Maarten van Ochten reports about his winter in Cape Town:
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South Africa 2013

This winter windsurfing in Holland was really good, actually the weather conditions where quite the same as we usually have in autumn. Lot’s of wind for days in a row and air temperatures up to 14 degrees C. So, no complains.

On 23rd January I booked my ticket to Cape Town. Just a few days before leaving the weather conditions in Holland changed rapidly into a serious winter.  Which resulted in lots of snow and cold air temperatures, so great timing.

For this year I chose bringing a SUP, too, and with the JP SURF Widebody 8’2″ I could spend more days on the water when not having any wind. This was a great choice because we’ve had some days without wind and just great waves. As well giving the opportunity having to encounter with marine animals such as dolphins and lots of seals.

In comparison to last year this year was much windier, actually when the wind was kicking in I was most of the time stacked on a 4,5 or 4,2 and only just a few times on 4.8. So, quite different.

There was also a lot of swell, even at Langebaan which is known for being a flat water spot. But as there was a big swell on the ocean with the right direction, the waves entered the Langebaan bay. So, we scored awesome bump and jump conditions there. Having some nice airtime at Langebaan was really unexpected and a lot of fun.

After all, Cape-Town has been treating us very well providing many windy and wavy days.  When having waves we scored a couple of really awesome SUP sessions and besides all the water action Steven van Broeckhoven and me where visiting the gym on the regular base.

Big Thanks to Steven en Sveta for staying with you and especiall Sveta for her every day 5-star-PLUS cooking – we’ve been really spoiled. As well for Oli for spending my last ten days in Cape-Town in a great mansion with a stunning view!

Photos: Svetlana Martynova, Oli Staufacher, Hylke Bakker.

Best regards
Maarten  H-73