G-dam 22 November 2009

This was a nice session together with my surf mate Dominique. The wind came from the South. This means off shore wind at the G-dam. This gives nice flat water but because of the trees nearby the wind is not very constant. Best thing is to choose a bigger board in combination with a small sail. I started with the 5.4 on the SL61. This gave good control but not enough power. Since I sold my 6.2 I had to go for the RS6 6.7. Very good combo. Dominique was out on the water with his SL66 in combination with an RS6 5.4 after he broke his mastfood on his Gaastra 6.0. At the end of the session Dominique made some fantastic pictures and I borrowed his SL66 and put the RS6 6.7 on it. Man this is a great combo in high wind for slalom. Good power in the lulls and nice control in the gust. This might be the next board on my wish list.

Select Fins 2010

Select has launched the website with fins for 2010. The Pro Series no longer have the very popular SL7, SL9, ProSlam and Caspar fins. Now they have the Elite S07 to replace the SL7 and the Elite S09 for the SL9 and I guess the Elite S10 will replace the ProSlam. The Caspar speed fins are now only available in the Elite line. The good thing is that the price of the Elite series has gone down.

Also very nice is the fin selector where you even have a specific webpage for Exocet SL boards.

Test RS Racing EVO II 7.8

I ordered some new RS Slalom sails in sizes 6.2, 7.0 and 8.6. I ‘m now waiting for the sails to be delivered in the shop. Meantime I got a sail from the shop the use during this period. A brand new RS Racing EVO II 7.8. At first I was even afraid the take this sail out on the water but the shop owner told me just use it and enjoy.
Last weekend I took the RS Racing EVO II 7.8 for a spin. I only have X6 masts but the X6 460 seemed to do just fine. Out on the water you immediately notice the better visibility compared to the RS6 and RS Racing. The sail also feels extremely light and smaller than the older sails. Probably caused by the shorter luff length and the lighter materials used in the top off the sail. The acceleration is very very good but most off all it is the control that you have that makes the difference. I was out on the water with a 7.8 and the other guys were on 7.0 and 6.5.
I cannot wait for my sails to arrive and I ‘m sure to get the same light feeling on the water.

Thank you Liquid Surfshop.

New Boom

I replaced my X9 180-230 boom because there were some problems with it. The grip was coming off, the boom head was broken, and the clips were breaking from time to time. A new boom head was quite expensive and I didn’t want to replace the grip myself.
I started looking for a new monocoque carbon boom. I had a look at the new X9, AL360, Maui Sails, Unifiber and Techno Limits.
For a number of reasons I choose the Techno Limits XTR 180 – 240 Boom. It has the new curve, a solid boom head, 28mm grip, wide usable range and also important it was available.
After two sessions, one with 7.8 and one with 6.7 I’m very pleased with the grip and stiffness of the boom. And If you want to know, the new curve is an improvement. It just feels natural.
Highly recommended.

Speedsession 03 october 2009

There was a lot of wind predicted for the 3th of October. When I arrived the big guys were rigging 6.2 and their speed guns were ready to go. At that moment the wind wasn’t hard at all so I also rigged the 6.2 and I took my smallest board the SL56.
On the water the wind was really on/off and the course was very board. It was hard to get going from time to time and I saw the big guys swimming a lot. I decided to take a bigger board to at least be able to do some fun surfing. I also replaced the speed fin with the good old SL7 which takes loads of pressure. Now I was cruising around and having fun. I even managed to do some very broad runs without falling dead in the end.
Then the wind direction changed and the wind suddenly increased a lot. I saw one of the best Dutch speed surfer rigging his 5.1. I decided to pack in and leave.
When I downloaded the GPS I saw a very decent top speed of 65,77 kmh which is probably the fastest I sailed the SL61. I was even more surprised when I put the day ranking in 500m. I had sailed the 5th fastest 500m which was a new record for me.

RS6 for Sale 6.7

RS6 6.7 sail for sales.



Always treated well and rinsed and dryed after use.

North Sails shox XTR

North Sails have done it again.
They already had the PowerXT mast extension on the market for some years now. The PowerXT is an extension with a build-in sail tension mechanism. Now they have come up with a adjustable shock absorber build into this mast extension. The shox XTR.

Shox XTR

They also have the only 3 piece masts on the market. I didn't gave this one much attention before but now I've seen that they sell a top and a base together with 3 different middle pieces. This means you have a range from for instance 430 over 460 to 490 with one set.

3 piece masts

Recently they also invented a boom with an adjustable flex in the boom head. For a long time everybody was thinking the stiffer the faster but in chopping conditions more flex actually gives more control and more control means more speed.

adjustable boom head

They only thing left is the adjustable sail. Let's hope this one will also arrive soon to reduce the gear we have to transport and buy to sail in 12 till 40 knots of wind.

3 Games (5-6 sep 2009)

The second event of the 3Games was organized at the “Kabbelaarsbank”.

After I registrated I joined Kurt to rig our sails. I measured an average 20 knots with peaks up to 25 knots. As we were getting ready for some slalom (long distance) racing I choose to rig the 6.7 together with my SL61 (92 liters). By the time the gear was rigged I noticed the wind was dropping a bit from time to time. I also rigged the 7.2 together with the SL78 and a 39cm fin just to be sure. Kurt had rigged a 7.8 (I don’t have that size) together with a Fanatic Falcon 105.
We bought went out for a test run. I was a bit too big on the board, Kurt was spot on.
I went to the skippers meeting. The race was a figure-eight slalom with reaches of 1 km. Start-Buoy1-Buoy2-Buoy1-Finish. The course was about 4 km in total. We were going to do full fleet starts. About 42 competitors had to start together. The race-directors made a nice wide starting zone to avoid collisions.


We started for the first heat. It is always difficult to get a good start and certainly important in such a big field. I started at the boot but still I immediately lost some places because I had to pump to get going. Two heats later I tried to start at the pin end. I got some very good tips from Nick D. but I didn’t start fast enough. Not a good result in this race but in the future I will try this starting position again because I noticed that the event winner was always starting there. I think you just need to be sure that the sail you’re using is big enough to plane through the wind holes that the other competitors are making starting upwind.
I learned a lot today. From time to time I could overtake some competitors although I wasn’t please with my speed. At the jibes I was also able to win some places due to solid gybing. I never fell once during the 7 races but I often loose speed at the end of the gybe. I have to start practicing these gybes seriously.

A fantastic day of windsurfing and thanks again for the great organization.

Race

Finish

Gybe

Event Winner

Finally some TOW again

On the 28th of August I went surfing again at Herkingen. When I arrived there the wind was already blowing more then 22 knots average. The wind predictions for that day were 15 to 17 knots. I only brought my big stuff. The smallest sail I had with me was the 6.2. By the time I went on the water the wind was still increasing. I choose to put an Select Caspar Speed 27 fin under my Exocet SL56.

Lancel father and son

Koen

On the spot were about 30 people speedsurfing at the same time. The wind angle was not optimal and you had to bear away from the dam into the chop to get a decent topspeed. I say some people crashing with broken carbon masts and carbon booms as a result.

Crash (not me)

I wasn’t feeling that confident and not that fit but I tried to do some runs. I wish I had taken the 5.4 with me to have more control because the wind was already over 30 knots. The 27 cm fin was not creating enough lift and I decided to sail back through the chop to mount the 29 cm fin.
Sailing back I fell a couple of time and hurt my knee. I decided to stop. Not a lot of distance sailed on that day but speed thrill was there for sure.
Topspeed : 68,13 kmh = 36.79 knots
Average 10s : 63,82 kmh = 34.46 knots
New PR on 250m : 65,12 kmh = 35.16 knots

Next season I will replace my RS6 sails with the new RS Slalom MK IV. The current RS Slalom MKIII looks very stable in high wind and has a shorter luff – and boomlength. Some people say the the MKIII is as good as the EvoII sails for speedsurfing.

RS Slalom MK III

I have not been windsurfing a lot the last months due to some medical problems. Mid june I had the chance to sail a few runs with the RS Slalom MKIII. I have been using the RS6 sails for some years now and I couldn’ t feel a big difference with the RS Racing or RS Slalom MKI or MKII sails. But now after I shortly tested the RS Slalom MKIII I could immediately feel that this would be an upgrade for my RS6 sails.

RS6

RS Slalom MK III

Select PRO SLAM

Select has a new slalom fin for large slalomboards. After I saw the speeds that Ben was getting with these fins I ordered one for my new SL78. I choose the PRO SLAM 45 to use with a 8.4 sail.
Yesterday I received the fin. When I compare the fin with my RS7 45 I see the following differences :
• PRO SLAM has more rake
• PRO SLAM trailing edge is sharper
• PRO SLAM has a wider tip
• PRO SLAM has a bit more flex

Let’s hope we get some decent winds some to test the new board/fin combination.

Ben on the SL78

RS7 45 on PRO SLAM 45

PRO SLAM 45 on RS7 45

Exocet SL78 Promodel

When the new Exocet SL range was introduced you could choose between the 71,66,61 and 56. When we asked Exocet if we could expect some larger SL model the answer was that the WarpS 85 and WarpS76 would be used by the Pro’s as larger slalom boards.

Then suddenly Exocet came up with the SL78 Honeycomb. A fantastic light wind slalom board for sure, but the honeycomb construction also made it very expensive.

A lot of people were asking Exocet on the forum for a SL78 Promodel version. Exocet responded and started building the SL78 in Promodel version at a lower price.

Last weekend I receive my SL78 Promodel. The first thing I did was to weight the board. Without foot straps I measure 7 kg. This is really good and the finish of the board is excellent.

7 kg !!!

SL78, SL61, SL56

3 Games – Brouwersdam – Kabbelaarsbank – 25-26/04/2009

Tower

The first leg of the 3Games took place at the Brouwersdam. The 3 Games is a low entry windsurf competition organized by some Belgium competition windsurfers.
On the first day there wasn’t much wind in the morning. Therefore some fun races were organized. The windlimit for the official races was 12 knots. There is no material restriction so in the morning the formula guys were winning.
In the afternoon the wind started to pick up. We were ready for the first official race. Just before the start of the first official race the wind shifted completely. The race committee had their hands full to set a new course.
We were ready for the restart. There were 36 competitors and when the start was given we noticed that the starting line was a bit small. There were some people falling at the start and someone even hit the starting boat. During the race I was just behind Kurt. Kurt had started form the back of the field but he was able the plane over the starting line. I started for the front of the field but was standing still on the starting line. He was using an 85 cm wide board and a 9.5 sail. I was on my Exocet SL71 with an 8.4 sail. My speed was good but I could not overtake him. The race committee had placed the buoys at a very short distance. Once you got up to speed you had to jibe again. Felt a bit like indoor surfing but this certainly increased the adrenaline and fun. I took 11th place he was 10nd. It surprised me that surfing a race is a different thing than free surfing. The water is very rough and you need a bigger sail the get going.
The second official race. In the meantime the race officials had reset the course and the legs were now a lot longer. The same scenario at the starting line, Kurt starting for the back with wind and myself starting from the front but stalling at the starting line. Again Kurt in front of me and I was trying to catch him. At the last jibe Kurt had some bad luck. A competitor who was already 2 legs behind fell in the water just in front of the buoy. She was trying to get her sail out of the water but fell in again. Kurt had to do everything possible to avoid a crash and he missed his jibe. I came behind and no problem gibing and could overtake him.
My overall result was 8th place. Very happy with that. I’m already looking forward for the next 2 events in September.

Picture from the Tower

Good start

One leg to go

Holding off competitor

Select Caspar Speed

Yesterday I took a day off to go speedsurfing at Herkingen. I bought some new Select Caspar speed fins and I wanted to try them out.
In the morning the wind was the strongest and I could catch some nice gusts. On the deep downwind course the fin is very stable. This in combination with the chopkiller Exocet SL56 gave me the confidence to push hard.
During a short break we compared some top speeds it seemed that I was doing well.
When I posted my results on the GPS-SPEEDSURFING.com website I say I had some good results.
The Select Caspar Speed fin does the job!

Belgian Speedweek Gruissan 09

It had been very nice weather the week before we left to France. We drove to the South and the closer we came to Gruissan the worse the weather became. We left in Belgium in 20° C plus with sun and we arrived in the South of France with less than 10°C and rain on Saturday.
Sunday the same bad weather. Cold, rain but there was a Tramontana wind. I didn’t feel like going surfing in these conditions.
Monday, the first day of the competition and there was still some Tramontana left. It didn’t seem that hard in the morning but when I tested the 6.2 with the SL56 it became clear that I needed a smaller sail. Very hard gusts. I was still rigging the 5.4 when heat 1 had already started. I managed 2 runs but I wasn’t that confident and waited till the end of the race.
After heat 1 I did some runs, did some tuning and my confidence was growing. It had been more then a year ago that I used the 5.4.
Then heat 2 started. I did a couple of good runs but in the gusts the fin was a bit too big. Then the wind was decreasing and shifting a bit. I wanted to get the 6.2 but I couldn’t reach the beach where the sail was. Every time I was going towards the beach I got a gust and I decided to go for another run. Unfortunately the gusts didn’t last long enough the make a good 500m run.
After one hour the heat 2 was put on hold.
On Tuesday the weather got even better but no wind at all. The Tramontana didn’t came back for the rest of the week and the competition was over.
I recommend every speed windsurfer to try this competition once. The Belgian Speedweek is very well organized and accessible to every speed windsurfer. Everyone gets his go, Pro or Rookie and the Rescue is excellent with 1 dingy and 1 powerful jetski.

(Pictures thanks to Herman Maes and Jan Dejonge)

Test WarpS 85 Pro

The Exocet WarpS 85 Pro has been tested this weekend.
The first thing you noticed when you take the board out of the board bag is the very nice graphics. The board has 145liter but it feels like a smaller board on the water. Despite of that it is very capable of carrying large sails. We sailed it with an RSRacing 9.0 and that size didn't feel too big at all. The board has a very good speed and is easy to jibe. An ideal board for light wind racing.