Hard Work June 17th 2010

I wanted to visit the IFCA Slalom Grand Prix by water, so I set out at Paal 9 for the journey upwind. The wind was north/northeast. The IFCA Grand Prix is held at Paal 17, so the maths should say: 8 kilometers upwind. But Texel being Texel, Paal 9 is actually not Paal 9 but Paal 8, so it's 9 kilometers. And the current was head on. I made my upwind legs fairly a long way into the open sea, so for safety I had put on my lifevest and took a flare, some rope and a drink with me (and told the guys at Paal 9 to start the SAR if I did'nt get back by 18.00 hours). I was on my 2009 Falcon 140 with MFC RC 48 cm and choose to rig relatively small with Blade 7,5. It was great sailing that far on the open sea with a good steady breeze of 20-23 knots, blue skies and sunshine. Much to my surprise I was caught on camera coming ashore at Paal 17. You can see it was hard work. Once landed on the beach, I caught up with some competitors, made some smalltalk, drank their water and then raced downwind back to Paal 9. That went a lot quicker.....Tomorrow I'm going to the Kiss Sonic Boom concert in Gelredome and hope to be back on Texel early Saturday to hit the water again.

IFCA Texel Slalom Grand Prix June 15th 2010

Today the IFCA Grand Prix kicked off at Paal 17, De Koog Texel. Actually I was a bit puzzled. At Paal 9 in Den Hoorn in the morning we had a solid 17- 22 knots breeze from the north, making it sideshore. In the afternoon when we hit the water again at Paal 9, the wind had even increased some. When René and I visited the Grand Prix in between our own sessions, the conditions at Paal 17 were at best marginal, with sideonshore wind with big lulls in the surf and about 14 knots on the outside. Too bad. A couple of PWA contenders made the trip from the PWA slalom in Catalunya to Texel in a great overnight hurry to get registered just in time. Hope all of the contenders get some good wind. Today there was some racing going on with the bigger gear, but there was no real speaker or actual information given to the spectators on heats etc., so it was a bit hard to follow the action on the beach. Room for improvement there.

Jordy Vonk heading out

      
















Event site



























Some slalom action

Voltmeter back on Dutch waters

Like to see other brands than the usual suspects, Jules Denel on XO-sails

Youth surfcamp June 12th 2010

As part of a Texel schoolprogram to promote more outdoor sporting activities, the younger kids (9 - 11 years) could sign in for a mini surfcamp. The waves on this day were not Hawaiian league, but there still was a lot of fun on the water. Our daughter Hanna later complained about sore muscles, muscles she didn't knew she had. Class of 2010 with some serious instruction by Tim of Ozlines: 

       












Hanna under attack by white water 

Two great days

June 2nd and 3rd brought blue skies, sunshine, fair temperatures and a very steady breeze. The forecasts were in the 10 knots range, but quite often at Paal 9 Texel when the sun heats up the inland large dunes and sandplates, a local venturi effect occurs between the warm land and still cold seawater, especially with north / northeastern winds. So we had steady winds in the 15 - 18 knots range, no waves, but still great fun on slalom gear. The pics are taken by Caren standing on the wave-breaker at Paal 9, which a low tide falls dry, so you can walk into the sea, like this: 

Standing on the pier facing land (now they're all green and alive, in winter it's bare rocks and asphalt):

 And now facing towards the sea: inviting!

Some sailing was done too: windsurfer, sailboat and kiter all in one frame (you have to click on the photo to get a good look):  

Blogauthor alone at sea

I like the way my Loft Blade twists.....