Woensdag

Wednesday/Woensdag

Another Boiling night onboard the boat but I did manage to sleep through until that is when the boat woke up at just before 6 am again, not at 06:45 like my alarm was set for, Pah. We took a stroll through Sloten in the early hours to the breakfast area at the restaurant. The board was still there outside which was a big relief. Eggs, fruitbread, tea and banana’s for break this morning and then I prepped a lunch bag, I didn’t take quite as much this time as there just wasn’t time to eat it all. We headed back to the barge and got the last of the morning prep sorted. At the Start again I was fairly slow but faster than Tuesday again not trying to burn out. As we pulled out of Sloten and back onto the lake I was glad the wind there was not as bad as the previous evening. Trains formed early on and I jumped on a gravy train with Laura, Ed, Anne-Marie, Ben and Roger, and the day was under way. There was a cool section through the forest which was fairly windless with the shelter of the trees but it did have plenty of pond weed. Support on the bridges was fantastic and a great boost even if it was in Dutch and i couldnt understand a word of it. After another lake the train broke and I was following a mistral board with Anne-Marie in tow.

Miles passed by and pain was well set in. At another Lake I was separated until I got caught up by roger on a Von Orange board and the tour pair Erna and the other chap, i tagged on the back and started to make good progress again. Anne-Marie slowly came back into sight again until she joined on. My muscles were burning and just before lunch I almost got flung off my board as I went over some rope which was just below the water line between 2 posts, so the group was slightly apart as we pulled into the rest stop. Dan was just leaving the rest stop as I arrived so I knew I was around 15 minutes behind him, he was doing really well. Another majorly rushed lunch and back to it but feeling slightly better on the restart compared to Tuesday. Anne Marie was in sight and slowly but surely I was catching her up. After 2 miles I caught her and she let me past and began to draft me and others weren’t far behind either, I soon tired at the front and Erna and her friend passed as did Von Orange and Anne Marie, I tagged on the back trying to draft the ace pro but it was very hard work, i tried to distract myself away from the pain but taking in some of the scenary when ever i could. If it wasn’t for the views I don’t think I could have stayed there, A tough pace was set and Ben Swails came into view in the distance every now and then. Head winds and side winds blasted us for a few miles, Around 7 miles in I was burnt out and the pack pulled away, I took on some water and tried not to get too disheartened. I did however catch a break. Anne marie got weed caught around her fin and the pack held up to free it and lost the rythem, seing my chance I dug as deep as I could to catch up and just managed it but at great cost. I managed to hang in on at the back for all my remaining strength.

 At the stamping post i rung the bell but the Von Orange board had a large turning circle and couldn’t turn fast enough and ended up colliding with Mr ?, trying to avoid them I forgot to shout my name and number and I had to turn and shout back. More pain and head winds but Workum was in sight, On the final 200 yards I made a dash for it but only just piped Roger across the line. I hope he wasn’t to bothered, I did clean the back of his board due to how much paint I transferred from drafting errrors as my consintration dropped due to exhaustion. Another well deserved massage  sorted everything out, We headed back for a shower and to wind down. After I had settled we headed back to the boards and I went to polish my board ready for another day. We had dinner followed by the days presentations and then went to check on Aprils board, it seemed as though my ding putty was needed. We headed back to the boat for final prep ready for day 3. Another 45km tomorrow WHOOOPP! Hopefully tomorrow goes well, I finished the day in 6 hours 21 minutes 37 seconds