistent wind. Then you also have Baby bay which is the place where all the movies are filmed most of the time like 4 dimension for example and is really good working with high tide as you can still surf a bit over the reef so you can get some nice speed before entering the flat water. As last spot you have Kamikazi which is actually just outside the bay and behind the reef and where the swell is going whit the wind but not really breaking but pretty big I guess it was today up to 2-3 meters and it wasn’t yet the most windy day of the week so it still should get bigger tomorrow and then maybe some ramps will build up.

So now you know a bit more about the place here next time I really hope I can put some picture’s online but so far I still couldn’t get on to them so hopefully it will work out tomorrow so I can upload them on my next update

Stay tuned!

Cheers Dieter

Dahab day 3-4

hello everybody

Been 2 days since i updated my blog and also 2 days with windsurfing.

The first day we made the trip to El Tur which was perfect. After a sleep of 7 hours we woke up at 6 O'clock to leave at 7 for ore taxidrive from 2 hours up to El Tur. I was going together with 4 guy's from Club Vass who had there day off and came up with the idee. When we arrived the water was empty and it was just looking so perfect for freestyle we disided to skip breakfeast and go emmidiatly on the water.

I rigd up my brandnew S-1 4.3 and went on the water emiddiatly. We surfed for 2 hours in a row and did some filming in the end to take a break afterwearts for some pizza and water. The wind stayed good and we went for some more filming but also some fotoshooting which gave really sick picture's which I will try to put online as soon as possible. After the fotoshooting the wind died and we discided to pack everything up and wait for the taxi who would pick us up at 5 to go back do Dahab again. After a long drive, foot and shower I felt as sleep in 5 min. it was a great day!

Today the wind wasn't so good and strong, I only had a session from one hour which was sometimes a bit underpowerd with my 4.7 which is my biggest sail. But afterwarts I still had great fun on the beach so the day past pretty fast.

Tommorow it's not going to be windy, but the forcast for next week looks sick so we will defenetly will have some sick sailing over here in Dahab!

Cheers Dieter

Dahab 1ste Day off surfing

Hello everybody

Today it was windy almost all day long. It was my first session on my new sails and started with a 4.7 in the morning at 9 which actually was the best session off the day. I got to know the spot a bit and learned to now the people from Club Vass a bit better. I did 2 more session today but non of them both where so good as the first one because it was more gusty!

I didn't take any pictures today but tommorow we planned a trip to El Tur to do some filming and photoshooting sow hopefully I will get some good pictures and video footage!

Cheers!

Welcome

Hello everybody

Welcome on my new blog!
It's something new I want to try to keep you all updated about where I'm ore what my plans will be for the next few weeks ore other things that are important.
I want to try to update my blog at least 2 to 4 times a month and when I'm on holiday and i have internet probably a bit more.

For the moment I'm in Dahab where I will stay for 3 weeks in total to do some training before Sylt end of next month. I just arrived today and mist the wind there was in the morning which gave me the time to pack everything out so it's ready for the next days when it's windy.

Tommorow the windconditions look really good and maybe i can try to make some smal pictures to put on my blog but that's not yet for sure.

I will put on a new blogitem soon!

cheers