Holland 2008 english

Blue Sky against sad grey in grey, bright sunshine and 32 degrees celsius verses rainshower and 20 degrees, 28 degrees watertemperature against maybe 16, only in the watercolour the Island of Margarita and the dutch northsee are pretty similar. At our first Trip two years ago to the land of windmills, tulips, wooden shoes and beautiful dunes i prepared Yoli towards those contrasts to in the end sit under blue skies with 30 degrees and no wind at the Brouwersdam, cosuming Icecreames in one of the various Beachcafes. Now it should be attempt number two. The huge Windsurf Event, The Mission at the Surf and Sail Center at Brouwersdam at Zeeland was our destination, followed by a small Spotsearch after the Event.

During our journey through Belgium the temperature went down one degree per each 50 kilometre and the rain rose a couple of litres per square meter. Arriving at the Brouwersdam, the Mission Location a lot of super friendly dutch guys around Event Organizer Herman van den Berg and a pretty impressive Setup for this very special Windsurf Show. Unluckily a ten minute storm in the night managed to destroy most of this setup and in the early morning everything had to be rebuilt before a couple of hours later lots of people would enter the Gates of the Event site. More than 300 Windsurfers inscribed for the Slalom Races, organistaion and assistants did a really good work by rebuilding everything on time and so the show could start with the presentation of all international Windsurfstars like Gollito Estredo, Tonky Frans, Josh Angulo, Andre Paskowski, Karin Jaggi, Yoli de Brendt, Steven van Broekhoven, Femke van der Falk, Dennis Little, Nik van der Linde and a lot more dutch national Stars.

Besides the Slalom Races with a total of more than 330 participants, more than 61 ladies included, a Freestyle Battle of the Giants, the Stars was part of the two Event days. The Red Bull Ramp had been installed for the Battle and to shoot the Stars into higher atmospheres. Even when the wind wasn´t so strong, especially Kevin Mevissen with Airflakas, Airchachoos and a Doubleloop attempt and Tonky Frans with save Frontloops did y great show over the ramp, while Femke van der Falk and Steven van Broekhoven after their hard crashes and Gollito Estredo with a foot injury gave up and prefered to Freestyle close to the Spectators. The Windsurf enthusiasm was really fantastic and above all the young talents couldn´t stop cheering for their Stars. At one of the most important parts of the event, a great Tombola followed by a massive party, those young talents got their time to rest while all other visitors did the opposite. With the big pricegiving ceremony of the Slalom races and another big Tombola the Mission Windsurfing 2008 finished.

For us it was a honor to be part of the Mission Event which really pushes the Windsurfsport, even when it might be national only, but for us the end of the event also meant the start of our spotsearch. We drove one hour south to the city of Domburg. Wind and Waveforecast wasn´t the best, but once we arrived in Domburg the wind picked up and the Windgenerators didn´t let us sleep through the night. Motivated and full of energy we started to explore the zone, first with the bycicle to not miss some secret spots. We had to skip many bays, where nice waves rolled in but the current just was too strong, wind and wavedirection wasn´t what we were searching for or were packed with wavebreakers and Rocks in the water. Some Beaches were for bathing guests only and all kinds of watersports prohibited. But anyway we could see some sails flying over the water in the distance, after not too much time on the bycicle and so we found the spot at the southern entrance of Domburg. With small Waves and Wind for the 5,0 and 4,2 we decided to warm up with our Freestyle Gear, before the Waves and wind picked up and we could finally carve into our first Cutbacks.

With the experience of having sailed small and a bit chaotic waves, with low Temperatures and currents, and that clowds can bring wind and not always are responsable for the disappearance of the wind, we went to our small appartment, this time in Westkapelle. Finally the Northsea Coast showed us her real face. With dark clowdy skies and rainshower Holland welcomed us in the early morning. For somebody with more than 300 sunny days per year this can be a really welcome change. After some hot coffees to warm up after a pretty cool night, we were ready to start again. This time we wanted to try the Spot right in front of Westkapelle.

Yoli went straight on the water, celebrated some Freestyle Moves in front of the huge Containerships, Fisherboats and small tankers, before she had to return to the Beach, the super strong current and dying wind made sailing at this Spot too dangerous. Only a few hundred meters up north we could start our next try and this time we put our feet back on the ground after a couple of hours, even if wind and waves have been less than the day before. Time for a fresh with with fries and also this day could end pretty relaxed. Our last night for this trip, we had to leave for Germany again to get prepared for our next Tarifa Trip, which would be a little warmer for sure. But we had some great moments during this Journey, at the Mission Event and during the following days along the coast and for sure we will be back in the near future to continue exploring this beautiful country.