(machine translated in 2023) Super sunny day at the sea: Raceboard training
Good wind predicted again, there was also WWT, but I was more interested in sailing freely at sea with my buddies.
On arrival most were sailing with either 6.0 to 6.5 wave/freeride or with 6.5 to 7.5 slalom sets.
The sun was shining again. The wind was fairly constant predicted, bit up-down, but not much.

I had driven with Rob and Peter to go sailing together. Rob didn't really want to go to sea, didn't dare. I let Laura convince him:
Me: "Laura, are you going to sail at sea today?"
Laura: "Yes :)"
Me: "He doesn't dare go to sea!" (Pointing to Rob)
Laura: "Sissy"
Rob: "Okay, I'll go"
Wonderful how quickly someone can be convinced by a beautiful blonde girl!!

I didn't feel like slalom, and I didn't bring my 6.7 Duke. So I rigged the 5.9 because I doubted if it would be big enough to grab my S-Type 104 instead of the FSW 84 that I would normally use.

S-Type 104 with Duke 5.9 and Select eagle 41cm
Set ran nicely, foot straps were still too big in the beginning (winter shoe position). Wind was minimal on the side, further on it went quite nicely. Boadje walked nicely, only that nose so low above the water is sometimes quite scary: Don't look, but just sail, I'm fine.) Sometimes a spinout, fin seemed a bit small for so little wind.

After a while the wind subsided a bit, many surfers went to the shore to eat something and possibly to rig. Let's talk to Jeroen, yes, we're going to take the raceboards. Great time to set up and test my Power Sails MX Race 7.5.

Fanatic Cat with Power Sails MX Race 7.5
Rigging was a short search. Fortunately, there were some old hands who still knew this type of sail and gave some tips. How thin that monofilm is! Me and Jeroen chose to just launch the boards within the blocks of dam and walk up to the sea, after all, they are racing boards. With my carbon sword completely off, I was out of the bay with one tack. Together with jeroen hoogte walking towards the Kouse, there around a buoy and ample wind back to where we normally go behind the block dam. I was surprised that I was always ahead of Jeroen. (Jeroen has sailed races on these types of boards for years, and his One-Design is a lot newer than my Cat) Then half wind towards the lighthouse and again I walked away. It has to be that MX Race, which has less loose-leech than the Challanger Sails 7.8 from Jeroen and therefore loses less power. It was really enjoyable. I sailed a few rakes with the other surfers, I didn't keep up with Jeroen and Menno on their slalom sets, but the freeride sets went just as fast or hardly faster. And how incredibly quiet that Cat is. Just gyben with that long thing is quite a tour. I really enjoyed myself on the CAT, didn't expect it to be so much fun. You can just sail with other me, but also decide to sail very high or very spacious to go somewhere else.

Wind had slowly increased again, so with the 7.5 I could really only sail high and spacious, half wind no longer went, cleaned up the CAT and sailed with my little set.

S-Type 104 with Duke 5.9 and Select eagle 41cm
Back on the S-Type 104 it took some getting used to, Wow, how agile and lively that is. Delicious. We cruised for half an hour, jumped a bit and stopped on time. Tomorrow Regiocup and still has to have energy left.

It was a great day, cozy with so many acquaintances. Lovely sunshine, wind was unfortunately just a little less hoped for, but therefore the CAT with MX Race 7.5 sailed: Great.

Blokkendam

Present: Hans (Hansie), Jeroen, Marius (SurfinTwin), Menno (flappie), Peter (metPeter), Rob, Ronald (RonVo)

12:00 1 hour Wind: W/SW
Board: Starboard S-Type 104 - Select Eagle 31cm
Sail: North Duke 5.9 - North Gold 430cm - Chinook Pro 1 Alloy 165-227
  (machine translated in 2023) Sail was on the small side, but once in plane wonderfully light. Sometimes a spinout with the fin, maybe a bit on the small side for this light wind.
13:30 2.5 hour Wind: W/SW
Board: Fanatic Ultra Cat - Mistral OneDesign 33cm
Sail: Power Sails MX Race 7.5 - North Gold 490cm - AL360 E3 Carbon 210-270
  (machine translated in 2023) With the sword folded it was very nice, foot straps are perhaps still very large. I could/dared to downwind very widely. Half wind I could keep up with the freeriders. Gyben didn't go bad either. Only walking height with the big carbon sword out was a challenge, board went straight against the wind rather than I could walk nicely at an angle. Maybe a plain white sword.
17:00 0.5 hour Wind: W/SW
Board: Starboard S-Type 104 - Select Eagle 31cm
Sail: North Duke 5.9 - North Gold 430cm - Chinook Pro 1 Alloy 165-227
  (machine translated in 2023) Set ran nicely, but the wind started to subside quickly. Sometimes minimal planing, sometimes nicely powered. Vin occasionally gave spinout. In itself a nice combo.