Partying and strong wind sailing. What a weekend.

What a crazy weekend.

Saturday evening we attended a really nice party at Almere Central Clube and Sunday the wind went crazy and was blowing with gusts of 40 knots. Insane!

The party was really kool, has was to be expected from the great people in the club -- if you want to learn how to windsurf then you won't find a better place than this club. The theme of the party was "mismatch". Everyone was supposed to dress with cloths that don't fit properly or match styles. It's even funnier than a costume party.

Then after a long night a very windy day. Tough stuff, really. The wind was blowing at around 25 knots and then a gust would blow like a blast, reaching 40 knots (with water temperature of 6°C and air at 8°C).

I took my smallest sail, a 5.4m² free ride and went in the water just to be beaten by the gusts. Eventually my windsurf session was more or less saved by Tom, who lent me 4.0m² sail. It was still hard going, still lot's of power in the gusts and somewhat under-power with the normal wind. Tricky. My tiered arms weren't helping also.

The meaning of all this is clear to me: cycling around is not enough to keep your shape for windsurfing. Upper body strength need to be maintained even when the wind is light for months - when with a bit of technique a windsurfer almost doesn't need any strength at all (unless it's a race, then pumping the sail is quite the workout).

Still managed to surf the small knee high waves, do some jumps and two or three gybes. Not that any of that was very well done, although it was getting better the more time I was in the water - I guess I was starting to get used to the strong wind.

Now I have to:

1. find some nice set of exercises to increase my torso and arms. Hopefully without needing to go to a gym... I'm not a fan of doing exercises inside;
2. find a good 4.2m² sail for strong winds;
3. find a 9.5m² sail with cambers for light winds. It'll be heavier but a lot more powerful then my 6.9m² implying more effort on my part, leading to a better workout when light air sailing.

Next time we get strong winds I'll be ready for it.

"Sulada"

Wicked brilliant South-West wind.. wonderful afternoon.

Photos are worth a thousands words.. so let me share some with you.

Started the day pretty early to do some work. This is the view from my "home" office.

Then we had lunch were there was a scene that reminded me of this wonderful video by Tim Minchin:

A bit tiered of irrationality we quickly moved a bit North and West and to Riactiva for what was looking like a quiet sailing afternoon.

Well... the "quiet" part become a adrenalin pumping afternoon. The South wind picked up getting to around 25 knots so I was well pumped up with my 6.9m² sail (the only one I brought with me).

I'll let you enjoy some photos now…

My gybes are getting quite better. Board is flatter through out the entire gybe, speed is mostly maintained and it feel "safe". Time to move on to duck gybes now.

We windsurfed the entire afternoon. Only the sun setting and muscles aches made us stop.

Wonderful!

Surprise wind

You go into the water, thinking that it's going to be one of those lazy evening with 14 knots of wind, just doing some light air freestyle (nothing fancy) and...

A dark cloud approaches, the wind picks up, rain drops start to fall and all of a sudden you're planning like crazy, fully powered with the 5.0m² sail you took to fool around. That's bound to be fun. Except... you didn't bring a harness, the sail is rigged for light wind and you didn't even had time to warm up.

Planning becomes the only option - the sail is a lot lighter when you're not dragging over the water. Still your muscles cry in pain, your hands clenched like hooks fighting to keep the boom.

In front some small shops cries for some hip movement and you can't resit. Timing it correctly you take off, flying over the water, closing your body, feeling the balance. One moment that last hours.

Eventually it has to end. Hands no longer work. Adrenaline surpasses muscle pain only until a limit. The later then returns with a vengeance.

The cloud that brought this episode is also departing. At the west the sun rays of the end of the afternoon shine in between red clouds, in the east a bright complete rainbow shines over a dark background of gray clouds. You open your mouth and a shout of pure joys is release into the air.

What a great way to end the day. What a wonderful surprise.

Hot summer days at Egmond aan Zee

We went a bit to the North of Holand, to Egmond aan Zee, to relax and enjoy the very hot summer days that have been happening here.

The beach was crowded. It reminded me of those very hot days that sometime happen in the south of Portugal, when even the ocean looks lazy and flat.

If you follow the link in the image above and then press the small zoom in button you can have a better view of the beach. I didn't upload the full definition image, but the one at PicassaWeb is still 4096 pixels wide. The full one is 17766 pixels wide... I don't think I'm going to upload that very soon...

Lots of wind for everyone!

Well what do you know, it does get windy here in Netherlands. :)

Wind readings of gusts getting to 35+ knots (that's more than 64 km/h) and never less than 20 knots (close to 37 km/h).

And me without a proper sail. My smallest sail is a freeride 5.4 m². It's good for 20 to 25 knots but not so good for anything above that. That didn't stop me. A bit more downhaul and outhaul and on with flying I go. I have a feeling that I was going above the 30 knots mark several times (got to get a water proof GPS to check this feelings).

What did stop me was that after two hours I crashed hard when gybing. Somehow my left thumb lost a not so small part of skin during the crash and the messy going around that happen just after. That did made me stop. Now it's healing time, which I can only hope to be fast.

Enough with the talk, it's photo time.

Fun morning. Now it's time to get back to work…

What a great session

Planning like crazy the entire afternoon, five amazing hours of fun at Muiderberg.

The wind was blowing with 16 to 20 knots (8.23 to 10.29 m/s) which is not much but with my big sail (6.9 m²), a 32cm fin and my new Fanatic Shark 135 it was a question of using the gusts and a bit of pumping to have the board jumping into planning.

Until next Friday it seams there wont be much changes of having another good session. Then the South wind comes again, gusty and strong. Windguru is predicting gusts of 32 knots for Saturday afternoon. That's wicked! I do hope the forecast will remain true. I'll tell you about it next Saturday.

Some good wind this past two days…

Last Friday and Saturday were good days of windsurfing here in North Holland. Saturday I stayed and do some work but on Friday it was a really nice session.

The wind was coming from South-West, so going to Muiderberg would not be a very good idea. I end up going to Almere Centraal with my RRD FreeStyleWave 100 litres (2008 collection) (you can see some photos of it here and here and my good old Blade freeride 5.4m² sail.

As in Portugal so is the South Wind here in Netherlands. Inconstant, strong gusts and bringer of rain. Sometimes the wind would be at 12 knots and then a could would move in the sky and all of a sudden it would be blowing at 24 knots with gusts of 28 to 30 knots. I had quite a handful in those moments but also lots of fun.

Good to improve my gybes and tacks on (for me) a small board. And some jumping too. Nice! I mostly stayed at North shore of the Gooimeer but sometimes would travel more South and get close to the South shore (for relaxing the arms a bit nothing like a long stretch of just going forwards.

Then in the evening we had dinner in the club. A nice pizza with the sun shining on us, nice relaxed music playing and very nice company. Life has its very good days.

My new gear: Fanatic Shark 135l and a Ride 5.0m² rig

I needed a board that was good for me to play in light wind conditions but be a board for my wife to develop her windsurfing skills. Well, after some searching, some reading and talking to some people I decided that a Fanatic Shark with 135 litres would be a good choice.

While searching I also found that this board could be bought with a rather competitive price as you could buy it in pack with a Fanatic Ride rig (sail, 60% carbon mast, mast base, mast extension and a boom).

Today for was the third time the board as touched the water and again in Muiderberg. It's such a nice place for learning. The water is shallow (actually so shallow that I cannot use the 48 cm Fanatic Shark G10 fin provided it it but a much smaller fin with only 30 cm) and very warm. The only issue might be the people in the water but if you go some 20 meters away and there's no head that you might bump into.

I never though that I was going to get tanned while in Netherlands. It's true that I had a bit of a "tanning" push while in Morocco but this past very sunny days have helped my skin to return to the usual tan colour of when I was in Aveiro. Nice!

My wife is really enjoying the new board and she also makes good use of the boardbag while waiting for me - the sun was already low in the horizon and the temperature was coming down. It was not cold but she was tiered from a long session of windsurfing and felt a bit on the chilly side. Anyway, it wouldn't be the first time that a board bag is used as a sleeping bag…

The weather forecast is not so great for the next week. The less warm weather (12°C) will be back, the wind will be gone and the clouds and rain show up. Oh well, it was nevertheless a wonderful Summer week, even better as it was completely unexpected.

Netherlands is starting to grow on my heart…

Remember that on a previous post I asked where can one enjoy a warm Sunset in Europe? Well… one can in Netherlands. The weather here has been so warm as to make the summers in Aveiro feel cold in comparison. Temperature between 20°C and 25°C. The win has not come strong but still enough to enjoy some light air sessions.

With the wind blowing from North East the best place is my playground (Muiderberg, see the photos at albums [1] and [2]) but with the Sun shining in the sky and the pleasant temperatures more and more people have come to enjoy it the same place.

One "fellow" windsurfer uses a truly ancient board, a Fanatic Ultra Cat, I believe from the end of the 80's. His sails are also old. Yet, with this light wind, he goes faster than most. The photo bellow doesn't do him justice (it was 4 knots when I took it).

Now I even have company for my windsurf trip. And good companionship it is. My half orange decided to start the windsurf classes at the windsurf club Almere Centraal, a really nice club.

Although the classes are with big boards (those with more than 200 litres, a daggerboard,long and wide as a oil platform), that didn't stop her from enjoying our latest addition: a Fanatic Shark 135 litres with a 5m² rig. It's a board that it's big enough for her to move from beginner to intermediate and fun enough for me to play and light wind conditions.

I also had a good time. My "big" sails is being repaired (third panel ripped apart when I took it in a session something like a month ago) so I had only a 5m² or 5.4m². With the latter, with the wind blowing at around 14 knots and with some pumping, the board was planning. It's a really nice board but I'll save the introduction for a next post.

Serra da Lousã (the mountains)

One of the things that I have sorely miss while in Netherlands is a feature full landscape. The only beauty you can find here is man made or man arranged. Nature is allowed to grow only in a orderly fashion and I miss the chaotic growth of plants on fertile and wild soil.

In the mountains of Lousã you can find both the orderly and the wild, more of the later than the former.

A good starting point for a walk is the Castle of Lousã. From there you can follow any of the different paths up the mountains.

Starting in the semi-natural swimming pool created by the running river, a refreshing sight of free water, and climb up to the Sanctuary.

Every step providing a different view of the mountains, the sound of river always with you, echoing in the close valley.

Another possible track would take you to a traditional village (named Catarredor) but be prepared for a long and strenuous walk. We decided not to stress about it and drove to the village.

There we had a beer at Fantasia bar. A beer and a relaxing time talking the the other patrons of the bar.

On the way home we stopped at the the Quinta da Paiva / Parque biológico de Miranda do Corvo (Biologic park of Miranda do Corvo) but it was late and the ticket office was already closed. Still we managed to see some animals, some ducks and some birds of prey.

Back in the good land of Portugal

After the disappointment trip to Moulay I got to stay some days in my fatherland, my beautiful country and share those days with my dear wife. Wonderful days.

Although I had work to do at the computer (some mysterious project that will stay under the radar for a while) we had time to meet with friends, go twice to the beach where the warm air and tepid Ocean water made for a very relaxing time and visit the mountain of Lousã (east of Coimbra).

I can't actually say what did I enjoy more: the sight of a landscape that is not flat, the sound of the Ocean waves, the feel of the Sun warming the skin, the smell of the forest in the mountains, the scent of the Ocean at the beach, the people. It was all so good.

The waves were not that big but still a friend went and caught some good small but well shaped waves with his kayak.

Then, after staying the afternoon at the beach, swimming for a long time, enjoying the motion of the waves, laying down on the hot sand and talking with friends we had a wonderful dinner by the light of the big red Sun setting in the horizon.

I bet there aren't many European countries where you can comfortable (with just a t-shirt or a light sweater) have a picnic by the sea at Sunset on the first days of May.

In the next post I'll share some photos of the very luxuriant forest in the mountain of Lousã.