Martin's Windsurf Blog

Saturday, June 23, 2007

Del Costa Brava PWA,

The night before I had a birthday party, so the morning was very early..
I had a appointment with Dirk Doppenberg along the highway by Zaandam to drop my sails and masts in his car. He and Ben van der Steen drove to Costa. Where I’m flying to Girona Spain..
As I landed on Girona some guys from the PWA picked me up and brought me to the camping.
By the time we arrived at the check in desk and I used my favourite opening line to the tall blond girl behind the desk I really felt I was in Spain. That feeling was gone one second later when see spoke back in Dutch ..
The boys already arrived in the morning and made there first runs out there on the water..
The first night I slept out side on the terrace on the 50 cm high matras off DD and I tell you I slept as a KING….
The next day the wind started in the mid day and picked up and we went for a 8.3/7.3 session.
Slowly everyone came in that nigh and the PWA feeling coming on..

Sign day 12-6-07

Around 11PM till one you had to sign in and around 3 o’clock we where already out on the water.
This was the moment 9.0 North Warp and 125 Falcon Fanatic. My first contest since I made my first step on a Slalom board a few months ago.
Together with Pieter Bijl we where in the 3rd heat.. The count down was almost till zero and I was together with Pieter all almost to the starting line so we had to slow down.. Green was up and we had to pump to get away..
I became 8th so I mised my ticket to the next heat…

First day 13-6-07

Together with Dop and mister smooth boy [Dan Ellis] we arranged our own bungalow.
This morning didn’t started that easy for me. I started to rig my 9.0 and 8.3 . By the time I was finished the wind started to blow a bit and I had to righ up al my 4 sails. During this each rope broke and each extension also broke, so by the time I was finished I was a walking swimming pool…
By the time I had my gear on the beach they finish the elimination from the day before so could straight go in the water. For the next elimination.
The first start was over early for Gonzalo and some one else. So they started the second starting procedure. I found out that I was going the wrong way because they made the starting procedure shorter. By the time I was on the right side the boys where already coming in. When I jibed they passed me when I became on speeed and by the time the green flag went up I was already 15m behind.. I managed to past a few but that was it….

14-6-07

This day started easier because finally everything went well with rigging.. The forecast promised nice conditions for today, only during the day that went down . It became a day waiting on the beach..
As the days went very fast after this days and I have to write it down. Right now I don’t really know any more what happened on which day as didn’t wrote it down those day’s…!!!!
On the last day it became slowly during the day windy and windier.
I finally had the feeling I had the right balance of the gear and I started perfect, I was flying to the first buoy. 20 meters before it I saw someone coming down at me. But he didn’t went down wind but up wind.
So the next moment I fully crashed on him. When I put my head above the water I saw it was not a competitor but a tourist. So that was that it. It was not possible anymore to finish the heat because my footstrap and harness line broke. This made me from 28 till the 33 place.. How nice..

As I’m now looking back to this event I can say I learned alllot and we will see what will happen in the future..

See you out there.

The Lamp………………

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Biografie Martin ten Hoeve

Biografie Martin ten Hoeve
Picture a sunny day in 1988, a seventies windsurfboard, a red old fashioned triangle sail and a little eastern breeze at the beach of Egmond aan Zee, the Netherlands...the ideal ingredients to learn windsurfing!

That’s how it all started for me. Every Summer me and my family spent our holidays at the beach where we have a little caravan. My friends and I started windsurfing and my passion was born! In those years my nickname was Flow: all the other windsurfers couldn’t surf with just a little breeze while I ‘ cause of my age and weight was flowing around the water like a mad man! At a certain moment I realized that I wanted to make more out of windsurfing than just a hobby. So when I turned 16 I bought a motorbike so I could go surfing whenever I wanted in Wijk aan Zee, a kick ass surfspot just 15 km away from home.

In the Winter 2000/2001 I made my first surftrip to South Africa, I stayed there for three months. Because of the fantastic weather conditions; steady wind all the time my surfskills grew very much. Nowadays I make this trip every year, I work as a furniture specialist to finance the trips.

In the Summer of 2003 my first sponsor deal came along with Van Someren Consultancy, an enterprise that’s specialized in groundwater research.
In the same year I started to enter big surfing competitions, my first victory was in 2004: I won the Naish Wave Challenge that was held in my favourite homespot with my dearest friends and family to support me. I was one of the only amateurs that entered the competition, so it was quite an achievement.

During Wintertime I went to South Africa again to improve my skills and to get ready for the competition season in Summer of 2005.
My first Worldcup competition was in May in Pozo (Gran Canaria) in Spain. Because of my good results I was about to get a wildcard to enter the main event. When I finally got to Pozo after a tiring trip the organisation told me that the only way to get a wildcard was by winning the pre rounds. So I entered the pre rounds and I won! I entered the main event and was very impressed by the level the surfers had. Also I was amazed by the fact that I could surf along with those professionals without being a lot less than them.

2006 was a exciting year where I came 25de during the PWA event in Pozo Gran Ganaria. Later that year I became vice champion by beating Peter Volwater in the final off the Dutch Champion ships, due to my overall impression and strong jumping skills that charmed the jury at that time.

In 2007 new sponsor deals came up and I signed a contract by Fanatic and North Sails.
I worked hard to improve my skills but most important I wanted to learn to be a good overall sailor. I got the change to enter the slalom discipline at world cup events.
I performed pretty well and I did like it, although I never felt like this was my cup of tea.

I decided to put full attention and focus on the Wave that made my heart beat faster. I wanted to improve my surfing skills, prepare mentally and put more effort into training.

In 2009 everything came together and fell in the right place. I was invited to the PWA competition in Cape Verde in Western Africa to surf with the world top 32 wave sailors.
Later that year I beat Jason Polakow in a heat on the famous windsurf Island Sylt in Germany. I felt super strong and I achieved the 17th Place.

2010 Really started off well by signing a sponsor deal with Mistral boards and Aeron booms. Together with the sponsors that I could rely on for many years I feel very confident to perform well in competitions and find the well known flow again.

Face your fears life your dreams.

The Lamp