Its the little differences...

I Finally made to Almere windsurfing club - where I managed to keep my gear at- on Sunday afternoon after a 5 min. tram ride down Czar Peterstraat in centrum Amsterdam to Sarphaitistraat then catching the underground metro @ Weesperplein to Amstel-staation and finally a 35 min. bus ride to Almere-haaven and a 5 min walk to the club.
1/2 way there I realized I forgot my formula fin!
By the time we got there it was full slalom weather and it didn't matter anyways.
I rigged up my F2 sx medium slalom board and north 7.3 and was well lit. The local slalom fleet was have a training session for next weeks championship. With no slalom results yet for the season, next weeks 4 days Dutch Championship will be most likely slalom focused with formula under 15k.
Forecast looks promising already!


(Thanks to Alex for taking the photos from the beach!)
Wind was 18-20k when we started and the reaches were set tight. I didn't quite have the top end speed I was looking for but realized when I came I was a little under- downhauled.
Glad to have realized this now rather than in racing.
Magic spot is just past the high wind max mark on the north sail in most conditions.
The first few races I fell on my first gybes in the pack and realized if I just took it tight I could catch a lot of guys rounding wide and slopping. After that gybes were feeling better and finishing 3 or 4th.
A few mores races and my muscles I hadn't used in 10 days really began to get sore.
The windsurfing club is pretty family focused with racks to store your gear in 4 containers 20' from the water. Hot showers cost 50 cents. Warm coffee free! Plenty of local and regional racers as the coast is less than an hours drive away
The Almere beach cam (follow webcam link on lower left) is a little more low tech than the explo cam over SF Bay but it saved me a trip down on Saturday in 6-7 knots.
Life in Holland so far has been fun- adjusting to the little differences as Vincent Vega say so eloquently below.
" A lotta the same shit we got here, they got there, but there they're a little different"
- Pulp Fiction
600 sq. ft apartment and no van puts a squeeze on things but the again theres plenty of opportunities to trian on a bike!
With a few days before the Dutch championship, I hope to get out on the formula gear again to see what the 11.0 feels like. I have a feeling the 9.0 will be dormant till the Worlds in December.