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Photo report Strand Horst – August 15

Maarten — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 08:13:51 +0000

Sander van Huizen at full speed

Sunday was a great windsurfing day in the Netherlands. The absence of wind started to annoy me a bit so I was really happy with this day. But the lack of wind in the passed weeks gave me some time to get my RS Slalom repaired without missing to much action.

Anyway, Jeffrey (also a Dutch Fun Speeder) made great photos during that day. He was standing in the water while the speedsurfers were passing him at high speeds. That’s is possible at Strand Horst since the water is knee deep. I hope you were also on the water otherwise you missed a lot of action. Check out his shots over here.

This is a post from: Mad Windsurfing. A windsurf blog with tips, news, and how-to's.

How to tune your quad fin wave board

Maarten — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 08:16:07 +0000

Did you ever wonder how you should set up and tune your quad fin board? Starboard presents a short technical video which explains the 5 fin settings on the board. Check it out over here.

Click here to view the embedded video.

This is a post from: Mad Windsurfing. A windsurf blog with tips, news, and how-to's.

MauiSails TR-6 race sail in action

Maarten — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 16:44:20 +0000

Maui Sails Just released a great action packed video about their fastest race sail, the TR-6. The sail designers Barry Spanier, Artur Szpunar and pro windsurfer Peter Volwater talk also about what has changed in this year`s TR-6.

There is some great high-speed gybing in the video. So you can use this video to help visualizing your gybes. Visualizing a move can help you improve your technique when you are back on the water.

Checkout the video below and enjoy!

This is a post from: Mad Windsurfing. A windsurf blog with tips, news, and how-to's.

Miss Reef 2010 finalist are chosen

Maarten — Wed, 26 May 2010 21:34:44 +0000

The Miss Reef Pre Party was held last Sunday. “The Spot” at Zandvoort was the place to be to check out all the Miss Reef Holland contenders. 14 chicas battled for a spot in the upcoming finals. Eventually, only one miss can call her self Miss Reef Holland.

The weather was perfect. The sun was shining. Very pleasant for the ladies since they were wearing very small bikini’s. The vibe at the beach was really nice among the crowd and contenders. Ex-pro windsurfer Seb van den Berg gave comments and introduced all the ladies.

But to get a really clear idea of the vibe you have to check out the pictures at the Mad Windsurfing Facebook page.

This is a post from: Mad Windsurfing. A windsurf blog with tips, news, and how-to's.

Reading for the rainy weekend

Maarten — Sun, 02 May 2010 14:19:23 +0000

Below you will find some interesting links to news facts or to educational, informational articles. Enjoy!

Carbonart has updated their website with all the new wave gear for 2010/2011.

Point 7 also did a big website update. They have a new section in which they put video tutorials online.

Carbon Sugar will teach you how to round buoys.

Sonntag fins is a relatively new brand on the market. That’s why I asked teamrider Erik Loots the following questions.

Nayra Alonso updated her website with some cool pictures from the photo shoots she did the last week.

The World of Windsurfing week has started. This week is focused on making non-windsurfing people enthusiastic for the best sport in the world. So make the most of it and convince other people what a great sport we are doing.

The PWA World Tour has kicked of in Podersdorf, Austria. Check out the first movies they put online with interviews and action shots.

Click here to view the embedded video.

This is a post from: Mad Windsurfing. A windsurf blog with tips, news, and how-to's.

Sonntag fins, a new brand on the market

Maarten — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 14:16:48 +0000

I saw Sonntag Fins putting up their new website and leaving me with some questions and wanting to know more about this relatively new brand on the market. So I mailed teamrider Erik Loots and asked him the following questions.

What is the unique selling point for Sonntag? In what kind of way does Sonntag differentiate itself from the current market with brand like C3 & Select?

Sonntag Fins unique selling point is making a fin specially designed for each customer. All experiences are reported by the team and will be used to find the best solution for everyone. At this moment there are 3 models for sale: SL-S, GPS_2 and SL-P.

The SL-S was for me a mind blowing experience and had never experienced something like it. In low wind it`s possible to lift the board out, while still maintaining control in high wind. Of course there is a slight downside. For fixed courses it can be a bit harder to keep on speed, especially in low winds.

Therefor the SL-P is now designed. The Power design keeps you on course at high speed in low winds. On a free course or with ‘freeriding’, the SL-S has a advantage being low-drag. Ideal for light wind GPS speed up to 35kn. This 35kn is about the start for the GPS_2. From 35kn or higher the GPS_2 feels very good and promising.

For who are the fins designed? Are the fins more focused on the pro’s or is the fun surfer also going to profit form the new designs.

I think recreational windsurfers with freerace gear up to pro’s with fullrace gear will have a good time when using these fins.

When I’m reading on the new website I see that there are three product ranges, focused on:

Slalom
Slalom/Formula
Speed

Can we expect fin designs for the other disciplines in the near future?

For the near future I think we can fill our time with the disciplines above.

A lot of windsurfers only have one fin in their quiver. Can you explain what the added value is to having more than 1 fin? And why it can improve your fun time on the water?

Many different fins is not the best way to perform well. I think it increases the chance you ending up with the wrong choice. I try to find one solution for 90% of the conditions, for example the Sonntag SL-S 340 (soft) underneath the Fanatic Falcon 91. Over the whole wind range this fin works great, every time I use it the experience helps me to go even faster.

I need some time to learn where the sweet spot is (fin pressure versus speed). I also ordered the Sonntag SL-S 320 and this one did increase performance in overpowered conditions, with 5% of the sessions. Or the SL-S 350 did a bit better in 10-14kn wind range.

It`s really a challenge to build the right fins for a customer. High level of accuracy during production is important, but also making the right choices in design. At this moment we test in many different spots to get enough knowledge about what can happen and how to solve problems. All findings will be reported and used for next customers.

Thanks for the interview and good luck in the upcoming season! Check out the new Sonntag Fins website.

Sonntag teamrider Erik Loots

This is a post from: Mad Windsurfing. A windsurf blog with tips, news, and how-to's.

Reading for the rainy weekend

Speedsurfing at La Franqui

Maarten — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 13:43:55 +0000

Here is Jan Wolters showing some nice speedsurfing at La Franqui. I really like that song. It’s called Cake – The Distance. Enjoy!

Update: Erik loots did a nice interview with Jan. Check out his blog.

This is a post from: Mad Windsurfing. A windsurf blog with tips, news, and how-to's.

Incredible high jumps!

Maarten — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 21:45:04 +0000

Some of the best PWA windsurfers went out equipped with the new ShadowBox with only one goal: to jump as high as possible. And so they did. Boujmaa Guillol managed to jump an amazing 62 feet (=18,9 meters). Check out this great action packed video with incredible high jumps.

The ShadowBox is a new GPS unit that attaches to your board so you can analyse your speed, distance covered, heights during jumps, and much more. Check ShadowBoxlive for more info about these GPS devices.

source: PWA

This is a post from: Mad Windsurfing. A windsurf blog with tips, news, and how-to's.

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Reading for the weekend

Maarten — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 17:41:14 +0000

I’m a bit behind with updating my website. So maybe you have seen these two windsurfing magazines already. But nonetheless, The International Windsurfer Magazine and Revolution Mag are both excellent reads for the weekend.

Click the covers to start reading. Have fun!

This is a post from: Mad Windsurfing. A windsurf blog with tips, news, and how-to's.

Team and sponsor changes

Maarten — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 12:36:49 +0000

For professional windsurfers sponsorship deals are an important part of their income. There are always a lot of things happening around that topic in the windsurfing industry.

First of all, Angulo managed to get Gutek Kurczewski (POL-75) on their team. This young talent has a beautiful track record already, being the 2009 Junior Slalom World Champion. And with Josh Angulo as your mentor, nothing can go wrong .

Jesper Orth is joining KA Sails. He was sailing for Severne Sails. KA Sails is maybe not so familiar name but those sails are fast. Two of their riders broke the 50 knots barrier with a regular production sail. Very impressive. Lets see if Jesper can accomplish the same.

Dutch freestyler Davy Scheffers will enforce the Sooruz international windsurf team. Congratulations!

Finian Maynard is switching from Neilpryde to Gaastra. That’s remarkable since he has been part of the Neilpryde team for quite a while now. And Neilpryde sails are still considered as one of the best sail brands in the world. The new Gaastra Vapors are looking great too, though. Check out this sneak peek.

This is a post from: Mad Windsurfing. A windsurf blog with tips, news, and how-to's.