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Speedsurfing with NorthEast winddirection

Last weekend I have been speedsurfing both Friday and Saturday. The winddirection was both day about the same. Friday was the strongest wind and Saturday was a bit less wind.

Friday
The conditions looked like it could be very fast that day from the office in Rhoon (Rotterdam). I chose to go for it and drove to home @ 14:00, I wasn't very lucky 3 times I got stuck in a traffic jam on the highway, total over 10km. Finally I was 16:30 @ home, I didn't know what to do, but again the wind outside convinced me to go. I threw some gear in the car and went to "het Kuitje" near Den Helder.

I arrived about 17:20 and while standing on the dam I saw the water wasn't dropping. Also the wind was a bit stronger than expected. I thought I would be the only one since I didn't had a look on the internet since 14:00... Lots of speedies present?!? North East on 't kuitje is crosswind!!

The first thing I asked Marcel Braas was how he sailed, but all speedsurfers still had to go on the water. I chose to rig my only sail @ that moment Neilpryde RS:Racing 6.7 combined with CA SP50.

17:50 I was on the water upwind the Select SL7 29cm felt a bit to big to handle, I changed it to a custom carbon 26cm. This fin was to hard to handle, I crashed in a whirlpool (strong current). After 10 min I was back on shore... Now I chose a bit more safe fin, the Select S07 M 28cm, this one was very easy to sail. I thought it was the fastest...
The last fin I tried was the Caspar Speed 27, this one didn't feel as fast. But when reading the gps track in GPSAR I saw the Caspar Speed 27cm was superior to all other fins.

18:35 I went on shore and packed my stuff, the conditions were not legendary, and I didn't want to break my gear which is soooo good right now! After that the other speedies got better conditions, I didn't expected better conditions? I was just tired, it just wasn't smart to go for it.

Saturday
Now I chose to check the Amstelmeer with NO winddirection. When I arrived I spoke shortly Erik Schram he and other speedies were just changing their 6.7 and 7.0 to 6.2 or smaller... And there I was again lighest speedsurfer with biggest sail, haha.

On the water I first went to the big "Amstelmeer dijk", I did 3 runs but a STUPID waterscooter was also present and crossed me in opposite direction every time I went downwind. I had to go very deep downwind and the CA SP50 + Caspar Speed 27 was on the edge.

Now I checked of it was possible to make so high speed runs in the middle of the lake, but I couldn't go faster than 32kn 10sec runs.

Now I went to the place Rene Mienes and other speedies were speedsurfing (between channel and little island). It was quite flat, and with a bit luck you could make some nice runs. The angle was to deep for my CA SP50 and Caspar Speed 27, it felt very nervous.

18:30 I was back on shore and thinking what to do? I just wanted to feel what the Fanatic Falcon 91 would do in those conditions. On the water the difference on deep downwind was big, with the Fanatic Falcon 91 I had better control. I made quite easy the fastest run, next time I will start with the Falcon 91!!!


Related:

Friday

Saturday

Erik Loots

Erik is windsurfer for 10+ years. In his daily life he is professional in construction dewatering, advisor, troubleshooter. Erik likes adventures, explore and to challenge himself. During his life he is trying to get the best out of it and have respect for the earth, nature and future generations. The modern world is about sharing, in this blog Erik shares his experiences, selfreflection and lessons learned.

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