Jonas Handekyn windsurfing blog

Update from SA. p5

2012-02-19T17:38:00.000+01:00

Hi,

after a whole week of forecasts that looked good for the next day and than suddenly changed into almost nothing on friday it was finally windy. We drove to sunset but it was blown flat, so we went to check out Bigbay where our little nightmare started... Our car broke down and we were stuck in Bigbay where there was a kite event going on so we couldn't sail. So after waiting a whole week for that one good day we were stuck in Bigbay forced to watch some kiter doing kiteloops.

The day's before that we did sail with 4.7 on Sunset but it was very light and very gusty and actually just shit. So there we were waiting for the car to get fixed in Bigbay ( the alternator belt was broken ) . It took 6 hours and 3 driver from the garage to Bigbay to get it driving again ( for a 5 min actual repair ) ...

We rushed to sunset and sailed an hour untill dark with 4.2 and small waves. we already heard Melkbos wasn't windy enough anymore so Sunset was the only option left at that time. Yesterday ( saturday) we drove to Witsand were we luckely scored an good session, because last 2 weeks were actually not good. The last good session I can remember was on cape point... So again no footage cause when it's finally windy everybody wants to be out on the water.

I took a quick shot of Wout before my session. Just to give you guy's and impression of what was happening :) Too bad we don't have more footage.

Tomorrow I'm sadly leaving back to the cold Belgium...

Update from SA. p4

2012-02-09T18:16:00.000+01:00

Hi all,

The last day of january the wind and waves finally came back. Had a really shitty session on sunset first with 4.2 after that went to Bigbay and had a much better session on 4.7 , waves were way cleaner and punchier there. Since than we had some ok sessions on Sunset and Bigbay. Most of the time it was actually way to busy ( certainly on Bigbay ) but I had some fun. Yesterday was nice at sunset with 4.2 again and almost no crowd which was a very good thing to finally be able to take a some waves without having to 'fight' for it ! I don't have any pictures because we have been filming and that still has to be edited.

Last saturday Wout and I decided to go to Cape point last minute which was the best call ever, mast high sets and strong wind for 3.7 , my best session in SA untill now !!! It's a shame nobody was there to capture the action... Wout did one of his biggest stalled forwards ever, too bad we have no footage.

After that the wind was gone again, had a little session at sunset yesterday on 4.7 but it wasn't really good because the tide was too high. It's not been a very good season but not the worst too, we had a lot of swells but the wind was most of the time not really strong and really unstable...

I found this picture of me online on facebook. Backloop at Bigbay.

I took a few pictures to show the conditions on cape point really fast before I went out !

The view from our appartment at sunset

and in the morning !

SA. p3: Pic's from evening session at Sunset !

2012-01-26T12:00:00.000+01:00

Hi all,

At the end of last week I overstretched my foot a little ( just a little , nothing bad ) , so for me it wasn't a bad thing that we had a few layday's so I could let me foot rest a little !

Meanwhile Wout arrived here too and that didn't go unnoticed... Last 3 day's there were absolutely no waves anymore which isn't that good, but today something is rolling in again and looks like another SW-swell is coming on sunday and growing for as far as the forecast goes !

So we haven't been windsurfing that much last week , but a little rest wasn't a bad thing for my foot. Yesterday we went to century city and had some fun there like a 'normal' tourist. Right now we're waiting for the wind to kick in and most likely going to do a jump-session at Melkbos.

Some pictures from an evening session at sunset a few day's ago ( 23/01) catching the last bit of remaining swell...

Pieter , aerial.

Wout forward-style.

Little aerial in the evening light !

Update from SA. p2

2012-01-19T20:02:00.000+01:00

Hi everyone,

Can't update my blog on a regular basis because the internet here is really bad and we don't have any in the apartment, but I will try to do it more often !

Last week we windsurfed almost every day :) Mostly 4.2 or 3.7 on Bigbay with 1.5 / 2 m waves ( sometimes bigger sometimes a little smaller ) and Sunset earlier with 4.7 or sometimes 4.2 and +/- the same swell height.

Had a lightwind 4.7 session with some beautiful waves on Ijzerfontein also !

Yesterday there was no wind so we went so surfing to llanduno bay, afterwards we got a nice drink & meal in Camps bay!

When we were back in table view we had another surfing session in Derdesteen which was quite epic ( lot's of current though )

Today we thought it was going to be a layday but suddenly the wind picked up and we got a nice session at Sunset with 4.7 in the evening ( in shorts ! ).

To summarize : everything is going great and I've been in the water every day !!! + It's been really really HOT out here, I've heard it's one of the longest warm periods in the last 5 years...

Here are some pic's from Sunset 10/01 and Bigbay 17/01 ( Pic's are from the 2 sh*ttiest session of the week actually )

Sunset:

Cape Town op de achtergrond

Bigbay:

Taka on little foamy

Lightwind in the evening...

Crowded...

Update from SA. p1

2012-01-08T10:49:00.000+01:00

Hi all ,

I've been in Cape Town since 4 january now and had some nice sessions already !

When I arrived we ( Nick , Jesse and me ) drove straightaway to Elandsbaai, there was a good swell and it was windy enough over there. I sailed with 4.7 and that was ok. Unfortunately the waves were getting smaller and they were only breaking close to the kelp and close to the ( quite aggressive yelling 'get the f*ck out here ') surfers. I was still tired from the flight and never got yelled at so many times in one day, so for me it wasn't really a good session...

The next day ( 5/01) we got up early and drove to sunset , when we arrived there was some wind but by the time we were on the water it had dropped completely. We decided to go surfing in Bigbay. After the surfsession we drove to Ijzerfontein. The waves were breaking really good there but the wind was too light. Jesse knew a 'secret spot' where waves would be a little smaller but with more wind. The wave was closeout and the wind had its ups & downs , but I had a fun session with 4.7 again.

On the 6th there was no good wind or waves and we decided to relax and prepare ourselves for the next day.

On the 7th of january we went for an early morning session in Sunset with 4.2 and in the afternoon we scored a good session in Bigbay with 3.7.

Bottomturn with 4.7 on 'the secret spot'

the view from our apartment :)

Goiter in Bigbay ! all the next shots are from 07/01 in Bigbay too !

Happy 2012 !

2012-01-01T10:53:00.002+01:00

Hi Everyone,

First things first : I wish everyone a good 2012 and let it be a beautiful year with lot's of good conditions !

For me 2012 starts with some good news and some old pic's.

First the good news ! For 2012 I've been promoted to the hot sails maui International team !!!

http://blog.hotsailsmaui.com/2011/12/jonas-promoted-to-hot-sails-maui.html

I'm really stoked about this promotion and I would like to thank Hotsails maui to give me this opportunity and support to help me grow even more in this wonderful sport.

I would also like to thank all my other sponsors for supporting me in 2011 and keep on doing this in 2012 !

I will sail with the new hotsails super lightweight Firelight in 2012 !

And to end this post I would like to share some older pictures with you from 13 september in Sangatte. Pictures taken by jacphoto. It was lowtide when the pcitures were taken , wind was good for 3.7 and waves were pretty small but steep.

looks like I'm going to crash , but I'm sticking it ;)

Typical North Sea conditions !

2011-12-29T20:25:00.002+01:00

Hi,

Today was another windy ( sailed with 3.7 ) and ( for the time a the year ) warm day !
Conditions were super messy and the was side-on, a classic north-sea mess... I have to admit I wasn't quite on fire too. I felt kind off tired and it just didn't really work out. Although I think the conditions take a part in that too :) haha. Still I'm not complaining it's almost january and it's still 8°C . I was actually having too warm in my Psycho RG8 5/4 !

Maybe my last session in Belgium before I leave to Cape Town, maybe not ... We'll see.

Anyway, thanks to my mother for making some pictures:

Edited this picture a little. Check out the wave 'exploding' under me !

Here's the original one...

and the full sequence.

Up in the sky

another backloop

Bexy doing a weird Puschloop.

Christmas session !

2011-12-26T19:47:00.003+01:00

Hi all,

Had an ok session in Sangatte on Christmas. The conditions weren't really good : the waves were super messy and breaking everywhere and not powerful and the wind was very gusty. The darker it got the better the waves and the wind were getting...

Hopefully I'll get another session this week before leaving to Cape Town , South Africa for 6 weeks ! Defiantly keep checking the blog for more and action and updates live from Cape Town...

Some action shots ( some of them are blurred because it was getting to dark ... ) :

thanks to Pieter from swell for the edit !

check the difference with the original one !

riding clew first

sliding through a taka on something you can barely call a wave :)

wanted to push this one into a taka but crashed :)

Really small wave...

Oh yeah, if you want to have a good laugh , check this out , the englisch translation isn't totally correct but it's still funny ! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALv4rnLIAyE&feature=player_embedded

Thumbs up who had the idea for this campaign ! I just realized that this is recorder on a 2 minutes walking distance from where I'm right now in Ghent ...

Pic's from last session.

2011-12-20T16:17:00.000+01:00

Hi all,

My last session was on 5 december. I went out together with Fabric a little after noon. 3.7 with good power. during the session the wind dropped more and more but was were getting progressively better !

By the time it was high tide the wind had dropped quite a lot and everyone accept me went back home ( we were only out with 4 incl. myself ) Once in a while i still had enough wind and for Belgium the waves were getting very good ! So I kept sailing almost until sunset !

Here are some pictures ( special thanks to the photographer ):

on the bottom you can find some edited versions of some pic's, share you opinion and let me know which ones you like better !

New video !

2011-12-18T12:34:00.001+01:00

This is a video from 10 october 2011. Thought I would get more footage to make a bigger autumn video, but it didn't happen... Don't have much time at the moment so I didn't put much editing work in it.
Thanks to my parents , Nick DW and Jonas Roosens for filming !

coming soon: report & pic's from my last session ( last friday ) !

Busy week ...

2011-12-12T11:22:00.001+01:00

Last week was really busy... I had to do some exams, had to arrange some things for my trip to South Africa, received some very bad personal news and it was windy ( and quite cold ) all week. So I'm sorry I had no time to update the blog but I had a lot off other stuff going on.
Most of the session were really gusty , certainly wednesday's session in Heist was supergusty !
Monday I had my 2 best sessions , one in the morning in Heist and one in the afternoon in Duinbergen.

Lot's off bad weather and not much people available to take pic's so not much action action but here's something:

A backloop seen from someone else's go pro.

Nice waves Friday...

The forecast for next week looks really windy but really cold too...

Today's ( not so good ) session

2011-12-03T17:47:00.001+01:00

Hi,

Today wasn't really that good , I woke up really early and went to check the beach right away, wind was offshore but hard, I decided to wait untill it would turn sideshore and it would be a lot more consistent and better. Wrong choice... The wind dropped and stayed offshore ! At 11 it suddenly turned and it looked quite good but by the time we rigged the wind had dropped again. 4.2 and 68 l sometimes underpowered, sometimes ok. Messy waves and side-on ... Not the best session, Let's hope better session are coming up for the next day's !

some shots:

going for the pocket

backside

crash !

going for taka

good session in Wissant

2011-12-02T10:59:00.001+01:00

Hi all,

Had a great waveriding session yesterday in Wissant, Good waves, but the wind was very very very gusty ! Still had some good rides and a lot off fun ! Out on 68l and 4.2 fire . And temperatures were OK too :) No footage from yesterday...

forecast for this weekend and next week looks VERY promising so keep an eye on my blog for more news and action !

No official national championship this year...

2011-11-28T12:50:00.001+01:00

Hi Everyone,

It's a little bit sad to say that we had no opportunity to do an official national championship this year. Last weekend was the last weekend of the 2 month waiting period and everything actually looked good. Finally we had a good forecast, but it turned out a little different. On saturday the wind was just a tad offshore and as that doesn't work at all on the Belgian coast... So no contest or even a session on saturday. Some of the riders ( including myself ) had a great night at O'neill rider intiatives in Ghent, but we had to be back on the beach at 8am sunday...
When we arrived the wind was still offshore and not suitable for competition, although there were some nice waves !
The weather was very unstable, and the wind very gusty ! I was sailing 3.7 while others were out on a 5.0 ...
So they decided to do a supersession instead of the normal competition which was a very good plan because the conditions were totally not suited to do a competition.

Fabrice Devos took the best jump with a Pushloop and I took the best waveride with a taka.

Well in the end I was happy to be out on the water again after such a long time and it was nice seeing everybody back again ! I think all of us had a good time and that the conditions didn't cooperate , that's something no one can do anything about. I'm also very happy winning the best waveride in the supersession. Thanks to Stijn and Twins club for the organization and the great weekend. Let's hope we do have good conditions next year !!

Oh yeah, condition for this week look quite promising so keep your eyes on the blog for more action !

For the dutch speaking people there also is a nice report on swell.be , click here to read it

Tripping because there's no wind !

2011-11-13T15:20:00.001+01:00

It's been ages since we had some decent wind and waves here in Belgium...
So I'm tripping because there's no wind here. In both meanings of the word tripping !

1: I'm going crazy !!
2: I'm went on a trip to a windier place :)

We ( Nick and me ) went to France ( Siouville / Vauville ) a week ago. Didn't have the time or the possibility to post any message about that yet, so here it is !

We had a lot less wind than expected, but better waves than expected . Some good and excellent surf conditions, some lightwind waveriding and one good session with logo-high waves and 4.7 powered up ! Nice weather , quite warm ( still riding in my 3'2 suit ) and a good vibe. We ran into some friends there , so that was nice too !

For the dutch speaking people there is a nice report on this link made by Nick DW.

some pic's ( Thanks to Beckxy and Huig ! ) :

very very lightwind on 4.7 and 76 l , but some nice sets rolling in !

following pic's are from the more powered up session on 4.7 !

the good life !

enjoying the surf in Siouville

checking out the bay

drying the wetsuits :)

Leaving ...

2011-11-01T21:37:00.001+01:00

Hi ,

Right now everything is packed and I'm leaving to Siouville with Nick. Forecast looks good , let's hope we score some good conditions ... I'll try to keep you up to date :)

Last minute trips rock !!

J

Some Peru shots, part 4

2011-10-26T12:25:00.003+02:00

Some watershots from Lobitos, Peru !

Firelight lighting up !

2011-10-23T11:43:00.001+02:00

Last tuesday had another session on the firelight 4.7 .
Firelight lighting the place up, not the best conditions. Very gusty, kinda cold and really messy waves !

Video: BREDENE 10_10_2011

2011-10-17T20:41:00.003+02:00

BREDENE 10_10_2011

Some video images thanks to fellow surfer, namesake and friend Jonas Roosens. Make sure to check the whole movie, he saved the best for last ;) ! Oh yeah , he takes some kick ass pictures too. Check out his website: http://www.roosens-imaging.be/

Autumn weather rocks !

2011-10-15T12:44:00.000+02:00

Hi Everybody,

I've been very busy lately ! Had so many good and very long sessions on 3.7 and 4.2 mostly ...
Last monday and tuesday were 2 very nice day's on 3.7 . I sailed almost 14 hours on those 2 days only :)
The forecast for this week is showing some more 3.7 and 4.2 sessions coming up ! It's so windy here lately and still warm too , my 3/2 RG8 wetsuit is still giving me plenty of warmth .

Some pictures from monday evening :

Some pic's from tuesday :

New stuff !

2011-10-04T10:38:00.001+02:00

Hi,

It's been summertime over here for quite a while , sunny , hot and no wind ...
Meanwhile Some new stuff arrived !

The hotsails firelight arrived ! The sails feels VERY VERY light , it's unbelievable how light it is ! When I first picked the box with the sail in it up I actually thought it was just an empty box...
Waiting for some wind to test it , maybe this afternoon, let's hope !

I also got my wetsuit for this winter. I'm prepared for very cold conditions this year ! A Psycho RG8 5.5 / 4 with hood ...

These RG8 wetsuits aren't just some of the best suits ever made they are made from recycled materials. As we enjoy nature as much as possible doing our favorite sport, we have to care for it too !

And last but not least the forecast for this week looks very good :

Some Peru shots , part 3

2011-09-25T12:30:00.000+02:00

More Peru pictures ! Thanks to Lion Production !

4 days around Cap Gris-Nez

2011-09-17T20:48:00.002+02:00

Hi,

I've been on a little roadtrip to some spots around Cap Gris-Nez last weekend.
Last sunday I had a session in Wissant on 4.7 , the conditions were ok but it was SOoooo crazy crowded ! I've think I never saw so many windsurfers and kiters together in my whole life !
On Monday the wind was really really hard, waaayyy overpowered on 3.7 , I felt like I just wasn't in control anymore sometimes but kept on sailing until I was a little late on a close-out and the boom hit my eye. I decided to leave the water before I was going to hurt myself even more or get break my gear.
On tuesday I had a nice session in Sangatte, 3.7 all the way from high till low tide !
My girlfriend took some pictures , It was her first time but she did very good :) Thanks !

Sunday in wissant on 4.7:

Tuesday in Sangatte:

Video compilation: 7 september in Bredene.

2011-09-09T17:00:00.002+02:00

Hi,

A little video compilation, It's not long, it's not super quality, it's a bit shaky sometimes. But I guess it's better than nothing. Footage from 3 quarters on a gusty/ rainy session in Bredene on 7th of september, Enjoy !

make sure to check the previous post with a lot off good pic's from the same session !

3.7 sessions !!

2011-09-08T12:23:00.002+02:00

Hi,

We had an amazing week over here for now, I've been sailing 3.7 almost every day now.
The day before yesterday the wind was really offshore which makes it always very very gusty over here but I had some fun waves on my fire 3.7 and RRD hardcore wave quad.
Yesterday I had 2 sessions: a morning session on 3.7 ( switched to 4.2 after an hour and a half ) , good for jumping not so good for wave riding and an evening session also on 3.7 with some strange crappy waves in the beginning but some very nice waves at the end !! I'll let the pictures do the talking now...

Nice, high backloop ( morning session )

nice aerial with a little tweak. ( evening session )

slashing into a nice taka ( evening session )

throwing some spray ( evening session )

Backloop from an other angle ( morning session )

flying ( evening session )

Thanks to my mom and dad for taking the shots !

If you want to see all shots: http://www.swell.be/sessie/37-session-ii.html

good, long session on 3.7 !

2011-09-06T13:32:00.002+02:00

A quick update :

Had a great day yesterday, had a good long session ! Although at the high tide the wind was really really gusty ... Tried and landed my first one handed backloops, Had one really good one ! Stoked about that. Leaving for another session right now !

My mom came over for a half hour and took some shots , Thanks mom !

I Liked this taka a lot, also it's not on an end section so I can go straight away into another cutback or something else...

that was the turn after the taka.

Quite big backloop, too bad you can't really see how high I'm going, guess my mom didn't expect me to fly this high :)

Some Peru shots, Part 2

2011-09-05T10:07:00.000+02:00

Hi ,

As promised some more Peru shots, meanwhile the forecast for my homepsot in Belgium looks SICK for the next 3-4 maybe even 5-6 day's , so keep an eye on the blog !

All pictures by Matty Schweitzer , Thanks !

Oh yeah , if you haven't seen it yet, don't forget to check the Peru video:

Sequence or animated GIF ?

2011-09-03T11:03:00.001+02:00

Which one do you guy's prefer , the sequence photo or the animated GIF ?

You can vote on the bottom of this post !

( click on the image to see it in actual size )

customer surveys

Video: IFCA wave world championships @ Peru !

2011-08-31T15:42:00.001+02:00

Hi All,

Check it out:

Nice taka sequence ( click on it to see bigger image ):

Photo's taken by Matty Schweitzer during the competition:

First good session back on my homespot !

2011-08-29T12:37:00.001+02:00

Hi everybody,

When I went to check the wind yesterday it didn't look good at all. So I went back home after a while thinking it wasn't going to get good anymore... Well I have to say I was wrong, but for once it was a really good thing to be wrong. I was back home for like 10 minutes when I got a message it was windy ! I went straightaway to the beach rigged 4.7 and took the big board ( 76l ). Sailed for 10 minutes, came back rigged 4.2 and took me small board ( 68l ). I had some good fun out there and sailed until the sun went under.

Stay tuned for some more shots from Peru !

Some pictures :

getting the smaller gear out :)

landed this nice tweaked aerial in the wave !

fast taka

nice backie

when I was sliding backwards on this one I suddenly saw somebody who crashed right where I was heading so I had to abort this one :)

Oops !

You can find some more pic's on : http://www.swell.be/sessie/back-home-in-bredene.html

Thanks to my dad for the pictures !

Some Peru shots, part 1

2011-08-27T20:51:00.000+02:00

Hi,

After my first 2 sessions back in Belgium ( both on 4.7 and almost no waves ) I have some shots from Peru for you guys ! They aren't the best shots, those are going to stay offline for another while but I hope you enjoy them...

All shots by Gladys Alvarado Jourde .

Thanks Gladys !

floaters + vid

2011-08-16T21:59:00.000+02:00

FLOATERS:

I think a floater is a really nice thing to do. But it's also a super functional move, it allows you to pass a section with speed that you might not be able to pass by staying before the wave. You can even do them on the whitewater if you need to pass a section that's already closed, it's not as nice as on a breaking section but mostly it's the fastest way to get over that section... I really like to push my board as far as I can, the hard thing about that is making it back into the wave. It's very surfing inspired and if I'm also trying to twist the 'tweak' the board a little sometimes and tail-drop back into the wave, which is really nice ! The 2 floater pic's on top are both me surfing and windsurfing @ Lobitos.

check out this little video I made: Floaters @ Peru

check out this sequence : Floater an a bumpy section, tweaking the board and making the next section

Photo credits: Matty Schweitzer & Gladys Alvarado Jourde. Thanks !

Video: unedited wave @ lobitos

2011-08-13T20:23:00.002+02:00

just a quick unedited wave @ Lobitos that I uploaded.

Stay tuned for more !!!

Back home

2011-08-13T12:14:00.002+02:00

Hi,

I'm back home after a very good last day of action @ Pacasmayo.
We went surfing and jaime arranged a jetski and brought us back to the point every time we took a wave, cause when you take a wave in pacasmayo, the paddle-back is verryyy long :)
After that I wnet windsurfing on my 4.7 which was very light but with these perfect waves it was totally worth it ! Had lot's off fun.

If any of the Belgian readers are interested in going to Peru or if you are planning any other surf/windsurf vacation contact High Tech Travel , They are specialized in these trips and find out exactly how many gear you can take and they search the cheapest way to get there for you , instead of spending hours searching for the best flight yourself. Thanks for helping me High tech !

I'm quite tired right now and I'm going to post some more pic's very soon !!

Final competition report .

2011-08-09T21:35:00.001+02:00

Hi,

The internet was out here for a few day's , so I couldn't update the Blog.
In the double elimination I worked myself up to the top five where I lost my heat against Justin Denel, who won in the Junior category. So I became 5th in the youth category. I don't want to be complaining but I did disagree with the judges on a few points and lot's off people told me I should have passed that heat and that they made a mistake. But I guess I can live with a fifth place on a world championship.

The day after that the Schweitzer brothers organised a kids surfing/SUP/ windsurf clinic. They had a BIG bag full off clothes and stuff to give away to the poor local kids, so all the kids who came got rewarded. Because lot's off kids came they could use some help and I grabbed a board and got in the water with some kids. It's really great to do this. It's very rewarding to see these kids smiling after they just got caught the first waves of their lives. Certainly if you know there are prefect waves breaking there almost every day. A sport like surfing might help them and keep them busy so they don't do bad things !

In the afternoon they decided to run the Open expression session in, the waves were really good but the wind was really light. I got through my first heat straight into the superfinal with the 6 best riders of the expression session. It was still very light and I was out on 4.7 which is my biggest sail, still I managed to become second after Zane Schweitzer who was out on a 5.4. I'm very happy with that result , certainly because this was an Open competition, with more and better riders.

I'm in Pacasmayo right since yesterday and I already had 2 epic surfsessions, yestderday evening and this morning. Yesterday I went out on 4.7 to and took 2 waves but I decided to sail back in then because the wind had become light to waterstart or sail upwind properly.

I have a better internet connection over here and I will try to upload some images as soon as I can ! ;)

Competition report.

2011-08-05T17:36:00.001+02:00

Hi all,

As is said I was against Zane Schweitzer in my first heat. I lost but the judges said it was very very close. I only lost by a half point I heard and some judges and people on the beach thought I should have won. But anyway I'm glad I sailed a quite good heat. The only thing that bothered me was the low tide, I never windsurfed here before on low tide and the wave is completely different than on high tide. It's was really hollow and I digged the nose of my board a few times because I'm not used to those kind of waves. Maybe I should have taken my smaller board for those waves....

The contest had a 1 hour break from 3 to 4, I didn't mind because I could go sailing than but it's was a really strange idea to take a break because it was the best moment of the whole day ! I sailed on 4.2 and my small board and it was epic ! I even landed a very high backloop, one off my first in Lobitos I think, because normally it's too light and gusty for good jumping.

Anyway yesterday my heat in the double elimination against Arthur Job got cancelled again at the last possible moment. I went out anyway and scored a few nice rides, but the judges made the right call there because it was really lightwind. So today I'm in the first heat of the day again.

It looks like it's going to be windy again today and the waves are already rolling in...

Let's hope I do good in the contest today :)

Competition day 1 , part 1

2011-08-03T17:46:00.001+02:00

Hi,

The heats have just been announced , I'm in heat 6 against Zane Schweitzer. It's probably the hardest draw I could have, but I'm just going to do my thing on the water and we'll see what happens. The sky is clearing and the wind is picking up ? the competition will probably start this afternoon. The waves aren't big , but surely enough to compete.

Yesterday I had a quite good sail after the skippers meeting on 4.7. The waves weren't big , but there were some good shoulder high sets rolling in. The wind was a little stronger than normal and somtimes I was even overpowered on my 4.7. I don't know why they actually didn't start the competition yet yesterday, but let's hope it's windy enough today.

Ciao

IFCA wave worlds junior & youth

2011-08-02T18:23:00.000+02:00

Hi all,

Today is the first day off competition, at 12 we have the skippers meeting. Conditions don't look very good but yesterday it didn't look good either but in the end I had a lot of fun. The waves weren't big but sometimes there were some nice sets. Although it was very crowded I got a lot off waves.

I know everyone wants to see pictures but the internet is very slow over here and it doesn't work to upload big pictures for now.

The atmosphere around here is very good: Tranquillo brother ... is the most used expression over here :)

I'll keep you guy's up to date !

Baterias

2011-08-01T21:17:00.001+02:00

Hi all,

Baterias is THE best spot I ever sailed. We went there by mototaxi and sailed back downwind. I had such a good session there on 4.7 and the 76 quad yesterday, I had a few of my best hits ever. The wave is not super long but it's really steep and the wind is more sideshore than Lobitos. I think that in Lobitos the wind is mostly just a little bit too offshore. I think for me the conditions at Baterias yesterday is practically as good as it gets, the wave has a few different sections and it's so steep at low tide. You can get 4 or 5 turns on one wave, which is perfect for me because if you do much more you get tired so fast. Sometimes if you're lucky and you have a good one you can even do 7-8 turns.

Today it's windy again but it's really flat. Maybe the waves get bigger in the afternoon, Let's hope !

Long and exhausting waves

2011-07-31T15:26:00.000+02:00

Hi,

After the early surfsession yesterday the wind really picked up this time and the waves were sooooo good. I rigged 4.7 and was the first to go out windsurfing, there still were a lot of surfers who weren't really liking me taking so much waves...

I actually never windsurfed in such good sometimes very long waves. It's really different to ride waves is these kind of conditions than I'm used to, but I really like these conditions I just have to get used to them. Also it's really exhausting to windsurf in these kind of conditions, but that's also because the wind is very gusty. I stayed on the water until the wind died in the evening. Matt took some pictures and video and he's got a few nice shots off me too, so that's really nice too !

After the session we were all very exhausted and hungry so we went searching for something to eat in town immediately. We ended up eating BBQ at some local 'party' which was a really nice experience.

Today it's supposed to be really windy and the waves are still the same as yesterday so another good long session coming up ...

Me gusta Lobitos

2011-07-30T18:07:00.000+02:00

Hi,

Yesterday had a lightwind windsurfsession with Alex Vargas and some other guys. The waves were nice in the sets and the wind was very light and offshore but I had some nice rides. In the evening it got cloudy and the wind totally dropped. Meanwhile Zane Schweitzer arrived with his brother Matt and he let me use his surfboard cause he went supping. Had a lot off fun, Thanks for that bro !

This morning we got up really early to go surf , Matt decided to take pictures so I could use his board to go surf. The waves were really good, I have never surfed waves like this I was so stoked. Later it got very crowded and I decided to go eat something. Matt even shot a cool picture of me surfing. I'll put it on the blog when I get it on my computer ! The wind is picking up now , it looks like today it's finally going to be windy. And the waves are still pumping so I think it's going to be a good session ...

It's super nice over here, good conditions, nice people, lot's off fun...

I like Lobitos / me gusta Lobitos !!

@ Peru

2011-07-29T17:37:00.000+02:00

Hi,

I've been in Peru for 2 day's now. We decided to stop in Pacasmayo on our way to Lobitos and spend the night there. Everything is very different than the things I am used to. The roads, the people, the food, the weather...

What really stands out for me is that alongside the road and in most villages and city's it's really dirty, there are plastic bags everywhere.

I arrived in Lima tuesday evening and from there Ricardo came to pick me and Nicolas up. We went to his house in Lima and slept a few hours before we left to drive to Pacasmayo. The landscape we drove through was really nice !

Pacasmayo is the longest wave I have ever seen in my life, unfortunately there was no wind when we arrived there. I would really like to windsurf this wave.

We slept in Pacasmayo and left early the next day to Lobitos. You can easily see that a lot off people over here are less fortunate than we are and don't have a lot off money.

Beautiful view over some river we drove over:

Once we arrived in Lobitos I unpacked and rigged my 4.7 and quad 76, there was almost now wind but somtimes enough to catch a wave... I never windsurfed on such a perfect wave with offshore wind... It felt so good to ride a few of those waves ! But since I couldn't waterstart all the time I decided to borrow Ricardo's board and go surfing which was really fun.

The view from my room over Lobitos

Today looks like It's going to be windy and I can't wait to get out there on the water !

Leaving to Peru

2011-07-26T11:15:00.000+02:00

Hi,

I'm online from Schiphol airport. I'm leaving to Peru to compete in the IFCA Junior and Youth wavesailing worlds chamionship in Lobitos. Lately we had some epic surfing waves in Belgium and One very good windsurf session @ wissant on 3.7 with very big and powerfull waves !

You can follow the event in peru live : http://www.surfperu.tv/windsurf/index_vivo.html

I'll update the blog as soon as I can from Peru :) !

Onshore winds

2011-07-16T19:47:00.000+02:00

Hi ,

This week we had 2 day's straight onshore wind which created some Big waves. Thurdsday the wind turned to WNW , the perfect direction for Heist ! Big clean waves and wind for my 3.7 . I had a blast an I can say those were the best and biggest waves I have ever ridden in Belgium !! Unfortunately it was raining the whole day which made the wind really gusty and filming / taking photos impossible...
Friday I had really really nice surfing session on some of the best clean waves I ever surfed in Belgium. Pretty stoked now and looks like Wissant will be really on fire the next day's !

Summertime

2011-07-07T12:55:00.001+02:00

Hi,

It's been a while since I updated because there wasn't much to tell... We did have 2 nice surfing sessions last weekend ( for Belgian standards ). For the moment I'm also working as a lifeguard in the local surf club in Bredene, Twinsclub.

Yesterday I had a session in Wissant on 4.2 but is wasn't that great: small waves and very choppy. Tomorrow looks quite good for Wissant , let's hope there will be more waves ...

Found these pic's over here

Jonas

Video reports by The Hobbit Productions

2011-06-26T11:42:00.000+02:00

Hi ,

Yesterday we had some nice waves and gusty wind. I went out on 4.2 an had a couple of good waverides. Wind and waves dropped after about an hour and I decided to quit my session. No images of the session...
Make sure to check out these 2 video reports made by The Hobbit Productions:

BK crash:

Midsummerwavenights:

Looks like the wind is gone over here ...
Time to study for my last exam on tuesday !

Another gusty 3.7 session .

2011-06-23T21:08:00.001+02:00

Hi,

Today the wind was quite unstable again... But still i could sail on 3.7 sometimes powered up , sometimes not even planing. Tried some pushloops for the first time , but it was quite flat and cause it was so gusty not really a good time to learn them. I rotated some but didn't land. It feels really weird compared to a backloop, I can't control my rotation yet so that's always weird I guess :)
Tommorow I might go for a lightwind session and looks like saturday will be 4.2 or 3.7 again :)

taka sequence :

The forgotten crowded session ( 18/06 )

2011-06-23T21:00:00.000+02:00

Hi,

I just realized I forgot to make o past about the session on saturday 18/06 before I went to the midsummerwavenigths competition.
Well all I still know about it is that it was super crowded and waves weren't good...

some shots :

BK crash report

2011-06-23T08:55:00.001+02:00

Yesterday we had the famous Belgian championship crash in Belgium.
Conditions looked very nice when I arrived, but looks are deceiving...

The event poster

Rigged 3.7 and that's was OK for a half hour although waves weren't breaking good. But then the wind suddenly became very,very,very gusty... Never experienced such gusty wind in Belgium when it's not offshore. Kept on sailing for a while but I have to say I wasn't having a good session at all.
Anyway it looks like today, tomorrow and saturday will be windy again so I'm not complaining, for Belgian standards we're having a super windy week !

some shots :

jibing on the wave

small waves ...

nice crash from Nick :)

Midsummerwavenights report.

2011-06-20T10:02:00.000+02:00

On saturday Midsummerwavenights was ON .

First I would like to thank everyone involved in organizing the contest, good job guys !

When we arrived conditions looked quite good, certainly enough wind ( took 3.7 ) and quite good waves.
Unfortunately when the competition started tide was going down already and that really messed the waves up... They were breaking everywhere and it was really hard for me to find a good wave.

In my first heat I had to sail against Dieter Beckx ( who won the expression session) Pascal Somers and Xavier (the organizer) Not many people showed up, but those who were there, were mostly all the Belgian top riders. So the level was already really high from heat 1 ... Pascal and I advanced.

My next heat I came out against Olivier Pas and Tom Sheirlinck. Two big names in the Belgian windsurfing scene... I started with a good forward and did some ok waverides, but struggled to find another wave for my second jump. In the last 5 seconds I found a quite steep ramp out the back and managed to land a backloop. Oli and myself advanced.

The next heat I was against Oli, Pascal and Nick De Wannemeaker. The wind was really nuking by that time and I struggled because of the hard wind. Couldn't really land any good jumps because I was so overpowered. Nick and Oli advanced to the winners final and I had to sail against pascal to determine who became Third and fourth.

Losers final: I managed to land a backloop and a small forward, Don't remember anymore if I had good waverides. But it was enough to convince the judges.

Winners Final: Nick did a really high sick forward , a nice shove-it but couldn't really find good waves to ride... Oli could find those waves and had a good frontside turn and a backside aerial. Oli also landed a small pushloop and a good forward ( Nick his forward was way bigger though ) . But in the end Oli took the first spot because of his waverides...

After that the expression session was on: I landed a little air-taka behind the wave and had some good waverides and landed a few nice backloops and kept sailing until the wind suddenly dropped.
Dieter Beckx won the epression session with a massive, stylish stalled forward !

some shots of myself:

more photo's on : http://www.swell.be/sessie/midsummerwavenights-1.html

First in, last out .

2011-06-20T09:16:00.000+02:00

Hi,

Decided to have 2 sessions yesterday a short morning session before the wind was going to turn even more onshore on 3.7 . Good choice but conditions soon changed and as expected the wind turned even more onshore and dropped off.

Went back to the beach after the high tide, didn't really look good in the beginning ( choppy, small waves )
but I knew it was only going to get better ...
And that's exactly what happened rigged my 3.7 again. In the beginning it wasn't that good yet, waves were still quite small but after an another hour nice sets were breaking. It was getting better and better and I had a really nice waveriding session ! Wind was dropping but as the sets kept rolling in I stayed on the water untill I couldn't waterstart anymore...

Guess I lived by the motto of my sponsor O'neill today : First in, last out ...

A few shots from the session after high tide when the waves weren't that good yet:

putting some energy in a little wave

Taka video

2011-06-19T13:32:00.002+02:00

Hi ,

As I said in the previous post Matthias filmed my first taka :

Midsummerwavenights was ON yesterday, great competion !
It's windy again today so report & pic's will be for some other time.

results:

1: Olivier Pas
2: Nick De Wannemeaker
3: Jonas Handekyn

3.7 evening session + Pic's !

2011-06-17T17:17:00.005+02:00

Hi,

Had an ok session yesterday evening. When I arrived at the beach I was pleasantly surprised by the wind. Slightly on shore but enough for my 3.7 fire. Waves were quite small as expected but enough to do some jumps and waverides !

After studying almost the whole day I really needed that session to clear my mind !
For me windsurfing is the only thing that can really make my mind 100% empty and gives me that strange yet awesome feeling that I can't even describe ...

Tomorrow it's going to be really windy again , that's why I have to do some extra study-effort today and I'm just going to post some pictures my dad took ( thanks dad ! ) now .

Hope you like them.

Oh yeah almost forgot to say I landed my first taka yesterday, and a friend of mine got it on tape ! When I have it i'll put it online on the blog ;)

Let's start with a nice clean Backloop sequence ...

airisch-taka attempt ...

almost made it ...

good forecast !

2011-06-16T11:47:00.000+02:00

Looks like I'm going to be spending quite some time on the water...

My schedule for the next days ( still having exams ) : Study-eat-windsurf-sleep-study-eat-windsurf- ...

Check the blog for some footage and session reports !

How to Backloop ... :)

2011-06-12T13:43:00.003+02:00

Hi,

Nick Filmed this guy in Wissant, showing how to do a backloop. I made a little video edit...
Hope you can appreciate it !

Oh yeah no offence to the unknown 'assistant' and Thanks to Nick for filming !

A day in France...

2011-06-09T12:08:00.004+02:00

Hi,

Yesterday I went on a mini-trip to France.
We went to Sangatte because normally the wind is a bit stronger there then other places ( no footage ) . Once arrived the wind was quite strong indeed but unfortunately it was quite flat... Rigged 4.2 and had a choppy, gusty, little bit overpowered session with almost no waves. When the tide came in the current increased even more and we decided to quit our session.

After doubting whether we were going home again or check out the conditions in Wissant, we made the right choice , off to Wissant !
We first struggled to find something to eat, because almost everything was closed and then I had another gusty little underpowered session on 4.2 but this time with waves !

Nick and Joshua didn't seam really convinced and didn't go out, so they shot some images :) Finally I broke my boom and we went back home...

Some shots from my session after high tide in Wissant, Thanks to Joshua !

hitting the lip

lowwind non steep wave backloop

It's not the like the bikinibottom-shots from Maui or some other tropical place, But hey it leaves a little something more to your imagination...

Nick while filming, thanks bro !

swimming back ...

Check Nick's blog !

2011-06-06T13:23:00.001+02:00

Hi ,

My good friend , Nick De Wannemaeker also made a blog, make sure you guys check it out !

www.bel101.be

here's a little intro movie he made:

Jonas

The wind has been back !

2011-06-02T12:10:00.000+02:00

Hi,

Hasen't been windy here for a long time until last week. Had some really nice sessions in Bredene:
- an epic session sunday evening on 3.7
- a gusty session with magic waves on thursday , also on 3.7
- a super evening session with 4.2 overpowered, almost alone, on saturday.
And a really really gusty , actually shitty session on 3.7 at Wissant on sunday...

some shots from thursday , it's not much but yeah better then nothing :)

More coming soon !

Windy Bredene

2011-03-11T12:55:00.001+01:00

Finally it's been windy again , yesterday I had an ok session in my hometown Bredene.

At first 3.7 was a bit light but after 30 minutes 3.7 was full power.

The waves weren't great but there were some lips to hit so I'm not complaining.

The water was still quite cold ( 5° C ) , but normally it should get warmer soon ... Let's hope.

Good to be back on the water again, now let's hope some good storms are going to pass by in the spring !

Some shots:

Nick, who has been in Cape town this winter is back in town !

Click on the link if you want to se some more ... http://www.swell.be/sessie/wind-bredene.html

2011-03-07T11:16:00.000+01:00

Hi,

Haven't been updating lately cause there's no wind or waves over here : (
Been to Tarifa for 10 days in February and had some good swell but not that much wind...
So now I'm just hoping that there are some good storms coming over here.

J

Wissant 15/01/11

2011-01-16T19:56:00.000+01:00

Hi all,

Had a quite good session @ Wissant yesterday ! But same old story: cold water and painful hands.
Wind was quit gusty wich wasn't so nice, but the waves were good and powerful.
Looks like next week it's gonna get colder once again...

some shots :

quite vertical in the right spot :

and getting a little aerial

smack:

aerial:

cold hands...

Wintersessions @ Bredene ...

2011-01-13T19:58:00.000+01:00

Hi all,

had a pretty good session this morning on RRD wavetrusther 68 and 3.7 which was a good combo at first but at the end of my session the wind dropped and I was underpowered.
The waves were not big but sometimes you could find something to do some rides and jumps although I find that it's still a little cold for jumping ( and my foot hurts too much when landing... )
Had a session yesterday too on 3.7 but not for long and there were even less waves.
some shots from today :

some airtime:

you can find more over here : http://www.swell.be/sessie/winterwind-bredene.html

Jonas

first session of 2011 is a fact

2011-01-11T10:25:00.004+01:00

Yes, the first session of 2011 is a fact , in fact even the first two sessions although the second session didn't last much longer than 20 minutes...
On the eight of january the forecast looked windy for Wissant ! The air temperature was also quite warm for this time of the year ( I think it was about 10 °C ) but when you fell in the sea you really could feel the cold water that was not quite as warm as the air temperature yet ( 3° C ) ...
But after all I'm glad I've been on the water again after almost 2 months of not windsurfing !!! Yes, due to the winter and the simple fact that it hasn't been windy, my last session was, indeed, november 12th...
It was cloudy and rainy so that much pictures...

you really don't want this to happen on your first wave when the water is that cold ! well yeah...

A nice little aerial, little tweaked also, I liked it :)

too late... but quite vertical, I guess that's what happens if you can't get on the water for such a long time.

Well, I'm still having exams now until the second of february... So I'm off studying again !

Jonas

winter...

2010-12-16T18:14:00.000+01:00

Not much going on lately over here in Belgium...

It's been cold and snowy for about 3 weeks now and I'm starting to get quite irritated by the weather over here

It's feels as if I haven't surfed in ages!

I've been quite sick too for a while but that's already a lot better now , so yeah just kinda waiting for some wind&waves over here...

action !

2010-11-15T12:36:00.000+01:00

a few photo's from my last session ( 12 november) @ twins:
due to the rain I only have photo's from the first 10 minutes of my session...

aerial

2010-11-13T11:56:00.000+01:00

aerial @ bredene augustus 2010:

Aerial @ bredene from Jonas Handekyn on Vimeo.

Belgian Champion wave 2010

2010-11-13T11:36:00.001+01:00

Hi everybody,

it's been a while since I updated the blog, but now it's back with some great news !
I became Belgian Champion wave 2010 !
click here if you want to read the interview on Continentseven.

more to come in the next hours/days !

Jonas

great photos from wissant

2009-12-29T09:53:00.002+01:00

Hi all,

had a great waveriding session in wissant a few days ago, cold and gusty too , but very good waves :)
check out some pic's here ( check out my site for more ! ) :

let's start with a nice sequence:

more on my site

Jonas

BIG day @ wissant + good waveriding day in Bredene

2009-11-21T14:45:00.002+01:00

Hi all,

We had some good winds last week !
saterday had a BIG session in wissant, wind was way to much for my 3.7 and big powerfull waves ! allthough sometimes because the widn was a litlle offshore you had absolutly no wind... check out the all photos on my website...

and wednesday was a good day for waveriding over here on my homespot twins in Bredene !
very gusty offshore wind enough for 3.7 made it a hard session but good for waveriding... again you can view all the pics on my site
been practicing a lot on goiters, had a few who were really close...
also busy training wave 360 and 1 handed waveriding.

another rainy session

2009-11-04T20:25:00.005+01:00

After waiting for an hour or something until the tide got low enough in Wissant and the wind came, I went on the water with my 4.2. THere were nice wave breaking and the wind was a little bit offshore, so it was gusty bit good for waveriding ! 4.2 was okay most of the time but in the rain (sometimes again very heavy rain) and further out it was way to big. I kept on sailing 4.2 because i thought after the rain the wind would drop a bit again. Been trying seriously to do some wave 360's for the first time, some went pretty ok and one I even overrated but landed just behind the wave.
It was a rather short session because it got dark really early and the wind dropped just when I went off the water to go and rig my 3.7 ... But anyway had a nice session an didn't expect it to be that good, that's always fun :)
a little video cap from a non rainy moment (still the view is very bad beacause of the weather and because it's taken from a video), but it shows the wave were coming in pretty nice!
Once again not to many images because of the rain...

+ these are 2 others from previous sessions in Bredene, Belgium

Jonas

rainy session...

2009-11-02T17:13:00.002+01:00

Hi,

Went to wimereux yesterday because the wind was way to offshore over here.
When we arrived the wind was really hard and it was raining superhard so I putted on my wetsuit in the car.
small waves with almost no power and in the gusts way overpowered on 3.7 in the beginning
waves got better while the tide got lower, but haven't seen a good wave for the whole day actually...
the session was not that good but better than nothing.
no photos or film beacause of the heavy rain...
tommorow looks quite good for wissant let's hope :)

Jonas

2009-10-18T09:28:00.003+02:00

Hi,

it's been a while since I updated my blog, but it's has been a very busy, crzay period for me last months...
starting up school again and everything else
I will try to update the blog more oftenly in the future.
Anyway, I became Belgian champion wave junior a few weeks ago :)
Haven't sailed supergood ( and it was waaay to gusty) but in the end the result was good.

goiter pic:

Jonas