(machine translated in 2023) Good start to the 2012 season
Fortunately, after a week of storms in the Netherlands, there was still wind left for a nice day of surfing: WNW 6 predicts and that with dry weather and a lot of chance of sun: Let the surf year begin.
On the way I met Frank. On arrival it was quite busy. Many celebrities and Belgian Slalommers.

After a lot of shaking hands and New Year's wishes: Wave of Slalom stuff. Finally opted for both, start with Slalom, a bit of hard weather/chop training and then switch to wave to jump some more.

Slalom: Yves Grossen (BEL-8) was on the water with Reflex II 6.2, but that is xtreme highwind and Boris was with 5.8 Warp. So 6.3 should be possible, but so should 5.7. Since I had never sailed 5.7 before I caught the 5.7.

S-Type 104 with RAM F10 5.7 and C3 Venom 32cm
Sailed very well, water was quite flat for grevelingen conditions. After a bit of trimming I sailed very nicely, especially spacious wind the set was super, height walking was clearly a little less, but perfect for downwind slalom. Gybes, especially in the chop not really well, often went a spin-out when deploying the gybe. After an hour the wind increased and the waves immediately became steeper and difficult. Time to stop for a sandwich and change sets.

FSW 84 Pro with Ice 5.3 with RON 20cm
Ice 5.3 was actually too big. And the RON 20cm didn't feel good either, was first time with this fin under the 84 Pro, under my old one it often worked very nicely. But under the new one it didn't feel good, but maybe the wind was too strong for that.

FSW 84 Pro with Ice 5.3 with Wave Warrior 24cm
With the Wave Warrion 24cm and more trim in the 5.3, it felt a whole lot better. Some arguing with my trapeze strings. I had just put another set on this boom, but they keep turning, so I always had trouble hooking up. I have to check again.
Sailed nicely, a bit of jumping and golfing.

Tabou Da Curve 85 by Frank
Frank had just bought a new board, Tabou Da Curve 85 from 2010. This was his first time with the board so I wanted to give it a try. Frank wanted to give my new JP FSW 84 Pro a try so we swapped, just for a moment. Frank has much bigger feet than me and his foot straps were way too big for me, and Frank can only just get his toes in my foot straps. So not really very successful for both. Next time I want to try him again but then I really put his foot straps smaller.

The year has started very well, the hour of slalom has on the one hand given me confidence in the coming year. Guys like Yves were often too fast for me, but now I could keep up with him very well. On the other hand, my gybes in the chop were too bad. I think I get that gyben even better when it's warmer to practice more on it.
Then I sailed with my wave set, jumping a bit.
The weather was nice, with the sun it was nice, but when you stood still on the side it was still fresh. Hopefully many more days like this. And the wind was super, pretty constant, not gusty at all and barely turning.

Grevelingendam

Present: Frank, Hans (Hansie), Hans (vichelli), Martijn (super_ik), Ron (SoulDragon)

12:15 1.25 hour Wind: W/NW
Board: Starboard S-Type 104 - C3 Venom 32cm
Sail: North RAM F10 5.7 - North Platinum 430 - Neil Pryde X9 180-230
  (machine translated in 2023) First time with the RAM F10. Rigging was quick and easy. Chosen the Venom 32 to start with. In the beginning some trouble with a floating foot, mast foot slightly forward and then it was better.
Sail feels nice and smooth, not too hard and breathes wonderfully in gusts. Speed didn't feel very hard for me, but after a few rakes with a few Belgian slalom boys it was clear that I could keep up without difficulty. Vin certainly could have been smaller in the harder gusts. But if the wind was a little less, walking at height was difficult. The wind was great. That Venom is really brilliant downwind.
14:00 0.25 hour Wind: W/NW
Board: JP Freestyle Wave 84 Pro - MFC RON 20cm
Sail: North Ice 5.3 - North Gold 430cm - Chinook Pro 1 Alloy 165-227
  (machine translated in 2023) 5.3 was actually too big, and with the 20cm underneath it didn't feel nice. Whether this is due to the board I have to try again in another wind. Under my old FSW 84 this was a very fine fin.
14:15 0.5 hour Wind: W/NW
Board: JP Freestyle Wave 84 Pro - Select Wave Warrior 24cm
Sail: North Ice 5.3 - North Gold 430cm - Chinook Pro 1 Alloy 165-227
  TODO
14:45 0.25 hour Wind: W/NW
Board: Tabou Da Curve 85
Sail: North Ice 5.3 - North Gold 430cm - Chinook Pro 1 Alloy 165-227
  (machine translated in 2023) Board of Frank sailed very briefly. But Frank has much bigger feet and also wears those big ION 6mm shoes and also thought that his foot straps were a bit too big. So I with my little 42 feet and little NP shoes felt like I was standing on the board without foot straps. Didn't feel safe, so didn't really sail well. Which did stand out. Really waveboard, walked quietly and turned as if on rails. Foot straps were very far apart, which gives you a lot of power to turn the board. I would like to try it again but with smaller foot straps.
15:00 0.5 hour Wind: W/NW
Board: JP Freestyle Wave 84 Pro - Select Wave Warrior 24cm
Sail: North Ice 5.3 - North Gold 430cm - Chinook Pro 1 Alloy 165-227
  TODO