Afternoon surfing with Martijn
In the afternoon good wind predicted, Martijn was on vacation, so he wanted to go surfing again. Martijn wanted to go to Kabbelaarsbank, so I followed.
Prediction was 25 to 32 knots SW. On arrival the wind was clearly not quite SW, was more south in.
Martijn was just rigging from 6.5 to 6.3 (seemed like a very small step, but was going from freerace to wave. But then it seemed like an even stranger step.)
Took the 102, put on the wetsuit and in the meantime let Martijn do a run with his 6.3 to see what the right size was.
Martijn came straight back in: switching to 5.3.

JP FSW 102 with Banzai 5.3 and Makani 26cm
Step on and plane and jump. We had tack few times to really get on open water. In the shallow water, lot of low steep chop, so delicious chop-hopping.
On the edge of the sandbank slightly higher chop, sometimes half a meter, there you could jump higher. There were, as is often the case on Kabbelaarsbank, some wind holes, especially behind the harbour and in front of the surf centre. It was fairly busy with clearly not so experienced surfers, so left them a lot of space, you never know when they fall. Wind slowly increased, sail over max. trimmed and still on the big side in the hardest gusts. Time for something smaller, wanted to go straight to the 4.7, but first tried the FSW 84.

JP FSW 84 with Banzai 5.3 and MFC Freewave 25cm
Choose to sail the FSW as a single fin once again. Thrusters are fun in waves, but of no use at Kabbelaarsbank. Then a single fin make sailing on flat water a lot more fun, looser and faster. It was stepping on and planning, yes, the FSW 84 worked easily. Feels a lot lighter, freer and more playful on the water. Jumps higher, attempts at table-top. Tried a little waveriding, hardly succeeds in the small waves, but still fun playing around. Jibes often went well: planing. Apart from the windholes it was really enjoyable.

Rescue action
During a run in the shallow water, a Starboard Carve comes floating in from the deeper water: no baseplate. Stopped to grab the board. Looked to spot the owner. Asked some other surfer to look out for a surfer in the water. Brought the board to the shore at the surf centre and approached someone from the centre, who went to get the boat. Back on the water, saw a head, a little upwind, sailed towards it. He was still holding his sail, and luckily he was wearing a buoyancy vest. Said the boat was on its way, the FSW84 does not make it possible to save somebody with a sail. Later talked to the the man, while adjusting the baseplate in deep water the baseplate popped out. And before he could get the board, the board was gone.

Sailed until the wind got less and I stood still more often. With less trim and maybe the FSW 102 again I could have sailed. But was also quite tired, so time to stop.

It was nice to have sailed with Martijn again. In retrospect, the 4.7 would surely have been better.

Kabbelaarsbank

Present: Martijn (Volvosurfer)

14:30 0.5 hour Wind: S/SW
Board: JP Freestyle Wave 102 Pro - Makani Kaku 26cm
Sail: Goya Banzai Pro 5.3 - Goya Eightyfive Pro 400 - AL360 E3 Carbon 160-220
  From the beginning the sail was too large, in a few times sail over max trimmed. Set worked well, but in the rougher water the 102 was harder to handle. With this kind of short steep waves, the FSW 102 really jumps well.
15:00 2.75 hour Wind: S/SW
Board: JP Freestyle Wave 84 Pro - MFC Freewave 25cm
Sail: Goya Banzai Pro 5.3 - Goya Eightyfive Pro 400 - AL360 E3 Carbon 160-220
  After a long while, finally sailed the FSW 84 sails as single fin again. A little bit of getting used to it, but on the flatter water it's much more fun than with thrusters, board runs loose. Wind became even stronger, sail trimmed well over maximum, in the strongest gusts it only just worked. Made a lot of jumps. Couple of attempts at table top. Control was usually very good. Only in the strongest gusts and the toughest chop was it took more effort to keep control.