A day of thanks...

Thanksgiving came and passed like any other day here in Holland this fall with the temperature being a bit too low to tempt me on the water but nonetheless we enjoyed a terrific homemade feast in our tiny Amsterdam apartment. For the non- American readers out there, Thanksgiving is a day of thanks in the US where we gather with our families, stuff ourselves with turkey (or tofurkey); dressing; mashed potatoes, cranberries, yams, sweet potatoes, apple pie, pumpkin pie and ice cream and finally settle down to some good old American football on TV.
This year I have plenty to be thankful for including health, family and friends,
but since this is a windsurfing blog- ill keep it on topic:
The wind- although not always cooperative, I cant live with out it. My life is scheduled around it: vacations, jobs, and even the afternoon trip shopping with my wife. This year the dutch winds have been less than stellar but I'm thankful for the light air technique I am finally beginning to master. (...and even when its blowing the dogs off the chains and I dont have my small gear, I am thankful someone will be able to enjoy it!)
The water- with so many new places to sail this year, I am tremendously thankful for the all the time on the water I have spent training and racing this past year in and around Europe, the US and Brazil. From the small dutch inland lakes to the Baltic Sea, North Sea and both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans , it has been a great year to explore new lakes, bays and ocean swells on my windsurfing board. Thank you so much!
The other boardheads like me -without them, windsurfing would be pretty boring. To all the new friends I have made this year and the old friends I have grown closer with- thank you. You pushed me harder, made me sail faster and made me realized how great it is to have you around and how great this sport is that all all enjoy!
For all the small impromptu sailing sessions where you led me get ahead to leeward but still destroyed me with angle and speed- thank you!
For the sportsmanship you demonstrated at major Championships- thank you!
For the post session beers on the beach offering friendly advice and the promise to meet up again next week- thank you!
To the sail-makers, the board-shapers and the fin makers- thank for making this year better and faster than last year!
To the race organizers, mark set boats and volunteers that made every regatta a real treat!
Thank you!
And finally to the readers of this blog. Thank you for reading and leaving your valuable comments. I hope its been as good for you as its been for me.
Enjoy the photo compilation from the last years' windsurfing adventures:

Sunday Update: Meanwhile the finals of the Formula Windsurfing Grand Prix are happening in Fortaleza, Brazil: enjoy the vid:

And back in SF the early NW swell is already kicking in Ft Point:

Glad to see everyone is having a great autumn!

last race of the year

Its been a painful month for windsurfing here in Holland but finally after nearly 3 weekends of trying, we got off a decent slalom series last weekend in Tjeukermeer. In typical Dutch style, the weather was cold, rainy and just plain awful. Well it could have been worse as the previous w-end we got of 1 race and sat in our cars for the rest of the afternoon waiting for the rain to stop and the breeze to fill. It never did!
At attempts at staying warm were futile despite a 5/4 steamer, booties and a wool cap!

Despite the lack of feeling in most sailors' fingers, we did manage to race nearly 9 heats of full on dutch slalom. The course was a bit of a drag race but once I got things tuned up I was near the front again. I didnt quite have the top speed as the leaders but alot has to do with what gear you have. I was switching back and forth between the large and medium F2 slalom boards- always seeming to make the wrong choice as the wind went opposite accordingly to what I chose. But for the most part, the 7.3 north warp was the ticket. Local Frisian sailor- Klaas Sybrand Jissin was tearing it up around the course with unstoppable speed off the line pulling away from Adriaan van Rijsselberg and Teade de Jong.
Unlike Formula racing where the race may last 20-30 minutes, the slalom race is almost over before it begins. Getting a good start is the only option for success. There are no alternative options to bail out and bang the right corner if you get stuffed off the line. With that said, its sometimes easier to forget about the count down and rather keep close to your opponents in the pre start- never letting them get more than a few meters away!
Mark rounding are another big way to gain or loose positions if you are rounding in a tight pack. Coming out with speed is the key- so that means being aggressive in your carve so you exit with plenty of power in the sail. I find it helpful to get my center of effort low and when I pop the sail around I can really give it a good pump to get going again. Of course, any mark rounding is usually a lesson in obstacle avoidance as there is usually 1 or 2 sailors struggling to find their way around the mark.
At the end f the day, it was all good fun- despite never having had picked the right equipment but thats all part of the game.
Sometimes you win. Sometimes you loose but always gybe like it was your gybe last ever!

2008 Dutch Formula and slalom windsurfing championships

This weekends final of the Dutch Championship was run in Monnickendam, just north of Amsterdam on the IJ. With typical dutch lake conditions, sailors were greeted to a SW gusty and shifty breeze in the low to mid teens- not to mention an October chill to the air!
We ran a double windward leeward course with a gate at the bottom that gave you some options back upwind. It was important to see what was happening around the course because if the right was good on the first leg, it might not be again for the 2nd. Keeping in the pressure is always key in light air sailing. Usually the shore line will increase the wind as it is forces it to bend and accelerate around any natural geographical occurrences but it this case, you didn't want to get to close to the shore as it would leave you wishing you wound have gone the other way. For the most part then it was staring and hitting the port layline and coming across. If you could keep a lane upwind, it was all good.

You would think with all the right equipment Id be able to dial something in....eventually!!
But that still wasn't the case as I spent most of the past week swapping, sails, mast, fins and boards only to come to the conclusion that I havnt been able to change my technique enough for the new board.
That didn't stop the top 3 guys from dominating the regatta with the F2 Z and kashy fins.
The 40+ competitors had sufficient conditions to run 9 formula races over the weekend and almost, just almost a downwind slalom race on Sunday with the wind in the low to mid teens.


Still struggling for upwind angle on the Z, I began the week by swapping out my sails with Marc de Jong- thinking maybe it was the North Sails that was slowing me down. I jumped on the Maui Sails and wow what a different feeling. Much softer and less rigid and bouncy than the north but once I had both sails rigged correctly there wasn't all that much difference in my angle. On both Saturday and Sunday I started off on the Maui Sails TR3 12.0 and later switched to the North 11.8 for the later races. I found myself doing better with the Norths but still with both sails- I was getting spit out the back 3/4 way up the first beat. Once there it was just damage control to maintain a position and not lose anything more.
Ok, I thought, maybe its the fin- I swapped out the kashy 72-2 xxs for the new lightwind xxs IFJU fin with some better success but with all the weeds on the course, I honestly couldn't tell much except there want much of a difference in the fins. Both xxs fins seemed to get the board planing up soon but that wasn't the problem.
Like most of the previous F2 formula boards, the ride is quite technical. This years' Z is no exception. If you can get the board into the right groove upwind, its golden but getting it there is the problem. If you are not in the groove, your upwind angle really suffers. When I did find success it was when I was railing the board and really applying a fair amount of back foot pressure. Too much though and the fin would spin out. The rig had to be locked down on the deck of the board and me- hiking out hard to windward. Ive gotten a fair bit more comfortable sailing with the uphaul upwind. This keeps the rig upright, more power in the sail and better angle.
Finally on Sunday with another 4 races and the wind in the mid teens, the organizer decided to switch to a downwind slalom format as there hadn't been any official slalom results this season.
The problem, however is the dutch rules say you need 15 knots at the start. With so many holes and gusty conditions, it was leaving only 1 choice- the 130l F2 slalom board and 9.0. If you cant plane with that, its almost not with doing slalom. We had 2 false starts with general recalls in the all for one fleet before the organizer finally decided to make it a fun race as the 5 pm deadline was quickly approaching. I got off well just above the fleet picking off a few boards at every mark roundings with the big sail. Adrian was the only guy to pass me as he snuck in at the 2nd mark with a sailor down and me leaving the space. But not so fast, I managed to pass him on the last leg as we both sailed over Peter who was stuck on smaller gear to finish just outside the top 5.

Despite the lack of performance on my part, I did learn some good lessons from the weekends' racing. Even if you do have all the best equioment, youve got to know how to use it. Nothing makes up for time on the water and knowing the limits of your gear.
Thanks to Jan de Jong and Robert Hardholt for the photos

The Real Trip- Dutch edition

With Saturday's forecast looking promising, and the allure of several heats of downwind slalom in the north of Holland, I made the trip up from Amsterdam to Makkum for the REAL TRIP.
Ill give you this, the dutch know how to throw a windsurfing event.
Nearly 150 competitors for a massive weekend billed for its party and great windsurfing.
The fleet was dived up into 5 randomly generated heats so that you always had juniors, hybrids, race boards and slalom boards in each start. The vintage gear was in full effect with several vanderberg long boards and other centerboard hulls on the course. The juniors were mostly on the BIC one design and the rest of the fleet on medium and larger slalom gear.
Only 2 rules: your board must be under 85 cm wide and 9.9 is the max sail area.


Thanks to Jan deJong for the photos.

As the first heat started, the wind was in full effect in the mid teens.
I had my F2 sx 105 l board on the beach with a 7.3 north warp ready to go.
But with reports of the forecast diminishing later in the day, it was time for a quick change of plan.
Time to rig the 9.0 warp and large 125 l slalom board.
With just a minute or 2 to spare, I made it upwind to the start for the start of heat 4.
It was shallow enough that you could water start with under a minute before the start.
I was the most windward board on the line and got off to a nice pumping start while most of the fleet sat parked on the line. Adrien got off well below me on the middle of the line and led around the course but he ended up sailing in the wrong heat so I took the bullet.
As we waited for the next round to be run- the wind really lightened up with a few puffs in the low teens.
I headed out early before my start to make sure I had enough time to shlog upwind with a 42 cm fin! For the most part- nobody got planning off the start. The hybrid boards and long boards all had superiour speed in the shlogging conditions but some resourceful pumping technique allowed me to pass 2 boards to finish 5th in the heat.
After that we were on postponement for another hour before a pitiful attempt at a long distance race.
So with only 1 planing race complete, I called it quits and headed home with no more racing for the day. Sundays forecast didn't even merit the the trip back.

Up next is the finals of the Dutch Championship in Monnikendam this w-end.
Hopefully a good chance to see how the Z performs in light air again.
Another IFJU fin arrived just in time to test this week before formula racing finishes for the season here in Europe. Still hoping to make it to the final Formula Grand Prix event in Brazil this November to get my ranking up into the top 20.
So far sitting in 25th for the season- a good showing from last years' 50th.

Off tpoic but too funny to pass up!

From this weeks' Onion

Sorry but I couldn't resist!

Hope you all enjoy the tongue in cheek reporting from one of America's great newspapers.

BOSTON—Four years after being blasted as an elitist for his Ivy League education, wealthy background, and hobby of windsurfing, sources say that John Kerry has in fact become quite proficient at the water-based leisure sport.

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"After losing the election in such a humiliating and disgraceful manner, John really threw himself into windsurfing, and I'm happy to say it paid off," said Kerry's longtime adviser and windsurfing coach, Steve Sylvester. "Everyone claimed he was too wishy-washy and didn't have a thick skin, so he said he'd show them all, and he did. His T-bones and slamjibes speak for themselves."

Sylvester, like many of Kerry's friends, said the defeat at the polls may have actually been a blessing in disguise, since it allowed the junior senator from Massachusetts to spend more time on his true passion. As evidence of the incredible progress Kerry has made in the last four years, Sylvester pointed out that the former presidential candidate is now able to perform a number of freestyle moves and some light carving without hurting himself. Kerry also reportedly knows all about tacks now, and can stay on the board a full minute longer than he could during the last presidential campaign.

In addition, his water starts have matured significantly.

Besides upgrading his windsurfing board class from Freeride to Formula Windsurfing, aides said Kerry has made strides in other areas to escape his image as an out-of-touch patrician. According to a press release from his office, Kerry can now name the stadium where the Green Bay Packers play with ease, as well as meet large groups of factory workers without wincing, and remember that his favorite Bob Dylan song is "Lay Lady Lay" without first checking with a handler.

It is not known whether Kerry intends to use his new skills in a future presidential run. When reporters reached him for comment, he was being swept into the Atlantic Ocean by a 35 mph gust of wind.

2008 Formula World Championship Final report

After packing up 5 sets of formula gear into Markus’ van for the trip back to Holland, I literally stepped away from the sailing world- escaping into a week of exploring Portugal with Alex for a well deserved vacation on the sun drenched beaches of southwestern Europe. This was the first time I’ve traveled without my gear- making going through the airports and renting a car a pleasant experience again. Who knew!!

Now that things have settled down a bit after moving across Amsterdam 2 times this month, sailing a world championship ,taking a vacation, and finally getting back to work Ive had some time to reflect on the regatta and my training leading up to it.

Although I was happy with how I sailed- with several races in the top 30, I wasn’t consistent enough to make my goal of improving 10 spots form last years Worlds in Brazil. Nonetheless sometimes you can learn more through not succeeding than with success itself.

Leading up to the event, I had some touch choices to make in terms of equipment selection. It seemed, to gain an advantage in the light breeze (which I so desperately needed) I had to sacrifice some of my biggest advantages in my program- namely control and confidence in the windier conditions. In the end, there just wasn’t enough time to adequately test my new fins on the 2 boards in all conditions to make the best decision.

Dialing in your equipment, still, seems to be the best things sailors can do to adequately prepare themselves for a regatta. If you don’t know how your board/fin/sail combination will react to different conditions, you are left wondering if a different combination might have worked better. Once that’s it your mind, you wont be sailing fast at all!

A lot of sailors were coping with the same issues- including the 1^st and 2^nd place finishers. Let’s look at Wojtek Brzozowski as an example of how to get the job done. He used a starboard 161- a 2 year old board but with enough time on it to feel comfortable in the conditions most likely encountered in the regatta. He sailed away in most of the overpowered races because that was his strong suite and he had equipment that allowed him to do it. Gonzalo Costa Hoevel, on the other hand made a decision to switch to the Exocet board at the Euros- 1 month before the Worlds. Despite being in top form and probably the fastest sailor there, he struggled from lack of time on his equipment

Even with your equipment dialed in for the conditions, sometimes it takes a great deal of focus and preparation to stay on top of the game. We literally had hours of waiting time on the beach waiting for the wind to fill in and had to be ready to be on the water prepared for the start in 20 minutes once the AP flag went down. That meant keeping at least 2 rigs- semi rigged on the beach ready to go at all times. Most readers know, that the 100% carbon formula windsurfing masts tend to spontaneously combust in sometimes normal sunny conditions the minute you turn your back on the beach. That meant keeping your rigs cooled but also yourself. It’s easy to forget about the sun and drinking water and keeping yourself fueled all day long- at an event like this but being fully prepared for racing- even if it starts at 6:30 pm and you’ve been at the beach all day is priority number 1.

I was making a point to stay fueled with extra lunches every day + a minimum of 4 liters of water (and energy supplements) throughout the day Putting more protein into my diet, helped tremendously in terms of recovery. In a 6 day event, I couldn’t eat enough nuts, eggs, fish and dairy to keep myself fully recovered. Also carb loading the night before and immediately after racing helped in preventing fatigue and aiding recovery. You are what you eat!

Onto the actual racing: 11 races were run over course of the 6 day event with the majority (8 races) run across the span of 2 windy days. For the most part, the conditions were side off shore with the breeze filling in late in the afternoons. With the wind coming off the land, the tendencies were for stronger gusts with frequent oscillations- making it very tactical sailing indeed! On the other hand, when the wind wasn’t there- it just wasn’t there: No Chance! The last 2 days of the event was spent waiting for the breeze with no additional results posted.

Despite the varied conditions, most of the racing was in over powered conditions- something I normally would have greatly welcomed but instead loathed as my results sufferer due to board handling and control issues Even with my smallest 67 cm fin and 10.0 rig the board felt unbalanced through the chop upwind when the wind was over 18k- fighting to keep the rail down. Off the breeze in the windy races, it really took a lot of muscle to keep the board from flying out form under you. Instead of concentrating on the racing, I was concentrating on keeping my board under control!

On the flip side though, the board performed solid in the light breeze. I was able to keep my lane in most races under 15k upwind and had some great speed and angle downwind.

As usual with a big fleet of 85 boards, the premium was on starting- especially since we were all starting on the same line under one start. No qualification round and unfair seeding to complain about but rather get off the line well and hold your lane to the lay-line. One big trend I noticed was the mid line sag in the big fleet starts. If you could get a nose up or even a board length or 2 from you’re the board on your leeward hip, you already had a huge advantage at the start of the race! I wasn’t too concerned about starting at the favored end but more so heading in the right direction up the first beat with clear air. For the most part, getting to the shore and the geographical lift was the thing to do. That meant in at least ½ the races, the port tackers were charging the line- crossing and ducking through the starboard tackers coming with right of way down the line. In more than one occasion there was carnage on the line with multiple cases ending up I the room and sailors being chucked from several races. But if you could get off the line and to the shore first, you could take advantage of the land shift and get lifted right to the mark. The same thing downwind- if you timed the gust at the shore right, you could literally sail 10 degrees deeper and faster than the fleet outside. In more than 1 occasion, this left me coming back into the leeward mark having to gybe into a steady parade of port tackers lining up to round. The leeward mark was another situation just as important as the start as it was a parade to the shore. All you needed was a good rounding and you could be assured to climb over the fleet below you getting footed as the approached the shore. Sometimes though it paid just to foot over to the right side only to take advantage of the land shift. If you tacked away for clear air, you missed everything completely. I learned too, that you cant be too greedy- having been left standing still near the shore- waiting for the next puff to fill in when the middle of the course was filled with pressure.

Another major issue that greatly determined the regatta was the use of redress.

Some sailors thought the jury was too generous but in fact there’s a huge loophole in the rules to take advantage of- which plenty of sailors did! Specifically in Appendix B of the RRS, windsurfing has 1 extra case that allows a sailor to ask for redress if another boat failed to keep clear and retired or was penalized. But as always, once you find yourself in the protest room, anything can happen! If you are willing to take the risk, the opportunity is there for you to gain or lose!

Finally a brief about the new Formula One Design class that was racing with the Formula fleet this year at the World championship. Starboard provided 10 complete kits for some Olympic class sailors to try. Most found the equipment better than the current RSX class but still not yet completely acceptable. The 11.0 men’s rig seems a bit much for one sail to cover the range of 6-30 knots. Ironically most racing in the FOD fleet registered another smaller sail and used it during the windy races. To say that the 11.0 planes any sooner than a formula board with a light-wind fin and 11.8 rig is absurd!

Yes this new class may make the sport more accessible and more opportunities to train with existing formula fleets but still the equipment has some fine tuning before it can be called an Olympic standard! The choice for 2012 is a tough one indeed. Abandon the RSX class in favor of a purely planning class and risk not having racing at light wind venues or stick with the current class and have a class that is so far out of reach from the standards of windsurfing that it only attracts Olympic campaigners. My thoughts are that we need to grow the sport not continue to chop it up into fringe classes that national authorities can barely justify supporting. Windsurfing would be better off with the FOD in the Olympic. Not perfect, but lets hope it can turn out better than what we were promised in 2004 at the last selection trials.

Sunday evening update

Just like clockwork, the final possible start passed and soon after
the 6 pm evening breeze arrived.
Not enough time for anymore racing!

Sunday afternoon update

3:30 update
2 hours till last possible start.
No breeze yet.
Filling in slowly...

Sent from my iPhone

Sunday morning update

Waiting for breeze to fill in before last possible start at 5:30
Slim chance!!!

Day 5 evening update

Finally after nearly 8 hours at the regatta site, the RC left the
beach, setting a windward leeward course on the side/offshote
conditions. The wind was 6-9 knots and I was jusy able to get going-
lining up a few times with good speed and angle against some other
sailors. My goal was to get going off the line with speed snd a lane.
At first port tack looked to be the best option but I bailed half way
down the line tacking back to get a good starboard approach. I started
pumping like mad at 30 seconds to get going and keep my speed up on
the line. I knew I might have been over early but with sailors above
and below me, I knew I had to go if I wanted any chance at all during
the race.
10 seconds to go, pumping hard and protecting my hole to leeward.
5 seconds- pump, pump, pump with max power in the sail, driving the
board up for speed.
Still pumping at max power for 20 seconds after the start to keep my
air free.
I heard the board to winward and behind coming up and pump even harder
to fight him off. To leeward I've got a Olympic class sailor on the
formula one design pumping like crazy.
I maintain my lane to just about 90% up the first beat and have to
foot below the Olympic class pumper to keep going. I hold off another
20 seconds after reaching the layline before tacking to ensure I can
make the top mark in one tack and with speed. Better to be a bit
conservative in the light stuff rather thsn risking catastrophic
disaster by not making the mark in one tack.
Just as I get to the top mark in the top 20 the race is abandoned.
Sometimes you're the fish and other times you're the fisherman!
It looks like that may be the series ad Sundays forecast looks dim.
Nonetheless, happy with my performance for the day even if it didn't
count. I needed it mentally to get back into the game. Time will tell
if its too little too late.

Sent from my iPhone