Day five and six (last day) - Brouwersdam1

Day 5

All hopes for wind were on this day as Wednesday didn’t work out as good as we hoped.. In the morning the wind was really light but the direction was good and the forecast still looked promising. As it wasn’t enough yet for sailing, the first half of the day passed in a relax atmosphere where some more on the land exercises were done for more control in backwind sailing. Besides that we did a group stretching to get ourselves ready for the afternoon.

After lunch the wind started really to pick up everybody got excited and everybody wanted to go on the water fast, so straight after lunch everybody got into their wetsuits and went on the water. The wind was good for planning in the gust and everybody tried to improve their jumps jibes and tacks. The tacks got much better and much faster compared to the beginning of the week and the jumps got more consistent and controlled.

With a little break at 4 p.m. everybody stayed sailing till they were to tiered or had to return the gear. Some of the group who had their own gear scored an amazing evening session in the “pool” of Brouwersdam with flat water and almost nobody inside. Ruben got super close to his first Airjibe and we are sure he will land one very soon! Besides that Elias and Fiu had some good pops and sailed till we had to go eat.

A BBQ ended an amazing day and some new T-shirts made the smiles on all faces even bigger!

Day 6

The last day of the clinic and everybody was broken from the day before. The last video analysis of the week was done and a recap from everything they learned during the whole week with key points to think about next time they go sail alone or later in the day. After this everybody went out to enjoy the sun and relaxed a bit before going for lunch.

After the lunch the wind was still pretty light but enough for light wind sailing, to test everybody’s skills we made a little race which combined everything they learned the past week. The course was around 4 buoys first upwind and then downwind. You could skip buoys if you took risks by going for a helitack or a sail 360°. Christian surprised the most as after winning the first race he suddenly landed a clewfirst helitack. So one more challenge for him in the next race to push him and the others even more! Even in the light wind everybody had a lot of fun and the clinic ended again with another good session.

After saying goodbye to coach Alexis who had to leave for France everybody started packing up for the next day to go home again! To group was amazing this clinic again and we want to thank them all to make it an amazing 6 days with a lot of fun and sailing, hope to see you all soon again!

Cheers NGP

Day four - Brouwersdam1

Well, forecast are not always super right and wind has been a little weaker than expected today but nevertheless, was definitely enough for short plannings in the morning and low wind freestyle in the afternoon.

It’s amazing how young people can learn fast and rig control is improving at the speed of light!! All basic moves have improved…faster tacks, sharper jibes, smoother helitacks… efforts bring their fruits!!

Tomorrow with a bit more luck, we will be able to work on planning jibes and air-jibes. In the meantime, after a good dinner and playing card talking about windsurfing lives, everybody went to bed for nice windsurfing dreams…!!

 

Cheers NGP

Day two & day three - Brouwersdam1

 

Monday: Days are following each other and look similar. The light morning breeze allows us to work a bit more on the low wind freestyle exercices and in the afternoon, some stronger winds are used for planning, jibing and poping the boards. Britt Vand der Eyken took a lot of photos and Dieter and Alex filmed almost the complete day which gives us a lot of material for the following day video analysis.

 

Wind is previewed very light for Tuesday but bodies and hands are getting tired so it might be good to have a short break. Everybody is getting less shy and the atmosphere becomes nicer and nicer !! We love our job !!

Tuesday: Exactly like the forecast said, wind is having a break today and so will our hands and muscles do…

 

A visit to the sea-side of Brouwersdam filled the morning with some french touch of Pétanque followed by an amazing lunch again before meeting for a deep video analysis of the previous days. Explanation were given on a lot of topics and showed on the simulator for a better understanding and visualization of “what to do”.

 

Step by step, riders became able to auto analyze what was good and bad in their moves which will be usefull for the upcoming days and for their future even if we are not behind…

Evening went relaxed and after a good plate of Pastas, everybody went to bed with the hope of a good windy day, like predicted by the forecasts…

 

Cheers NGP

Day one - Brouwersdam 1

 

Here we go, Brouwersdam NGP Youth Freestyle Clinic has started yesterday under a sunny sky in Holland. After a welcome meeting everybody could learn to know eachoter in a relaxed atmosphere.

The Goals are mainly to jibe, duck jibe and air jibe for the Bic Techno racers crew and Air jibe and/or more for the others.

 

 

As the wind was light in the morning, program was done as follow: Explanation of moves on the beach before lunch, then low wind freestyle and see depending on the wind. The program runned perfectly and our two coaches could already help to stand some Helitacks and some other sail ducking tricks. Later, as the wind slowly picked up, the day finished in a few chop hop pops and air jibe attempts.

 

After a nice fish dinner at Zeil and Surfcentrum, we were all hesitating for an evening session but everybody still had to put up their tents so no time for a late night session. After a good set up of the whole thing and sharing a few jokes, everybody went to bed tired and ready to push the next day!!

 

 

Cheers NGP