Sunday I went to Dutch Water Dreams. DWD is a unique, Olympic-level, whitewater sports complex in Zoetermeer nearby The Hague.
On a terrain outside they have a whitewater course based on the design being built for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. The whitewater course is 300 metres in length, 20 metres wide and drops 5 metres top to bottom. They have in total five pumps to pump the water through the course. Standard three pumps are in use. Switched off the water on the course is only a couple of centimeters high. Unbelievable what a difference when 'the river' is pumping!
Indoor they have three FlowRiders on which you can surf or bodyboard. A FlowRider generates a permanent, artificial wave, approximately 2 metres high. Water is pumped around in the FlowRider at an average speed of 50 km/h. The bottom layer is made of a soft material so it doesn't heart when you fall. One false move, the water will grab you and spit you out again at the end of the pool. Killer fun!
All in all, spent a really great afternoon on both the FlowRider as well as the white water course. Definatelly something to do again in the future.
...when we are going to get some wind again? For days now when I check out Windfinder.com I see nothing more than a huge blue area hanging above Holland. And it doesn't seem to move. Had a lot of days with wind coming from the east, last three/ four weeks. Some days the wind picked up to planing conditions for big sails/ big boards although the forecast didn't say so.