First ever windsurf session in Netherlands

What a way to spend Saturday. Good food for lunch, and then... then the best afternoon possible: first time windsurfing in Netherlands. Yeah!

The spot was Muiderberg. A really nice spot in Ijmeer, with shallow water everywhere.I guess there must be a channel somewhere for the ships to sail, but everywhere I fell I could just stand.

The preparations:

Getting inside. close to the margin the water is so shallow that some waling is needed to get to slighter deeper waters.

At last starting to sail:

The sun come out sometimes and then it was beautiful.

I found something about the spot, at least with SW wind: there are wind channels. Close to the shore there is almost no wind, then maybe 50 m inside there is the first small wind channel (so 10 m wide). Some distance more and you get another wind channel, stronger and wider. Then when you're getting further away, more inside the sea, the wind becomes more regular and stronger.

At last my toes started to freeze and I decided to call it a day.

Look how far from the shore I am and how shallow it is;

Stoked, happy tiered, and not looking forward to packing...

Some tips:

• find some good warm and comfortable neoprene boots. The suit was super warm and even my hands, without any gloves, were warm. The feet on the other hand were constantly immersed in the 6°C water. The neoprene shoes are thin and old. Water comes inside as it pleases. After one 30 minutes my toes started to hurt. Then they stopped hurting and I decided it was time to leave;
• always check you have everything before leaving the house. I forgot a towel. Could have been something more essential;
• it's stupid to carry all my gear at once. It's heavy and unpractical. Takes the stuff separate and when getting into the spot choose what's needed and take only that;