Martin's Windsurf Blog

Wednesday, March 01, 2017

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

The weather maps were spot on for Hantsholm Denmark on thursday. A one way trip of a thousand kilometers is not ideal for one day. The days after thursday were a bit of a chess game with a high and a low pressure system moving up and down right on the edge off the point of Denmark. I knew about the funnel effect between Denmark and Norway that always boosts the wind towards the spot Hanstholm, along with the fact that the weather maps showed increasing winds in the evenings. So we made the decision to take the chance to drive up to denmark on Wednesday.

First check was Hvide Sande were we arrived just before the football match Holland- Spain at 6pm. Luckily I had Hans with me and he managed to find a wifi connection that seemed to be open for everyone down there. We took revenge on Spain. The wind was up but the waves weren’t yet so we drove up to Hanstholm that eve.

The next day were woken up by the wind which was shaking the van. A Small breakfast was enough to start up the first 4.8 session together with a few other dutch friends who arrived that same night. One hour later the wind started to pick up. I rigged down to my 4.5 Salt which was perfect for 30 min. The wind turned one switch futher . Time for a break.. After the break I rigged up my 4.2 and that became the perfect choice for a couple of fantastic hours untill the wind started to die in the afternoon. Friday morning the wind was there but on the soft side.When you looked to the sky you were able to see the fine line between the high and the low pressure system. Clouds were hanging over the east part of hanstholm whilst on the Klitmoller side there were blue skies.

Instead of waiting for the wind to pick up we went for a short power surf at voropur south side where we got eaten by a gnarly shore break. Afterwards we drove back to Hanstholm where the wind was building. Later that eve it was on. Great waves were breaking really nice with wind for a 4.5 Salt.

Saturday was one of the worst forecasted days but once again the wind kicked in in the evening and my 118Liter Goya board stunned me completely with the 2/3m down the line waves. It seems the 118 feels even more alive in hollow sucking waves. Stoked

Sunday morning was tough. My body was starting to say no more but once again in the eve it said yesss. Waves, wind and sunshine were the perfect ingredients for a good last windsurf session. With a nice pitstop in Hamburg where we watched the Dutch football game and checked out that “perfect” elb channel wave it was time to go home.

Monday, May 26, 2014

Slow motion wave action | Black Team.

Slow motion wave action | Black Team from Point-7 on Vimeo.

Saturday, May 17, 2014

TipTop Tips, How to Do a Pushloop

Sunday, May 04, 2014

Perfect Hollow beach break Machines on MV2..

It has been a while that I have been windsurfing, but the last 2 days were a good start. The groundswell that came through on Thursday from the north brought some nice surf conditions along in the eve. The main swell was predicted on Friday so it was quite sure it would be epic for Friday. Only a small detail was that we had to drive one and a half hours to catch up the swell, because at home the break was not able to catch it. I have never been to the new Maasvlakte 2. This land has been self made by the dutch people, we are quit famous about these things. If you think about it its quite strange to drive in the sea theoretically . We were driving along the sand dunes. Sand was blasting like a desert storm over the brand new open landscape coast. Once we arrived on the parking place we saw nice side onshore conditions with proper breaking waves. First session felt straight quite good. Me and my starboard tack are a strange combo, sometimes I sail like a cook on this tack and today it felt quit natural. After an hour or so the tide started to kick in and we made the decision to move to a down wind place. The Maasvlakte gives the oppertunity to find just in 1 km more side shore or offshore conditions. Once arrived to the more down wind place I was stunned about the perfect hollow beach break and my heart started to beat faster.. Perfect barrels where rolling along the shallow beach break which gave me almost the feeling to pick my surf board instead of my windsurf gear. The first round out sailing I saw a surfer in my eye corner tucking into a perfect barrel which was sucking nice beach break sand along. Wow The first wave was straight a beauty and that was one of many more.. Thanks to everyone who took pictures...

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