"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!

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…

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.