Keep Windsurfing Olympic!

The Windsurfing community is in shock after the decision of the ISAF council (5-may-12) to drop Windsurfing as an Olympic discipline for 2016. The International Sailing Federation played the game of Windsurfing versus Kitesurfing with no other option to choose from. Votes where 17 against 19 with the China/Asian countries absent and Spain who apparantly made an error because of the confusion of the voting system. What a soap!


But it is not to late!
Now there are a few options to keep Windsurfing at the Olympics 2016:

IMHO should Windsurfing and Kitesurfing both be Olympic. However I believe that 2016 is too premature for kitesurfing. We should work together on a exciting format for both boardsports in Sailing and kick out some other expensive, non-attractive, non-accessable sailboating disciplines.

Focus on the same goal, non-fighting, keeping positive is key!

The ISAF annual meeting is in november 2012 with these important dates/meetings:

4 november - Windsurfing and kiteboarding committee
7 november - Events committee
8, 9 en 10 november - Council



What can you do to keep Windsurfing Olympic?
We as windsurfers (and fellow kitesurfers) must let our voice hear!

You can read first replies from Nick Dempsey, Bryony Shaw, Björn Dunkerbeck and Kai Lenny, top!

Most imporant is to SIGN THE ONLINE PETITION, goal is to get 100.000 signatures!

Join the Facebook group!

Change your Facebook Timeline Coverphoto!

Contact your National Windsurfing Class Organisation!

Contact your ISAF Member National Authority!

Contribute to the RS:X class actionplan!

Contact local media, websites, newspapers and tell the story!


Don't let the dreams of a lot of youth windsurfers be crushed!

Very slow but exciting start of the windsurfing season!

Sorry for the lack of updates here on my blog. The shift to Facebook is obvious but I will use my blog more to reflect on the past period and to look forward.

This windsurfing season has a very slow start for me because of several things. First of I've had a very busy period at work (Projectmanager IT) with a  lot of changes to cope with. Secondly my healt/fittness is not good lately. I've had the good news that I can stop medication for my reumatism, but the downside is that because of stopping my immune system has to find a new balance. The outlook however is good because using medication is never good. I now have to build up my fitness slowly to be able to have more and longer windsurfsessions. The best way to do that is of course go Windsurfing! :-)

The exciting news is that I got the National Teamrider status for North/Fanatic/ION. I'm proud and honoured and want to thank Boardguru.nl for this support. Because of this support I was able to get a very nice quiver of the newest 2012 sails and boards. I've had a few sessions with these but not enough to do a review. First impression however is very good and more to follow!

Here are some pics of a very nice windsurfsession end of march with the Falcon 125 and Warp 7.8.

Foto credits: Jessica Janssen

For keeping track on my windsurf sessions I switched from sessionlogs to surf-sessions.com. I like the ease of use, functionality and how two young windsurf enthousiasts are developing it. This looks very promising.

I've been working on the Windsurf TV NL project. We now have a Internet TV channel and a very active Facebook fanpage. The goal is to promote Windsurfing and get it on National Television. Last month we started with a new workgroup with a lot of positive energy and creativity, so watch this project. ;-)

As an editor for Windsurfing.nl and windsurf addict I'm also very active on the forum. It's difficult to bring news/info and contribute to discussions without the appearance of a conflict of interest. I'm still learning how to cope with this but hope that my trackrecord over the last years helps. I'm to motivated not to. :-)

My plans for this windsurfseason are to enjoy windsurfing to the fullest, more TOW, windsurfing with my kids, friends and DFS teammates, keeping positive and most of all having fun!

Winter Windsurfsessions 24-26 dec 2011

In the Christmas weekend 24-26 dec 2011 me and my surfmate Mike (re-entry) stayed, with both our families, at Esonstad in the North of the Netherlands nearby the Lauwersmeer for "Wintersport".

24 dec

Winter Windsurfsession #1 at Hoek van Band.

First started on the Waddenzee side, but this wat soon not deep enough because of falling tide.

After that nice windsurfing on the other side on the Lauwersmeer to get to know the spot. Used the TR-7 6.3 and Falcon 86. Despite the 6 degrees celcius is was not cold because we also had enough sun.

Next days more, we were staying at Esonstad with both our families, a good combination for wintersport! :-)

25 dec

Winter Windsurfsession #2 on the Lauwersmeer. Windsurfed from 10.30-12.15 using the TR-7 7.0 and Falcon 90.

Nice long reaches with this wind direction. It was 8 degrees celcius and a bit warmer than yesterday.

In the afternoon with the kids to Pieterburen to look at the seals daycare. Nice day like this!

26 dec

And Winter Windsurfsession #3 at the Lauwersmeer. With higher temperatures (10 degrees celcius) and a lot more wind (20 knots+).

Very nice windsurfing with the TR-7 6.3 and Falcon 86. Stopped 10 minutes to early to have a good 1 hour result.

Nice to shake hands with some Windsurfers from the North of the Netherlands.

This was windsurfsession #46 for this year. Nice to have that one, equal to my age, hope to keep on doing that for the next years also!

Nice video edited by Mike:

You can also have a look at the long version.

Here's an overview of my session in 2011: http://www.windsurfblog.nl/p/sessions.html

Looking forward to my next windsurfsession in 2012!


Next blogarticle is about looking back on 2011 and forward to 2012. More on that and my plans soon! :-)

Happy 2012!

Thanks for following!

Windsurf projects to promote Windsurfing!

Last months I have been busy with a few Windsurf projects to further promote Windsurfing.

This is one of the follow ups of the plan that I started some time ago with Herman van den Berg under the name "Windsurfen in Nederland". Until now I have focussed on building a peoplenetwork in the Windsurf world, getting the Windsurf news on a higher level (like Windsurfing.nl) and promoting Windsurf events (like MissionXL), now it's time for the next step and reach a broader group of people via TV and Social Media.

Windsurf TV NL
An initiative to get Windsurfing on the National TV! This project started after I met fellow windsurf enthousiast Bart Noldus. He saw possibilities and had contacts to get Windsurfing on TV. To get this going I started a Facebook fanpage which after 3 months is a big success. This FB page has got more than 1300 likes and 500.000 views with a very active community and always good feedback.


I used my contacts to the PWA to get their approval to use their event material (like Aruba Slalom/Freestyle) to broadcast on TV in the Netherlands. Other content is from big events in the Netherlands (like the Mission XL) and how to start windsurfing (like the IkWindsurf initiative). With the international results and an Olympic golden candidate for the Netherlands timing is perfect. So following these riders (like Ben van der Steen and Dorian van Rijsselberghe) is alos part of the program. Another part of the program will focus on giving info on what Windsurfing is and what products to use. This is to start the pilots broadcasts, goal is to have a regular Windsurf program on TV.

We have developed a TV format to explain to sponsors what we can offer and what they get in return. To produce and get this on TV we need a budget. So far we have no concrete leads and budget to realize our plans this year, but we are still positive that we will succeed.

For more info: www.windsurftv.nl

Windsurf Apps
Also the mobile platform is a great way to share the passion for Windsurfing and reach a different (younger) group of people. Linked to the Windsurf TV project I have developed a version 1.1 of the Windsurf TV App which is available for iPhone and Android!

The Windsurf TV NL App (Dutch) includes the following tabs:
1. WS TV NL
- all FB status updates
2. Info
- background/contact Windsurf TV NL initiative
3. WS Videos
- the best Windsurf video's
4. WS Nieuws
- the latest Windsurf news in the World
5. 4UBYU Youtube
- homemade Windsurf video's
6. 4UBYU Vimeo
- homemade Windsurf video's
7. PWA TV
- PWA Worldtour TV event coverage
8. WS Spots A-K
- Windsurf spots with spotinfo and weatherforecast, powered by spotinfo.nl (geo supported)
9. WS Spots L-Z
- Windsurf spots with spotinfo and weatherforecast, powered by spotinfo.nl (geo supported)
10. WS NL Events
- Windsurf events, powered by windsurfing.nl (geo supported)
11. WS NL Forum
- latest forumtopics, powered by windsurfing.nl
12. GP3S Sessies 
- latest GPS Speed sessions, powered by gps-speedsurfing.com (geo supported)


App Store download. 

Android Market download.


Like a lot of things in life these projects need financing to continue. I have invested a lot of my spare time and money in these projects but my resources are running out.

To take this a step further I need your support!

For the Windsurf TV NL project we need a budget from one or more sponsors to get it on TV!

For the App development/hosting you can make a donation, everything helps!

Please contact me if you are interested to sponsor these projects and/or need more info!

Contact: windsurftvnl@gmail.com

Raceboard time!

It looks like I'm going to have some raceboard windsurfing sessions next period. This because of the decreasing temperatures, easterly winddirection and low wind forecast.

Here you can see the 15 days weather forecast for the Netherlands: http://www.knmi.nl/exp/pluim/vijftiendaagse/

Here's a video of one of my early year raceboard sessions, also cold and very lowwind:

This year I have done 43 windsurfing sessions sofar (slalom, speed, raceboard cruising, and with the kids):
http://www.windsurfblog.nl/p/sessions.html

With 7 weeks to go this year I hope to make it 50! :-)



Related articles:

• Soul en Solo Raceboardsessie 25 feb 2011
• Full power raceboardsessie 2 mrt 2011

Dry Test Fanatic Falcon 2012 vs 2011

The new 2012 Fanatic Falcon Slalomboards will be available very soon. I got a change to checkout a new model first shown at the MissionXL event.

This is a first visual Dry Test between the 2012 Falcon 140 and it's predecessor the 2011 Falcon 134. On the water experiences will follow next month. :-)