Martin's Windsurf Blog: The Surfers life line,

Monday, May 25, 2009

The Surfers life line,

I started surfing in my younger age after I started with windsurfing .

From the begin till a half year ago I always surfed on a short board, sometimes more and some less, but I always keep doing it.

The last half year I started to do Long boarding after I saw a guy here on my home break smacking it on his long board. I always thought that I would be more radical on my short than on a long board. I guess I was wrong.

For me it was always hard to keep on speed and get the carves finished.
On a long board you get faster speed but it is harder to change that speed into finishing the turns. So you really need to pay attention in how you use you body, the carves and the flow of the wave. You really need to push your self to get the board there were you want.

This feeling helps you really again in your windsurf wave riding!! Pushing it again harder!!

The photo’s are from Bretagne where I was on a small surf trip with friends a view weeks ago…

Photo's made by Hugo 'Boss'

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