A super fun and unexpected summerday of sailing with remarkably stable wind for hours in a row. 

It felt like a truly inspiring day.

In conditions like this...relatively low wind, flat open water conditions....the giants of speed can lift the wider platforms and fly on the tail. Riders like Twan and Sander master the technique brilliantly. The problem for riders like me is that you can't simply copy-paste and attack the gusts like the best long and heavy riders.

As all board, fin and sail designs over the last years have been tweaked for the strongest riders It's a two way fight. Still...I love it. Knowing I and "we" don't stand a chance simply we're too small makes me want to understand our potential advantage.

As a start in order to go fast you must feel comfortable. Secondly, while feeling comfortable you need to find lift from the set in a different way. This is exactly what I am testing for coming year. Today I decided to ride big for my liking but tweaked a lot on the sail. The Venom breathes like no other race sail that I know off and the aim is to increase the trim range even further without losing the stability and fun, super responsive feeling of the sail.

Plate sails are great for the heavy and tall riders as they support them to slice the wind and lift the board by using the body as lever. I know my age, weight and length will set me back a bit more each year, but I DO looove to sail/race and think of tricks to stay as close to the giants of speed as humanly possible by using "our" biggest strength compared to "them". I feel we're getting closer to our goal. Fun and relaxed sailing being the first objective. Today was fun, easy and relaxed while sailing on a bigger platform than I normally would pick...