Summary of the day: rigging, waiting, rigging, waiting,...

Because the wind angle was not so easy to find a suitable spot and the tide was against me (late afternoon, so 'losing' half a day) the plan was to do a discovery tour around Hompelvoet (OH, ZM, Bdam, De Punt, OH). 

Arrived there early in pourring rain with a very promising wind of 5 (could be 6 as well !!)... knots (not beaufort) :-(  To pass the time, went to check my tyre pressure and checked a few B&B's as well to stay with my family in the future.

When the rain stopped, there was a steady 15kts (probably 18 on open water) so rigged my F89 + 7.8. After a few upwind tracks (what a great combo !) I reached the eastern part of Hompelvoet when the wind suddenly disappeared completely (6-8 kts). Waited 30min but the wind didn't increase above 10-12kts so decided to start my way back... Luckily 89L + 7.8 and 10 kts is just enough to keep me upright and after an hour (wind from the back) I reached the shore.

Pat Erauw just arrived and together with 2 others we went back on the water with bigger boards (F113). But after 30min with harldy no planing, I went back again to rig my 'emergency' gear (F113 + S10 43 + Maui Titan 8.5): Don't like those big combo's but at least I was planing. Wind was very unstable and changed from 12 to 18kts at least 10 times to last only 20 min. Never changed so much gear as today (at least 7 times). Rigged my 8.5 with 4cm less downhaul then recommended for very lightwind early planing (which worked suprisingly well) but with increasing wind it didn't work off course.

Did around 30km's with the 8.5, another 15 with the F113 + 7.8 and  the rest with my favorite combo. 

Wind was too light for descent runs, but speeds are ok for open water in these marginal conditions. Too bad that my Hotrod 33 is arriving a few days too late. Would have been the ideal choice today to fly over the chop even harder.

Another 100+ day :-)