John Skye

One of my favourite sailors on the pwa tour is the british John Skye aka Skyeboy. He is an very good allround sailor but I think he would shine even more if the worldtour would include some starboard tack spots.
Be sure to follow his  blog and like him on facebook. The blog is update pretty frequently. If you havent allready checked out the first part of his 20112 recap you definitely should .
After that some more shots  from Sylt
Video:

Slipsen

Slipsen: probably the worst windsurf spot you can imagine....
Slipshavn aka Slipsen is my  go to windsurfspot. Its only a 10 min drive from my house and you will always meet other windsurfers there. It´s a flatwater spot working in most weasterly winn directions. Its very safe for learning, that all positive. But on the downside it is often not as windy as the weather forecast says and the wind is often very gusty... I somehow love the spot anyway. I hav had many freestyle days here the local surfers are always really nice.. Many happy memories surfing thisshitty spot ;-)
Often you will see a variety of racers, freestylers og beginners and you will be sure to meet some of the +65 seniors..

Getting air on flat water...

Holding on !!

Love this pic!

Henrik

Action !!

A short video of the spot in all its glory ;-)

Blast from the past!

A friend who just discovered my blog sent me a link to an old videoI had forgotten all about.. Nicely edited !!

Onshore wave Searching

I was looking through the photo evidens from friday and was able to put some of it into a little video..

I love the expression on my face riding that last wave, as previously mentioned to conditions were dissapointing.

This video shows some of the difficuty you find when riding waves fronside in onshore conditions.
I actually like it if the wind is just a tad onshore...

 I loved the footage from last years world cup where Philipp Köster really ripped the wave with sick forntside of the lip tricks allthough is was bloody onshore...

The essential thing for riding waves frontside , in onshore conditions, in my opinionis maintainig speed through the buttom turn.
I go by a few simple rules:
1: Dedication: commit to the turn and put the board on the rail

2: Once turning , sligthly adjust the radius of the turn to hit the critical section.

3: Hit the  critical section, this will help you  turn your board back to regain momentum and keeping your speed.

As  you see from the video I struggled  living up to thees rules, but you can always blame the conditions ;-)

Friday windsurf

The wind forecast for friday had been looking epic all week..
And by friday the wind was howling allright. I had the day off and the plan was for Braveheart (aka Klaus) and I to go for some good old windsurf action.
I checked the webcam all morning and despite the strong wind, the waves was not looking great.
When Klaus arrived at my place at 12 am, we reassured each other, that Hvide Sande was the place to go;  despite what the webcam was showing..
For more on the spot see here
On the way to the spot, we could see some flatwater action on the fjord.

Perfect learning conditions

When we arrived at the spot, the sun was shining and the wind was strong, cross onshore staboard tack. normally this would mean great conditions, but due to the new pier (?) conditions were looking kind of strange, with no real impact zone , lots of chop and white water.

The usual crowd but no real waves..

Still a lot of construction going on..

Lars and Per searching for waves..

As usual lots of kiters

The parking lot slowly filling up

I hesitated but rigged the 4,5m2 and my rrd 76 L board (more on that here). The walk through the dunes is quite strenuous, but I arrived at the water and had lots of power in my 4.5 The conditions were dissapointing to say the least, very hard to find waves were you could link more than one cutback together, and as an extra bonus it was very choppy. The new pier doesn´t seem to turn the waves the few extra degrees like the old one did. The old pier would turn the waves a few degrees, giving you a side-shore aproach to the wave allthough it was slightly onshore..

 I did manage to catch a few good ones, but they were far apart.

This worries me sligthly, is the best starboardtack wave spot in Denmark dead? Is the good old Flynder point magic gone? Looks like it for now... I'm quite gutted by that perspective...

A surfer  finding his way to the north side of the new pier

There were a few windswept to be shared..

This guy found a wave - well done !

 

This guy was happy despite the conditions

This guy did some amazing cheese rolls..

I did manged to get a little footage with my go pro.. here some stills, video to follow.

 A wave!!

Again I do look funny buttom turning!

TOYS !

Dont we just all love our toys, I got my garage stuffed with all sorts of sport related toys, bikes, golf equipment and of course  lots of surfgear.. Here is some of my surfrelated stuff:

My motto regarding windsurf equipment for the last years few year has been: "less is more"
I truly believe that the skilled surfer can manage with less gear. Not saying that you eventually end up as a star because you only have 2 sails.
I have a tendency of snapping my boards and I particular remember one summer 3 years ago where I broke 5 boards in a very short span of time.

My Tabou Da Curve 85 l twinser has bene a trusty kompagnon for the last few years, it is a board that really rips and the size makes it perfect for thoose days with waves and a little inconsistent wind. It carries my 85 kilos nicely.. perfect setup with a 5.0 ... love that board
It is quite fast and actually was my only board for a year or so..

The RRD hardcore wave 76 l is the newest board in my quiver:

 As you see from the photo it has already made a trip to my trusted shaper to get back in shape.. Broke it landing a high tabletop
Its a very nice board in bigger waves where you really can put the board to the test.
I used it alot with my 3.9m2 during the winter..
I equipped the board with some very nice K4 fins:

If you dont know their site, you must definitely go there


Regarding sails I have been happily riding simmer for the last few years. I used to ride the simmer icons but last year I tried out the Blacktips..
I took me a little while to get used to thees sails, but  I am very happy with them.

I only have 3 sails, but combined with the 2 boards I am pretty happy with the wind range they offer..

SUP:
Again I cant  praise my Gong Shake 7,4 enough..

Dimensions: 7’4 (225 cm)  with 122 litres of Volume and 32'' (82 cm) wide




Padlle:
I have 2 paddle , my first had a smaller head and my newest gong paddle has a somewhat bigger head
More on that later: