Just read a very nice blog about HAM (Hawaiian AMerican Speed Challenge). The article on this blog features video/pictures/story about the speed challenge, Pieter Bijl was fastest with a 38.9kn  100m (between breaking waves).

Check out the blog at windsurfmag

Danny Kater had suggested we (Peter de Wit and me) should display our speedset on the beach. The idea was to put both sails up in the air with the boards attached. 2 Days before I went to Peter his home and we made some plan+ tried it in his big backyard, it was challenging since the boards really want to go forward. 40m rope+ 2 boxes+ 4 straps was enough to keep everything at the same spot.

The wind was 0- 12kn and the setup worked good, only a bit scarry to see 2x 100% masts full in the sun from 9:00- 18:00 saturday and sunday. But nothing broke, I did check now and then the temprature of the masts.

The windexperience was a succes, even better organised, many brands present, a lot of talented (pro-) windsurfers present, many things to do (even no time left for the speedclinic). Had some nice discussions about speed, good to see interest in speed growing, also lots of young windsurfers would like to go windsurfing with GPS. I was excited to see the NK Slalom, too bad there was no valid heat.

On photo:
My speedset:  Starboard iSonic Speedspecial W49+ Severne Reflex 6.2 + Enigma 430+ Sonntag GPS_2
Peter de Wit:  Fanatic Falcon Speed+ Neilpryde RS:R Evo2 6.2 + X9 430+ Select Caspar Speed

Now I got a little flew, hope it is gone soon. Just no windsurfing today, tomorrow I hope to feel much better because of the good wind in the morning. Maybe finally a new 1-hour record, or an alpha-500 improvement.

The C3 Slingshot 21cm

Slingshot, Oops I think Boogie did it again!! A brand new out of the box speedfindesign. Now I was reading this Topic and wanted to reply, but thought better make a article.

First Martin van Meurs explained the C3 Slingshot will make speedsurfing easier, more accesible for normal people. That is what we all would like to see. Also it doesn't happen often a 100% speedsurfing part is produced, soo this is good news at least 1 more in the surfbusiness dares to invest into speedsurfing.

From my technical analysis the C3 Slingshot is totally opposite of most other 100% speedfin designs I have seen last years. No, I haven't tried the slingshot.

Conventional speedfin designs:  These fins (compared to slalomfins) offer a bit less control, a small working range, in its sweetspot the conventional speedfin has superlow drag. (I think only 2 speedsurfers in the Netherlands are able to really get into the sweetspot of such designs)
C3 Slingshot design:  More control vs slalomfins, a bigger working range vs slalomfin.... Overall a bit more drag? Given the deviations we have, this drag might be overall as good as conventional slalomfins?!?  Everybody will surf in the sweetspot of the slingshot design, speedsurfing will be easier, speedresults will be more consistent. Less potential, less danger, less risk....

Sizes: 19cm / 21cm / 23cm
Website: http://www.c3-fins.com/C3_windsurfer_fins/C3_windsurfing_fin_home.html

When speaking for myself, I keep on training to get used to conventional speedfin designs.... I like the feeling of having a lot of potential underneath my feet, eventhough not being able (yet) to profit,  just hope someday my effort pays out. But for competition (when I want to do it the easy way), I might go for an idea like the slingshot......

Had 3 nice sessions in row on the Amstelmeer, exhausted now. But very nice training on the homespot, after checking my own sessions lately I concluded haven't really tested in gusty wind. Especially the 6.2 wasn't tested properly.

Saturday 61,05km/h / 32,96kn
All day on iSonic 111 and 7.0, a proven combination for me. Did test the Sonntag SL-P 40cm on some rougher water to my limits. A new 40cm record for me :). Also tried a tectonics talon 40cm for the first time (9.5% thickness), this fin felt a bit more low drag, but on GPS it was a bit slower. Hard to compare though in these gusty conditions.

Sunday 66,23km/h / 35,75kn
The first day on iSonic 86 + Severne Reflex 6.2. Had no rocket fast experience yet before, but now the tuning was matching, fast enough now. Extremely gusty, did release a little bit downhaul and this was no problem (actually faster). A bit less than written on the sail. Stoked to do the fastest 10sec run in 2010 on the first time out with my highwind Amstelmeer surfstuff. To bad the wind was to much on/off for average improvement. Did survive 36kn+?!? gusts pretty good :)

Monday 63,3km/h / 34,18kn
Less wind, even more gusty... Only on the middel of the lake there was enough wind to actually windsurf.  Did spent most of my time parallel to the road, nice to surf next to the cars with 55-65km/h. I was thinking this should be a good way for advertisement. Wonder how effective this advertisement-action is, at least cars stayed right next to me :).  Used iS86+ Reflex 6.2. Stopped quickly since I didn't feel fit at all. Northern winddirection wasn't too bad. Only when sailing next to the cars it was tricky, one moment 20kn wind, a second later windsilence, a second later something like 25kn, nearly impossible to benefit from the windgusts. Again a Personal Record the Alpha-500!!

I will be present at the Windexperience event! Speedclinic by me and Peter. Should be plenty of 2011 equipment to check out, enough action at this fast growing event!!

20% (6 votes) = The newest gear with the newest developments
50% (15 votes) = Gear that works for me not always the newest
30% (9 votes) = Best money/speed value, not needed to have the last 1-2% performance

I am with the majority, gear that works for me not always the newest.

The iSonic 86 highwind slalomboard can go when I received my new Starboard iSonic Speed Special W54, 2 boards in the same windrange is not in my budget. Only used the board 8 times, very good condition. Did a few 38kn (70km/h) peak on this board, can go faster..  Board got enough tailkick for speed, plus footstrap distance is suitable for speed (38cm, everything in the back).

Price = 900,- euro
international transport possible
Contact for more info

A lot of high speedsessions are posted: http://www.gps-speedsurfing.com/?mnu=forum&forum=2&val=23758 . Soo many fast german speedsurfers now in the top-10, congratulations! Hope to see some pictures soon. Vollerwiek... The german speedspot, no speedspot in the Netherlands has proved to be faster, yet...

For me it feels not soo nice to be out of the top-10, I just couldn't benefit from the strong wind last week. Still it was a great experience being in the top-10 for a few weeks!!! But this is a new challenge, lets hope for another windy session :) and try to improve my PB again.  In the gpsteamchallenge I see germany didn't participate yet, too bad, this would have been a good month to score points ;)...

Jacques is doing a great job for speedsurfing with his videos, the current number 1 of the world!!  Dispite the fact we share some history I simply respect the effort of making these videos. This is my top-3 below, out of the 12 available videos. I am a strong believer speedsurfing needs people that do think outside the box, this is a perfect example!!!

3)  The 60 seconds speedrun

60 seconds over 70km/h (38kn), now on video!  I like the way you see the nose of the board hoover over the small chop, just behind the front footstrap till the end of the board is in the water. Speedsurfing fast for such a long time must be great, something else than the 2sec peak speed ;)

2) The Alpha

I think the whole speedsurfing world knows about Jacques his quick alpha-500's. Here's one on video, and you can learn a lot. At this moment I am trying to improve my own alpha speed, still not really high, but there is progress!!  Also Jacques seems to be first in the footstraps before hooking into the harnassline. I am training to do so, have to get used to the extreme momentum is scary when hooking in.

1) Fast 10 seconds run in the Netherlands!!

This is fast for the Netherlands, funny to see little other details in board behaviour compared to La Franqui. If you really pay good attention you can see this is more broad than the upper video.

link: http://www.youtube.com/user/JacquesvanderHout#p/a

Many recordattempts, including myself hoping for an improvement in the "funranking" (let's keep it fun). Only 1 extreme fast run would have been great. But the conditions were crazy, nothing like "normal speedsurfing". Everybody was going slower than the wind at Da Curve & Brace.

When I speak for myself I had to trim a lot of control==> this costs looseness==> resulting in extra drag, this was my conclusion. The gusts near 50kn were mean often a big contrast to the nominal wind (about 35kn). Don't know if there is an actual speedbarrier in sudden increase of drag, for me it felt like yesterday the control needed was the limiting factor. For true records I believe the efficient setup has to be used, survival till one megarun (controlable thanks to increasing windstrenght along the run). Yes you have to be lucky, and worst case scenario you could end up losing dayranking without 1 fast run.

Too bad the wind changed quickly and the tide came up, I was one of the few lucky ones in the Netherlands with 5 runs...

My session: http://www.gps-speedsurfing.com/?mnu=user&val=66712&uid=870

Currently 8th this month and year :)

Today while driving I thought lets do something crazy, walk almost 4km with 7.0 in the mud for a speedsession, would be interesting for sure. I was convinced it would be a mediocre session, and better do something new on such days is my vision. Result is more than I would ever wished for, I did a faster run on my 7.0 than I ever did before with such a big sail. Even my fastest 6.2 10sec run doesn't come close:

5.0____78,43km/h
5.1____72,49km/h
5.5____80,17km/h
5.6____82,28km/h
5.8____73,11km/h
6.2____71,34km/h
6.7____69,32km/h
7.0____75,38km/h

Sorry the speed is not in knots, don't want to calculate it right now.

Funny thing about today is there was no lead in my weightvest, only 4 fins. Soo I bothered to measure my total weight today, plus summer shortarm wetsuit, plus weightvest (including 4 fins), plus some small stuff, plus seatharnass ===> 86kg. I seem to have lost some weight again lastest sessions :(. Time to eat! Good news for me and some other, it is really getting easier to go fast even if your not that heavy. Couldn't believe almost being able to match Jurjen vd Noord his extreme fast 7.0 10sec runs. The big gear does feel a bit draggy, still the numbers on my GPS made me satisfied :).  Now 5x10seconds above 40kn with 7.0 on a bit more constant day!!

Conditions were not perfect, also not bad, rather gusty for the Brace. The spot is changing fast, it has been to long ago when I was speeding here. Might be faster nowadays, at least it was flat considering the winddirection, windstrenght, etc...

Congrats for Robert Seinen, he pushed again a fast run!!! I saw it was fast :), a bit faster than me.

Sometimes I am asked about a good sailrange, for gps-speedsurfing I have had many changes in sailrange which I like to share. One thing really changed mid-2007, I convinced myself to stick with speedsizes and train as much as possible with them.  Learned a lot about surfing underpowered, which wasn't always fun.

Below are the sails I bought and used for those periods:

before GPS_______8.0m2 + 6.5m2
11/2005 - 7/2006__8.3m2 + 7.3m2 + 6.3m2
7/2006 - 7/2007___7.5m2 + 6.9m2 + 6.3m2 + 5.7m2 + 5.1m2
7/2007 - 4/2008___6.5m2 + 5.5m2
4/2008 - 6/2008___6.7m2 + 5.5m2
6/2008 - 10/2008__5.8m2
10/2008 - 5/2009__6.7m2* + 5.8m2
5/2009 - 7/2009___6.7m2 + 5.5m2
7/2009 - 9/2009___6.2m2 + 5.5m2
9/2009 - 10/2009__5.5m2
10/2009 - 4/2010__6.2m2** + 5.5m2
4/2010 - 5/2010___7.0m2* + 6.2m2 + 5.5m2
5/2010 - 6/2010___6.2m2 + 5.5m2
6/2010 - now_____7.0m2 + 6.2m2 + 5.6m2 + 5.1m2

*Could borrow 2 periods a bigger speedsail from Peter de Wit/Kater, to make it possible to train a bit.
** Thanks to Martin van Meurs I could buy one off his 6.2 (everything was sold out), after wrecking my own 6.2...

Conclusions:
- I like a +- 7.0m2 to get good training (in wind below 18kn), I even think a bigger sail (7.8-8.6) gives even more good training opportunities, maybe something for 2011 ;)
- The +- 6.2 is most important for powered up sessions and dutch competition
- The <5.6  is only needed if you aim for records/ or simply like to speedsurf in 35kn or much more (depending on windsurfer's weight)
- 2 sizes sailquiver is possible, but absolutely not fun all the time, I had to choose lightwind or highwind combo. An 1 sailquiver is frustrating (at least if you trying to do your best).

Random list, total 15 speedsurf blogs I know about (including speedsurfingblog.com). Please contact me if you miss any blog

• http://irl-250.blogspot.com/ Alastair Nichol IRL-250. Speedsurfer from Ireland
• http://www.dailybits.be/ Dailybits Weblog. Not 100% speed and dutch language only, but good quality posts and regular updates
• http://blog.dutchfunspeeders.nl/ Dutch Fun Speeders Blog. Blog about a dutch speedteam, regular updates. Dutch language only.
• http://speedsurf.blogspot.com/ Eesti kiirussõit. Speedsurf blog from Estland
• http://martynogier68.blogspot.com/ Martyn Ogier 68.  A blog written by international speeder Martyn in English!
• http://juliskavanderplas.blogspot.com/ Juliska v d Plas. A female speedsurfer blog from the Netherlands, written in dutch language.
• http://www.swe491.com/ swe491.com. Very nice blog from sweden, regular updates, written in swedish
• http://whitelionwindsurfing.blogspot.com/ Whitelion Windsurfing. Blog written by Tim Hemer, lots of good DIY articles and other tips. Definitly worth to check once per week.
• http://www.windsurfblog.nl/ Windsurf Blog NED-413. Windsurf enthusiast Mark van Osch his place
• http://marcob.webs.com/weblog2010.htm Weblog 2010. Marco Bal his weblog, speedsurfer from south Netherlands
• http://xav350.blogspot.com/ XAV 350 Speedsurfer. Blog from a french speedsurfer
• http://saspeeddemons.blogspot.com/  SA Speed Demons. Blog from a gpsteamchallenge team from Australia
• http://speed-sailing.blogspot.com/  Simon Hinkleys Speed Sailing Blog.  Simon Hinkley's speed blog
• http://wad1team.nl/ Wad1team.nl. Blog of dutch gpsteamchallenge team

As a former falcon rider I have put all information together on internet about the new fanatic boards (for all fanatic riders). The fanatic slalomboard range is completly new and ready to rock! I have seen some prototypes from international teamriders Peter Volwater and Peter de Wit, these boards looked like the 2010 but the whole concept is finetuned. I wonder how much the fanatic ray range is evolved, will it be like the falcon 2010 or 2009 idea??
The fanatic speedboard range is also a exciting new development for 2011. The first proto 51cm wide board I saw looks great and will have a hard job to improve older model. So far I saw enough bouyancy and superb upwind angle and good speed. It look likes this new speedboard is ment to be an allround performer.

The 2011 boards
Fanatic Ray 100 LTD 240x61
Fanatic Ray 115 LTD 240x67
Fanatic Ray 130 LTD 235x73
Fanatic Ray 145 LTD 235x81
Fanatic Falcon SL 85 240x58
Fanatic Falcon SL 101 235x63
Fanatic Falcon SL 111 235x69
Fanatic Falcon SL 121 230x75
Fanatic Falcon SL 134 230x82
Fanatic Falcon SL 148 230x85

Tomorrow 15-august-2010 maybe finally the introduction for the 2011 isonics on the starboard site???

Also http://www.severnesails.com/2010/index.html has a even bigger article about the dutch speedteam!!

Wow this is really exciting being together with the dutch starboard/severne speedteam on the frontpage!!! Check it out: http://www.star-board.com/AutumnWinter2011/news_events/read.php?threadid=9395

Latest session on Da Curve: http://www.gps-speedsurfing.com/?mnu=user&val=65518&uid=870 was again a nice one, a new PB on Alpha. This time I forced myself to use the Severne Reflex 6.2 instead of my favorite sail the reflex 7.0... Only way to do soo was to keep the 7.0 onshore, when we arrived with the boat at Da Curve I had little regret by not taking the 7.0 with me.

Started to rig the Severne Reflex 6.2 on my 4.00m enigma mast. Why the 4.00m??? Because some asked me to test a shorter mast, also I was curious how it would work. For the iSonic 86 I have found good fins and tuning, sooo chose to use the iSonic speed special W49 combined with the Sonntag Fins GPS_2 28cm (rake 17 degrees)

The first attempts to get away didn't work, it was nearly impossible to plane. One lucky gust got me on the downwind course and soo I went 2km downwind. It took a long time and lots of energy to get halfway back upwind. I got again a little gust and did again a speedrun, maxspeed something like 35kn. I was thinking at this moment it would be a long day, too hard to get gliding and 4 fins + other spare parts in my crashvest didn't make it easier to get going on 64 liter. I guess we had wind inbetween 12-18kn. Later a few stronger gusts, and  completly outside the range of conditions the gear worked good. Underpowered it was already fast, I would like to know what damage it does powered up :)

Gear impression:
Severne Reflex sails do work with a shorter mast, 6.2 was tested succesfull. I believe for lowwind a shorter mast might be even a bit better, for gusty/stronger conditions I don't know yet. The 6.2 now looked very nice and I guess the sail stretched and settled good.  The feeling with a shorter mast was even lighter, more responsive, a bit harder for active planning. I have this feeling with shorter mast lightweight speedsurfers could benefit (because they always should take a smaller sailsize)

The Starboard W49 + Sonntag Fins GPS_2 28cm worked like a dream. The first run I felt it, there was absolutely less drag than any other fin I tried before, it feels rather like 23cm long from "drag point of view". Eventhough the fin is made from 35kn till high 50kn it didn't mather I was mostly under the ideal boardspeedrange. After the first fast run I was amazed and decided to stick by the W49, this limited the number of runs I could do, but it didn't matter to me. Just wanted to get as much TOW as possible on my USM gear.

I tried 2 times to do a good alpha, think that big enough gear + slalomfin would add a bit more speed.

Some thoughts:
Next time I should try both the 430 versus the 400 in the 6.2 with new downhaul/outhaul/battentuning.  It might be interesting to test 430 in the 7.0, however I don't know why (because is everything I want with 460).
The starboard W49 should be tested with a shorter GPS_2, now I used the same lenght as the one foot off. Don't feel like shorter is needed for higher speed, but maybe it does give a bit more speed for a reason I don't know yet. I have been surprised before......

It was about time to do some blog maintenance, had some nice suggestions by readers and again speedsurfingblog is a bit improved:

1. Most visible, the background changed to a new one. This one was shot by Chris Kluiter (www.wad1team.nl).  The first decent shots with me and my new equipment. 
2. Updated my results in the menu
3. Added  "about speedsurfingblog"  in about speedsurfing menu, to make it easier to find the thinking behind speedsurfingblog.com

 

After having both boards used for more than 5 times each it is time to share my findings. The boards are real slalomboards, even I (as speedsurfer) can seriously feel the difference with gybing compared to speedboards or other boards used before. It actually took a long time to find the board its weak spots, I strong believe there isn't the perfect board for everything. But after testing on different locations/conditions I think to have enough experience for a usefull review.

First findings
The first thing I noticed was the extreme upwind performance, but also high crosswind speed. Not needed to go upwind in strong gusts to keep in control. Also comming from the Fanatic Falcon monoconcave boards it was definitly different, I had to push a bit harder, after a few sessions I learned the trick.

Speedpotential?
I was a bit affraid these slalomboards had limited speedpotential, especially on flat water. But it was totally different, the boards accelerate great on flat water. On choppy water better take a bigger iSonic to get enough lift to fly over it.

From 111 to 86, is there a serious gap??
Is it possible to jump from 68.5cm wide to 56cm wide? I didn't think it was smart. I wanted to have fun below 15kn soo the iS111 was the compromise. Still there was a board needed that would do 65km/h average as fast as possible, this is exactly what the iSonic 86+ sonntag SL-S 32cm is all about. I am happy it works, actually surprised the iS111 did 66km/h peak with me driving it. It is fun trying to push a big board to high speed, it is definitly more fun for "not-perfect-high-wind-speed-days".

2006 iSonic 105
I owned a 2006 iSonic 105, at that time I had some less sailingskills soo actually hard to compare. One thing I am really sure about, the new ones are still very easy to get going. Space for error, great boards to start, gybe etc.

Settings
I use on both boards all the footstraps in the back and masttrack at recommended. For the iSonic 111 the Sonntag Fins SL-S 400 till 430 is favorite, the iSonic 86 I like to sail with the Sonntag Fins SL-S 320 till 330.  One note my biggest sail is 7.0, soo for the iSonic 111 you might find a bigger fin better suited for bigger sails. For select fans I highly recommend the new S10 39cm for the iSonic 111 or the S07 31cm for the iSonic 86. I tested the powerfull select fins and this made me realise for best overall performance the iSonic slalomboards like powerfull fins, yet it is possible to use less powerfull fins (but you need some more fins to suit all conditions).

Conclusion
These starboard iSonic boards have a unique and usefull combination of strenghts and weaknesses. As said before I am a strong believer of strenghts and weaknesses and this is what I am looking for. As long as you remember the weaknesses you can be the fastest man on the water. It simply is hard to beat the iSonic in the sweetspot ;).

Strenghts (compared to other boards):

• Easy and fast gybing, lots of power!!! Wide or narrow turns both is very good to do
• Serious speedpotential, no matter what waterstate.
• Good performance in a wide range of conditions
• Best upwind angle ever, I am not the only one at our homespot that claimed a 50 degree upwind angle on the 2010 iSonic
• Superhigh crosswind speed, the first board that allowed me to keep up with speedchamp Peter de Wit at crosswind in medium wind.