On a mission

Pouring rain and a light breeze from the north west, small chop - some good ingredients for testing the new Sailloft Mission in 7.5 and the Patrik Slalom 110.
This combination is really fast - if I may judge it as a freestyle windsurfer. When jumping on the board I immediately felt comfortable. However, as soon as the first gust hit my sail and the whole gear started to accelerate like crazy, I really had to watch out for not missing the straps and get catapulted. I am used to my freestyle board, so the strap position on the slalom board felt weird. You actually have to position your feet on the rails and put a lot of pressure on the fin. Placing your feet into the straps is like fastening a seat belt when you get ready to go super fast with some crazy speed machine.
Jibing is as easy as tacking with that board and sail. I was positively surprised with how easy to handle a sail in that size is. There must have been a massive step forward in sail design within the last couple of years. I used a 42cm MB-Fin SLG which is perfectly fitting, too and it is providing a lot of lift and stability. It's funny though how it compares with my freestyle fin:
Here's all the gear on the beach - freestyle and slalom:
Some more action pictures... Unfortunately it was a very wet and grey day and there were loads of water drops on the lens. Anybody knows how to deal with water drops on a camera lense?
Hang loose and smiling on the water - a great time was had by all despite the miserable weather. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Lightwind Session at Salzhaff

Image
The forecast for today was on the light side. I packed the 5.6 and headed to Salzhaff. Once at the spot, it didn't look windy enough. The water level was also really low. I could catch some very light gusts and pump myself onto the plane every once in a while. I captured some of the moves on camera. It was good to be out there, in nature, in the fresh air, even seeing some glimpses of the sun.  I felt light and a bit cold. Especially my feet were freezing because the water here has already cooled down quite a bit. I am not so happy with what the moves look like on film but have to remember that this is 5.6 in very marginal conditions and that the water was really shallow. I still felt kind of in tune with everything. The water was crystal clear, the sunlight, filtered through the grey clouds, danced over the hilly landscape to the southwest - like a spotlight. When the sky could be seen through the thick layers of clouds, it shimmered in a light blue color reminiscent of warmer day...
Read more

Kurzer Nordwindsurf nach Feierabend auf dem Darß

Image
Die Vorhersage für den heutigen Donnerstag war schon seit einigen Tagen vielversprechend. Ein starker Nordwind drückte viel Wasser in die Mecklenburger Bucht, so dass im Prinzip alle Spots mit Buhnen durch das Raster fielen. Es war ein grauer Tag mit viel Regen.  Wir versuchten es auf dem Darß und wurden fündig. Die Wellen wurden von einem Wellenbrecher geordnet, blieben oft lange rund und brachen dann schnell und manchmal auch kraftvoll.  Der Ultimate Wave 75 von JP hat mir auch in den heutigen, anspruchsvollen Bedingungen mit viel Strömung sehr gut gefallen.  Gerne würde ich öfters in Starboardtack-Bedingungen, also mit Wind von rechts Surfen. Leider sind solche Stürme wie heute sehr selten an der mecklenburgischen Ostseeküste. Dabei ist es doch ein wahres Geschenk, dass man nach der Arbeit noch eine gute Stunde vor der Dunkelheit ein paar schöne Wellen abreiten kann und so die Kraft der Naturgewalten spürt. Die Energie des Wassers und des Windes überträgt sich auf das ...
Read more

Riding the new JP Australia Freestyle 95 in overpowered conditions

Image
A couple of days ago, I received the 2025 JP Australia Freestyle 95. This board comes in the new S-Tec construction making it lighter and a lot more responsive on the water. I tried the board in marginal conditions first and found that it planed through wind lulls a lot easier than the previous model. I also really like the more custom-look design. There's less colour and the whole board looks a lot more like tailored to performance.  Then, Saturday came and with it a rather average forecast. We headed to Ahrenshoop just to be surprised with strong winds for 4.0 and a very choppy playground. I didn't even bring the waveboard. So here I was overpowered on 4.4 and the new board. With a balmy 4 degrees, I first had some trouble landing my moves but felt more in tune with the elements as the session went on. I put the camera on the beach and recorded some moves, too.  Let's hope for some more good freestyle sessions soon. Be sure to check back here for updates. 
Read more