Das Boot - Die Goodies - Toys for Boys.. ehh die mädchen! @dusseldorf

I went with friend/Robin to Germany,Dusseldorf for our yearly shopping trip!
many stands/halls with al kinds of watersports

and definately crowded as always.

Best moment of the day.. eating deutche bratwursten!

We got home with a few goodies. Robin bought some surfboots, boardbag and a kiddyrig 2.0m2.
I got home with a Kialoa Methane Paddle for SUP-ing. YES!

Now my SUP gear is finally complete. But ofcourse its freezing and it doesnt seems to stop freezing anytime soon.

When i got home, i had a surprise for my sweet little 2year old daughter!!!

Her very first own kiddyrig.. the smallest one i could get. a 1.0m2 kidrig.

a bit of rigging with her big brother

A bit of fine tuning for my little daughter 8-) She was all smiles.

sideoff session @ The Zandmotor - 28th of december 2011

As i was able to go out for a bit of surfing, i went to the Zandmotor . Unfortunately by arrival it was low tide, shallow waves. At the point of the Zandmotor, at times there were beautifull long 'small' waves. The direction of the wind was a little bit sideoff. Perfect.
There were only kiters on the water in the beginning. Later on when i was busy out there.. more windsurfers came along.

As the windmeter gave right away gusts of 31knots.. with an average around 20knots i rigged my Sado 2g 5.0m2 and quatro quad LS95

The wind was on and off during the day, but overall a 5.0m2 size was the best choice. A few hours later it became hightide and more swell was coming in. I took my Gopro HD with me and shot some nice footage.

Whenever the winter starts to kick in. ill have still tuns of movies to edit. 8-) The media in our country were talking about a 'horror'winter coming up, but so far its the warmest winter since many years. 'Like' !!

Here below a few gopro shots.

Sideon, @ IJmuiden 18 december 2011

a day @ IJmuiden, minimal windconditions. But there was swell coming in!!
Rigged the 5.4 and LS95 underneeth.. Had my bits of fun again.

surfbuddy Torben and his witchie!!

I had some delay getting on the water. Got everything rigged to go. Wetsuit on, winterboots, cap.. ready to walk the walk with gear towards the beach. Oyea my harness, then i realised SHOOT i left my dakine T4 harness at home.. #$^%. Luckily the kiteshop on the boulevard was still open, and after a bullshitconversation able to rent a kiteharness. strange dude in the shop by the way. He asked me, what it was worth to me to rent a kiteharness. I said max 5euro for 2hours. He said, first go surf and then decide whats worth to you and pay then? No, i pay now 5 euro and stop the bullshit. He was like or buy some stuff in our kiteshop and you can borrow the kiteharness for free. i was not amused by that noncense. Just give me the damn kiteharness and ill go surfing for 2 hours and youll get it back. Dropped 5euros and my licence on the counter and left.

bottomturning.. the wind was sideon. managed to do some nice turns, but i had some better days for sure.

Stormchase 29m/s/56knots @Wijk aan zee 8 december 2011

What can i say about todays session.. Man o man.. where was my 3.3m2 when i needed it!

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As this could be an kinda extreme day i took for this occasion from work a day off. My intention first was to go towards a another spot The Zandmotor, but in the early morning the wind out there was minimal and quite offshore. At wijk the wind was at the time allready a 5-6 beaufort. These winterdays are very short. Around 4.30pm its allready dark. So last minute i decided to drive towards Wijk.

Once i arrived, the wind was quite minimal, slightly offshore and nice waves were coming in.

A few people were on the water aslike PWA sailor Lampie, Martin ten Hoeve. The guys out there werent planing on the way out, only waveriding the way back.

First i took some pictures before i rigged my sails.

at the time...minimal winds... but within a few hours rising upto 50knots!

Because the wind was going to increase in the afternoon i rigged up my P7 Sado 2G 5.0m2.

So i could start full power straight away and tied up my P7 SALT 4.0m2 to a pole at the beach for whenever the wind was going to kick in. The very first lap i did with 5.0m2.

i got almost blown off the water.. pfff. HAd to get my 4.0 allready..So changed the 5.0sado 2g for a 4.0m2 Salt.

Several laps out there and again i was to much overpowerd. In the later afternoon i got blown of the water.


As it was getting dark so quickly.. i kept sailing the 4.0m2 out of control.

Hardly able to do any decent jumps or waverides. Just been struggling to have some control on the water. In the topturn i wasnt able to hold onto my boom.

If the wind was allready strong when i started, i would of rigged my 4.0 AND 3.3m2. that would of give me so much more control. Next time more luck with rigging the right sails.

I had today 3 layers of wetsuits on my body, a Quiksilver neoprene longsleeve body2mm + over that my 3x2mm Sola shorty, and over that my O'neill Psychofreak 4.5x3.5mm. Combined with my thickest XCEL 5mm Infiniti Drylock Bamboo Boots, Billabong airlite 3mm cap + inside my wetsuit i stuck a drink caprison (so i dont have to walk back to the parking)and a pair Camarogloves (for when i loose my gear and have to swim back)

Forecast : The black hole!

local windspeeds at the local speedspot, same time @speedspot strand Horst.. out there the wind was a lot less today.

here below, actual data from the spot IJmuiden, which is next to Wijk aan zee.. gaining windspeeds upto 28,9 m/s which is 56 knots.

Ive had it for today.. on my way back.. getting sandblasted!

In the dark on the parkinglot, my windmeter gave right away a gusts of 40 knots.

What a day.. could of worked out so much better with a 3.3m2. then i would of been able to do some serieous higher jumps and more controlled waverides. Now i was just surviving with a 4.0m2.
Another downside of today was at the parking, the front of my car was placed in the wind as i normally do. When i drove away from the parkinglot i stopped the car for a second to get a drink which was placed in the back of my car. Just that one second i forgot that there was 10 beaufort blowing outside my car and my door got rammed open. HARD. Some steel part broke in half + a dent in my door. Beside that I wasnt able to close my door anymore. 20 minutes later struggling in the dark to get my door closed again. Next week it has to go to the garage :-S.