PWA Sylt 2010 day 2 & 3

Starting with day two. It was a quiet day. There was no wind and we were on standbye the whole day. Meaning we had to wait untill the wind would pick up and we could start. But that didn't happen.

I Present to you, the MB-fins! This is the freestyle 18. Probably one of the most strange looking fins for freestyle, but they work the best. Try them yourself and you'll see.

Andre Paskowski was at the North/Fanatic tent signing posters.

Und was essen wir in Deutschland? Bratwurstennnnnnnn!!!! (translation :P:"And what do we eat in Germany? Bratwurstennnnnn!!!!!)

Day 3 started with a light wind, kind off the same as day 2 but as the day went by the wind picked up and we started. I was in heat one and I was in form. I used my new Patrik Diethelm freestyle 99 and Hotsails Bolt 5.3. It was just enough and I managed to win the first heat. Heat two the wind dropped completely and I was far away from landing all my moves. Unfortunately this heat was not cancelled, and I lost.

In the North/Fanatic tent the guys are painting, why?? The will sell the painting and the money will go to Pakistan.

This is Paul Griffiths. Not well known from the pictures but this is the guy who writes all the reports on the PWA website and also the live ticker. Paul from the fishe-eye point of view.

Photo's: PWA/John Carter, Paul Zeper

PWA Sylt 2010 day 1

Day one in Sylt was a quiet day. No wind, but a nice swell. In the morning it looked like the slalom guys would hit the water to compete, but the wind died during the day so they couldn't compete. During the day a lot of guys went on the water with surfboards and SUP surf the pretty nice waves that hit the German shore.

For the guys that did not know yet. From now I will use Patrik Diethelm boards. I now have a 78 trailer wave and a 99 freestyle. Contact me if you're in Holland and you can try them.

John Carter was at the shore to take some nice pictures from the life on Sylt and the sailors that were on the SUP's and waveboards.

These are the ones I will use for training. The left one is the 99 freestyle I will use in the competitions. The right one is the 76 Patrik diethelm trailer wave. I will do some more wavesailing and this will be the board that keeps me going as hard as possible!

I was not the only one that took my gear. All the competitors are well prepared and didn't leaf anything at home. Resulting in a tent that can not be fuller with equipment. Smalle detail! The slalom gear is not included in the tent!

The new Hotsails maui Bolt 2011

There were some troubles with getting them but they are finally there. The new 2011 Bolt. For this year the Bolt will also be in the sizes 3.4 and 3.7. As some use them in Pozo conditions. I also use the Bolt in all sizes. Only my smalles one is 3.7. The pictures are made with a fish-eye so the shape is wrong on the first two pictures.

4.1 3.7

To see what changed I rigged the 2010 4.7 and the 2011 4.7. For 2011 the sail changed a lot. The red one is 2011 the blue one 2010.

The first thing that you notice is the foot batten.

It still crosses the boom, but for 2011 it passes the clew a little bit.

The second thing and for me one of the most important things is the top of the sail. For this year the top is lighter. Also the sail has more luff curve, causing the third batten from below to get tighter away from the mast. This makes the top of the sail flatter and when you have a flatter top the sail will duck easier.

More testing results soon, when I tried it in the water.

The Wind Experience part 2

Part two of my wind experience. Just some more photo's and as I'm now studying graphic design i kind off twisted the photos a little bit, with changing colours and contrast. Check it out!

Pictures By: Hylke Bakker (http://windsurfmoves.com)

The Wind Experience

This weekend the Wind Experience was organized at Amstelmeer in the north of Holland. All kind of activities were organized with the slalom competitions as the main event. For every level of slalom was a competition. The small kids that just started windsurfing and the pro men who were there for the dutch championship slalom.

I was there to give a freestyle demonstration. Together with Maarten van Ochten, Davy Scheffers, Kevin van Duijn and Niek v/d Linde we took our windsurf equipment, went out and got pulled behind the boat.

It was my first time to get towed like this and it was not as easy as I thougt but after one crash it went okay and it is definately something good to do when there is no wind.

The tow in crew, spotting the next victim that has to get towed and pull of some crazy stuff.

Thanks to the organization for a really good event and a really good barbeque. More info at http://www.thewindexperience.nl/home2.htm

Pictures by: Michael van der Zwan