Wonderful day at sea, Pulse boards testing
Good north wind forecasted for the end of the afternoon, with sun, so chance of a nice afternoon at Brouwersdam south.

Most surfers were sailing with 4.7 to 5.5. Rigged:
Banzai 5.3 with Goya One 95 and MFC 25/10 fins
As to be expected, near the beach hardly any wind, but once in the clean wind, past the inlet: Planing and jumping right away. Beyond the measuring post waves more parallel and immediately some back-side hits. Never more than 1 hit per wave, that rarely is possible behind the measuring post. Especially in front of the measuring post, the waves are slightly more diagonal to the sailing directions and sometimes quite steep. Few attempts at table-tops, slowly they go a little better. In front of the measuring post, sailing towards the beach also longer lines and I could occasionally do 2 or even 3 back-side hits.
Henk had arrived and he offered me to test his Puls boards.

Banzai 5.3 with Pulse 110 and 25/12 fins
The 110 is really a big board, 110 liters, 63.5cm wide. Only footstraps on the middle of the board. Fortunately Henk likes to sail large fins, so I could put pressure on my back foot. Board doesn't feel that big on the water. First steep wave: jumped right away. Board jumps well. Behind the measuring post, some nice waves. Board turns very well for its size. For me as the biggest wave board, the Puls 110 is too big, I would like something like 100L. As the largest Freemove, the board is too wave, no outboard footstrap options.

Banzai 5.3 with Pulse 95 and 20/12 fins
After the Pulse 110, I had high expectations for the 95, this should be the perfect size for me as a lightwind waveboard. Sailing outward was really enjoyable. Board feels much nicer, than the 110, narrower, turns easier, is more sensitive to steering input. Still jumps well, although the 110 seemed to jump better, perhaps also because of the larger center fin. Back towards the beach, the board felt very different, could not put any pressure on the back foot at all. Had to sail completely over my front foot, no idea why, I'm guessing one side of the center fin or a thruster that was dirty/greasy. Also the 20cm center fin was perhaps on the small side. A bit of a hate-love with this Pulse 95, but guess I could fix that with better fins.

Banzai 5.3 with Goya One 95 and MFC 25/10 fins
After the difficulty getting upwind with the Puls 95, the One 95 was a change, foot straps were also better for me. It was much less strenuous and tiring sailing. With the increasing wind, the fins now seemed too big. I also wanted to compare better with the Pulse 95 which had 20/12cm fins. Then 25/10cm is not really a good comparison.

Banzai 5.3 with Goya One 95 and MFC 21/12 fins
After a few meters of getting used to it, I was soon happier with it, turns just a little shortening. It is just a little easier to get the board vertically up a wave. Wonderfully shorter runs, sailed in the part with the best waves, 100 meters past the measuring post and 100 meter from the beach.
With One 95 no trouble at all to get upwind, not comparable to the Pulse 95 heading back to the beach. Sailing out, they were a little more similar.
Sailed until I was completely empty.

It was a wonderful afternoon/evening session.

Brouwersdam Zuid

Present: Henk

15:00 1 hour Wind: N/NE
Board: Goya One 3 Pro 95 - MFC Freewave 25cm/MFC TF 2x10cm
Sail: Goya Banzai Pro 5.3 - Goya Eightyfive Pro 400 - AL360 E3 Carbon 160-220
  Good choice, started with minimum trim and upper outhaul, soon increased the outhaul and downhaul in the sail. Not overpowered, but well powered. 5.3 was THE size today. Board jumps nicely, some table-top attempts. Here and there nice long waves to get 2 or 3 back side hits. Board had good control, good upwind.
16:00 0.25 hour Wind: N/NE
Board: Puls PRO wave 2.0 110 - Select X1 25cm/K4 Stubby 12cm
Sail: Goya Banzai Pro 5.3 - Goya Eightyfive Pro 400 - AL360 E3 Carbon 160-220
  Henk let me borrow his Pulse 110, sailed with his Select X1 25cm and K4 Stubby 12cm fins..
It is a large board: 110 liters and 63cm wide, large for a 5.3, but on the water you do not notice that much.
With the 25/12 fins, the board has too much fin surface for me. I goes upwind way too easily, but board ran nice and loose.
First good wave immediately in the air, board jumps well. Jibing did not go so well, I clearly had to get used to the width of the board.
Even though the board is so wide, it could still do a few back-side hits. Board has a lot of control, runs well and still feels loose on the water.
16:15 0.25 hour Wind: N/NE
Board: Puls PRO wave 95 - K4 Flex 20cm/K4 Stubby 12cm
Sail: Goya Banzai Pro 5.3 - Goya Eightyfive Pro 400 - AL360 E3 Carbon 160-220
  Borrowed the Pulse 95 from Henk.
In terms of size much better than the 110. Sailing out, it felt perfect. Control, not too big, jumps well, turns a lot better, much more control.
Fins felt a bit small: had been sailing with relatively large fins for a while today, so partly I also needed to get used to the smaller finst.
Unfortunately, on the way in, the board somehow was not working for me. Had to go upwind, sailing full over front foot all the time to get back to our launch area.
16:30 0.5 hour Wind: N/NE
Board: Goya One 3 Pro 95 - MFC Freewave 25cm/MFC TF 2x10cm
Sail: Goya Banzai Pro 5.3 - Goya Eightyfive Pro 400 - AL360 E3 Carbon 160-220
  Bizarre how familiar your own board feels. So much nicer if your foot straps are properly adjusted. The Goya One clearly has less double concave so a bit more bounchy in the chop, but feels faster and more relaxed. With the very slowly increasing wind, getting upwind had gotten way too easy. To better compare the One with the Pulse 95, switched to smaller fins.
17:15 1.25 hour Wind: N/NE
Board: Goya One 3 Pro 95 - MFC Freewave (20) 21cm/MFC TF 2x12cm
Sail: Goya Banzai Pro 5.3 - Goya Eightyfive Pro 400 - AL360 E3 Carbon 160-220
  I put the sail outhaul on lower eye, wind was slowly increasing.
With the 21cm center and 12cm thruster, the board lies lower in the water, turns shorter. Board still goes very easily upwind.
Jumping was still going well. Waveriding was also slightly better. A smaller center fin should certainly also work well and even give a little more control.
With the 21cm, the control in the roughest chop was sometimes a little less, but certainly still doable.