Introduction to Speed Team Makkum

Speedteam Makkum (Netherlands-North)

Together with many other Dutch teams, Speedteam Makkum joined the Global GPS Team Challenge at the beginning of 2010. We are a group of enthusiastic windsurfers who consider Makkum Beach as our windsurfing home base or at least as one of our favourite spots, were we like to sail as often as possible and where we meet other windsurfers who share the passion for this great sport.

Makkum – great spot for all disciplines of windsurfing

Makkum is situated at the borders of the northern part of the “IJsselmeer” which is the biggest lake in The Netherlands. It is separated from the “Waddensea”by the famous “Afsluitdike”.

Makkum’s geographical position secures better than average wind conditions but also challenges due to sizeable chop. The place attracts many Dutch but also German windsurfers who enjoy the hundreds of meters shallow (knee to waist deep) water Great for beginner and intermediate windsurfers, but also for expert level windsurfers enjoy the wave conditions behind the sandbars and have opportunities to seek for some flatter water for speed.

About Speedteam Makkum

The team has 15 active members who have been doing their speed sessions in Makkum, but also at other places in the Netherlands and abroad. Please visit out facebook page to find out more about the team. During 2011 we organized a GPS Speed Challenge event specifically aimed at GPS surfing around Makkum Beach, generously supported by the local Surfshop ‘Funsport Makkum’.

Our Goals were; to generate more interest in GPS-surfing at Makkum; prove that Makkum is also suited for speed sailing and not only bump & jump; and to get to know each other better. We also have been active in attracting young windsurfers by building up contacts and doing presentations at the local Windsurf Club.

2011 has been a great year

The Funsport Makkum GPS Challenge alone has had 22 participants, who posted 250 sessions during April – October. We have been seeing an increase in posted sessions of more than 50% compared to 2010. From 2006 - 2009 the spot record (5x10sec) was stable at 34,77knots. In 2010 the bar was raised to 35.74knots.

In 2011 we jumped to 40.30knots. Moreover, 20 sessions were faster than the 2010 spot record! Great to see that there were also postings by 4 youngsters under 14 years of age.

A special note goes to our youngest Speedteam member Wessel Douma. He started speedsurfing this year and at age 15 he achieved a max. speed of over 38knots and a 5x10 AVG of 36.6knots. This catapulted him to 3^rd on the 2011 worldwide gps-speedsurfing.com ranking in the juniors category!

We are proud that as a team we have achieved all goals we had, going into this year. Makkum Beach now has a name as a potentially fast speed spot. We have had lots of people doing GPS-sessions including some youngsters. And most of all, we had lots of fun on the water, at the beach and on our team’s facebook page, connecting us during windless periods.

We would like to finish with an invitation to all speed surfers who want to join us at the great waters of Makkum. Come and try the conditions. There is a great camping place and lots of opportunities to rent apartments and houses. Contact us via Facebook when you would like to know more or to get familiar with the place.We are looking forward to a great end of the season and a fresh start in 2012 !

Speedteam Makkum

www.facebook.com/speedteammakkum
Written by Luc Salomons, with very little editing by 'The Bus' (your English is amazing Luc, better than most of the English kids I teach!)



Thank you to Luc and the rest of Speedteam Makkum, this is a great little article.
For anyone who is part of the GPS Team Challenge that reads this, please can you help by doing a little write up about your team and local spots and conditions. For one it makes it nice to read about the teams we compete against and their members, and in the long run hopefully we can build this into a type of 'spot/location resource'. Whenever we do out sport in new locations it is always best to know a few of the locals, this should help us all.