2e Defi-wind wedstrijd!

Wind was vergelijkbaar met gister maar wel iets constanter, lekker gevaren!  2e keer uitgevaren, supergoed gevoel! Volgende.keer misschien op de slalomset

YeSs! Wat spannend was dit. Stond klaar voor de start in het water en kijk na het proefvaren alles na... kak pees van de baseplate compleet ingescheurd. 16 minuten voor start.. in een sprint naar de trailer.. terug en echt op het startmoment het water opgevlogen. Alles ging daarna vanzelf. Echt mooier kon het niet. Kwam goed bij de boeien en het lijf deed het prima??

First heat 6.6 with PD115

second heat with PD95

Defi wind race 3! 

Defi wind day 2, what a perfect day

Two heats sailed with a 5th and a 6th place in the fin division.

currently 3rd overall in the fin division. That will probably go down a bit tomorrow when a discard comes into play. 
 

Defi Wind Race 3 place 143

Tweede race van de Defi 2023, door de enorme vverschillen in windsterkte op het race parcours was het af en toe hard werken.

Race nr 3, iets meer wind dan tijdens de ochtend race

Between the two heats of the Defi I had a little go. Nice to be on the water:)

2nd day defi wind, 2 races.

Defi dag 2

Defi dag 2 race 2

defi wind race

defi wind race

Moto 2 cam 6.4

Fox 95 . 32 f series

Day 2 at the DEFI wind.

Race 2 could have been better, made the wrong choice by going on the medium board with a fin that was too long. Finished 75th

Race 3 was a solid 45.

Heat 2 Défi. 

Heat 3

Heat 4

2 DeFi races today.

Gear was a bit too small in the first race.

Second race it was perfect.

Blasting next to the beach and went through the sea on the way back with clean wind and easy chop.

Today was the perfect race where everything what happened needed to happen. A big crash on the sandbank. The worst start I could imagen. It was perfect for the joy of the race. 
Again I decided to start from the beach to save energy for the competition. Because I was late yesterday I decided to try and start more quick behind the boat. This resulted in being squashed together with all the other who wanted to squeeze behind the boat. I came planning, but just had to break because there where just boards side to side. Completely gone was the wind. 
So with a 90 kg body on a 88 liter board and no wind at al. Just chaotic gusts coming from all sides and likewise waves. All the sails worked like lamellen and just changed the wind direction. So I wanted to go completely offshore to kind of adjust to the new wind direction. But there where also only boards and sails haha. So I was stuck in floating with the group trying to get planning in our new wind direction coming from the front! Slowely the group expanded and more and more often a litte gust came free to at least not sink away. It looked like all 1200 windsurfers where in front of me!! As if the first guy’s where already turning the first boey. Then finally the first gust came to make me plane and I decided to give up speed for going upwind towards the beach. 
When I finally got there thru all the dirty wind and messy board waves I thought…. Now let’s have some fun. I got my stance right and started kind of speedsurfing along the beach. Using the swell as a hill to boost me upwind for free. It was like all the people where standing still. Beng beng beng , it was one big mass overtake of windsufrers. It was really funny, and something I mist yesterday because I was ahead of the stuck pack. The ego inside me smiled. The fist boey turn went well and again I put all my efford in going upwind thru all dirty wind towards the beach. The amount of surfers I had to overtake was immense. The bad start really put me all the way back. But again a mass overtake took place. Beng beng beng.. I started to feel confident that if this would continue I could possibly even enter the top 100 again. Than the 2nd turn. No falling. My new tactic is to completely surf away from all turning people and than turn where there is more solid wind and no people around. Mainly, it is easier to start planning again because there is no dirty wind from the others after a turn. Still the amount of people in front of me was insane! But two more reaches to go. Again I went for a run close to the beach. The mass overtake action was happening again. But than a funny thing had to happen.
I saw a guy working on his gear. It looked like he was standing just above knee hight  in the water. It was pretty close to the beach and the water was brown colored. But I thought that If I would just pass near him I would have the depth of his knee down to his feet. Full speed…..BENG!! What the fack!? It felt like I hit a rock. I quickly came up. Nothing felt bad fysicly. Than I looked at the guy.. He looked kind of worried and than he stood up haha! He was not standing on his feet, but on his knees! So the water was 20 cm shallow. Stupid that I wasted time explaining him that it looked like standing. He explained he was just fixing his gear because he crashed also. I thought the race was ended. I inspected the gear and nothing was broken! So now I just decided to give it a go and enjoy the last 1,5 reach. I was up to speed again and suddenly I recognized a wildly sponsored severne sail..  Than I recognized Bjön Dunckerbeck sailing… I don’t know what was going on but I pointed towards him and within a flash I was overtaking my big hero which I watched so many times on youtube. How the heck was this possible! Later in the race I realized he was probably just cruising behind his sun enjoying the race together. Dad-love probably ;). But in that moment I had the illusion (probably) that I was fast haha.The last boey was showing up. I decided again to take the long road. Again no fall. And.. no dirty wind to start planning again. My hero Björn took a tight turn around the boey. I felt a bit guilty planning upwind of him while he tried to start to pull away and give him dirty wind.. But hay, it is a fun competition. 
This experience which felt like a dream come true to be able to race Bjön Dunckerbeck gave me all energy to fly the last reach. Another wildly sponsored severne. Liam Dunckerbeck. I was passing and saw a new target just before the finish boat. There was a foiler ahead of me. Pretty choppy here but managed to go full speed over the chop just before Marion Mortefon on her foil over the finish line… I knew the competition ranking wouldn’t be good, but the fun ranking was skyrocket high! This felt like a real race! 

After I checked out I did some freeriding. I asked one of the competitors if there would be another race. ‘No’ he said, this is it for today. So I packed my gear and went to see my Dad who just arrived from Holland in Gruissan town. Unfortunately I missed the 3rd race which gives me somewhat a sad feeling. But luckily it was replaced by a cosy afternoon with my dad.

Hopefully there will be some more nice races to sail :)

Fun above ranking!
Forever speed :)

Meteen gekozen voor groot board met medium zeil. Ging al beter dan de eerste start. Begonnen vanaf het strand.

Goede keus om van board en zeil te wisselen . Wind nam behoorlijk toe. Relaxed gevaren met deze combi.

1e race , weer slecht gestart maar wat gaaf @defi

DEFI race 

DEFI race 

2e race , weer een poep start en dan zie je al dobberend honderden surfers uit het zicht verdwijnen   

DEFI race 

Defi race 2

Defi  race 4

Defi Manche

:)

:)

Dag 2 heat 2.

Dag 2 heat 2.

Dag 2 heat 3

defi 3 , far too big sail , hard time making it around

defi 2, 38 cm f hot

Defi race 2

Defi race 3

Leuke trip met de Woerden locals Renee, Raymond, Erik en Arno en Thomas schoof aan bij het eten. Renee en Thomas bij de Defi Wind en wij ook af en toe het water op. Super om er eens bij te zijn. 

DefiWind 2023 Day 2, race 1

DefiWind 2023 Day 2, race 2

Defi Race 2 Friday morning

Severne Moto 2 cam 6.4
Fox 115
finish #162

Defi race 3 Friday afternoon
Severne Moto 2 cam 6.4
Fox 105

Finished #190

Defi Wind race 3 and some free sailing 

RACE 2 DEFIWIND 2023 - Finished 45th (although probably should have been 38th as I backed off and lost 7 places to foilers 500m from the end.)

The wind looked a bit light still so I went out with the 7.0 on the X-fire 90. However after failing to make the mark in Race 1, I didnt want the same issue, so I ran in and grabbed the new Meidum 118 proto type from the RRD stand. I threw my F-hot 36 in it and went straight to the start line. It turned out to be a great move. The board was amazing, and the additional lift meant I didnt need to push for the whole 40km. I had a good start and when I was pushing had really good speed. Then as I tired around 3-4km, I could ease off but still maintain a good average speed and most importantly make good speed upwind. Pretty much the same for the rest of the race that if I wanted to go really fast I could push, but if I was tired I coudl ease off and keep good speed. It also meant I could choose different lines, for example heading out to sea for clean air/water, with the knowledge that I could easily get back upwind. 

RACE 3 - DEFINWIND 2023 - 69th

The wind was pretty strong, and I had planned to go on the small board, but right before the start I felt the wind shifting a bit and knew the first leg woudl be upwind, so I ran back and grabbed the medium board again. Unfortunately I got a terrible start, but thanks to the bigger board I could drive upwind even thought the dirty air and water and recover plenty of places. At times I was dying on the 7.0 in the gusts, but overall it was definitley the right call. The return reach was pretty broad in places, so had a much better top speed, although the first sections are normally at the end of each run, so its hard to push when you have been sailing straight for 9km!

Defiwind ??

defi

defi

Defi wind

Defi Wind Race 3 place 143