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.