Grevelingendam, ZL, NL

Mooi dagje met sM, ook 5 km met formula van Jean-Marc gevaren met 10.9, 't is toch werken zo'n Formula en het verschil is niet echt spectaculair behalve het langer doorplaneren bij minimale wind en upwind varen, wel minder relax varen.

1 categories

Zelfs met (voor mij) marginale omstandigheden blijft elke Hoofdplaat sessie een genot om mee te maken.

Supergezellige dag op en naast het water.

Again a fantastic day with lots of happy faces. Finally some sun and after a while a bit of wind. As usual a close call with Paul, but this time a big board and small sail was just a little faster then a small board and big sail. Congratz Paul !!

I really wanted to test my new fin under the board. I had by far the smallest board (85L) on the water. Everybody was with +110L (except for Koen with 101) but i was in planing mode for about 90-95% of the time. Most of the guys called me crazy when I prepared my F85 because the wind was really light in the beginning. Went on the water as second and it was just too bad that i didn't see their faces when I stepped into my straps and planed away in about 13-14 kts of wind 

The Crossfire 31 is just perfect for this combo. Even in very low powered conditions you can push on the back foot and the board is just locked on its course. Much more power and lift then the former caspar speed fins. Really happy with those new fins.

After a while the wind filled in just a little bit. Not enough for descent speeds, but enough to have some fun trying to catch some gusts downwind. Had a close encouter with some seals as well.

Off course the F113 should have been the obvious choice, but i like the small boards alot more and after all it was a nice testing day. The last 30-40 kms i did some chophopping in front of the beach and there the fin surprised me even more. Not a single spinout, even with high foot pressure. The Racing Blade 7.8 rigged on the RDM TE mast feels so light, it's like sailing a 7m²... Cannot imagine sailing my 'old' 7.9 on the F85 with the same ease. With 5 knots more this combo is a BOMB. I really feel I can end up in the high 60 with this combo.

Couldn't stop, but again my right hand (thumb) was bleeding (because of the unnatural grip) when I reached the 100km, so it was time to stop.

Used the Fanatic Ray 130 from Dave for a few minutes and really love that board as well. Very easy relaxed handling, but needs bigger sail to get the max out of it.

Nice end of the day in the local resto/café/hotel with the locals. Looking forward to my next 'O-spot' session !!

Hopefully tuesday enough wind for another session !!