Ben’s news Blog

Capetown NOV 2011

Thu, 1 Dec 2011 08:41:29 +0100

check out some of the pictures from the cape from the past few weeks here in Cape town . Its been windy and wavy !!
Life is good at the cape .

Just click HERE to check out the latest pictures.

PWA Sylt 2011

Mon, 10 Oct 2011 08:28:30 +0200

NO WIND !!!!!

A Nice 10 days with sun but no wind at all , had some nice sup action and some go chats with the lads .

Finished 3rd for the year in the slalom , I am super stocked about that and want to thanks everyone who supported me in this . specially my parents who always helped me out with everything and of course my sponsors , mystic , Loftsails and starboard .

PWA Turkey 2011

Sun, 14 Aug 2011 13:32:48 +0200

Report PWA turkey

Alacati Turkey was the background for the PWA Slalom event from 8 till 13th of August. With 11 races in the bag it was the most sailed races in 1 event this year . Alacati delivered some great condition and it was the windiest its ever been for the contest in Turkey. With sails used from 5.5 up 9.5 it was a great test again for the skills in all conditions..

After Fuerte we ( Ben and Ludo ) came back to Tarifa but the gear never arrived . Packed all the spear gear to go to the airport just in case the gear did not arrive as they had no clue were it was . But lucky to get to the airport early and find all the gear . After a quick repack we were on our way . Taking only sails down to 7.0 and the big and medium boards as it never was really windy in turkey .
We were perfectly on time and after paying 60 euros for 9 bags all was good and ready to go . Here is what happened in the racing :

Race 1 :

The winds were light racing on the biggest gear the Loft sails racing blade 9.5 and the starboard Isonic 127 with 48 hurricane fin. the racing was tight and a lot came down to the start which I did not have a very good one in the final but wormed my way in to 4th place in the 1st race of the event .

Race 2 :

Race 2 was on the second day and the winds were still pretty light but picking up and was now sailing on my 127 with 9.5 for the final . Fighting for second I made a big mistake on the 3rd gybe and got stuck in someone's wake and I fell in a finished last in the 2nd race of the event so and 8th

Race 3:

WInds were still gusty but this time on the medium board ( 107 ) and 8.6 this time a better start and a 3rd place finish for race 3.

Race 4:

Winds were getting better but only later on in day 3 and the 4th race I sailed 107 and 8.6 again and finished 3rd .

Race 5 :

The first round was done the day before but now the wind was blowing and picking up fast . I was on 7.8 in the first round of race 5 but then had to go down to my 7.0 sail ( my smallest I brought) and my 7.0. Did not make it to the final and finished 4th in the losers final so a 12th place .

Race 6 :

The winds kept picking up gusting up to almost 40 knots I was still on my 107 and my 7.0 as I did not bring my small gear . I was just to overpowered to get around the course fast . didn't manage to get into the final but finished 5th in the losers final and that got me a 13th place

Race 7
This was the most windy race of the event but we got a long lunch break before the 7th race and I managed to tune my 7.0 and my 107 a little better for this strong winds. This time I did manage to make it to the final but crashed at mark 2 and finished last in the final so an 8th . Was very happy this day was over as I should have been sailing on my 87 and my 6.3 ( lesson learned)

Race 8
The winds were lighter again good for 8.6 and the 107 but picking up again .
Race 8 was a little strange because everyone was super close in the final and no pileup at mark one . Mark 2 was a different story as 3 or 4 people went down putting me in 3rd behind Volwater and Albeau but Albeau went down on the last gybe with a spinout leaving the door open for Volwater to win the race and putting Me in 2nd for race 8.

Race 9
The winds picked up and went on my 7.8 and my 107 . In this one I did manage to get in the final again and with and ok start and a good first gybe I managed to get in to 3rd and finish in 3rd .

Race 10
This race was started on the previous day and there were already a few shocking 1st round exits from some top names . All was open for the podium on the last day of competition as the top 6 were all pretty close within a few points from each other any mistake would be disaster . Race 10 I was on my 8.6 and 107 and with a good start only Volwater and Bjorn in front of me at the 1st mark and I managed to pass Volwater on the second reach making a 2nd place finish in this race .

Race 11
Bjorn had already won the event but all was open from 2nd till 5th . WIth Finian not making it into the final the door was open for 2nd but I did have to finish in top 6 and Antoine was close as well .With an Ok start I managed to get top 4 to the mark and finished in 4th just behind Albeau which was enough to jump to 2nd for the event .

I am Super stoked with my second place in this event and I am very happy how all my gear is working . Its been a very good year till now with 4 podium finishes . I am looking forward to the last event , the PWA in Sylt , stay tuned for that

Gear combo's used in this event :
Starboard Isonic 127 with 49/48 Hurricane fin and 9.5 Loftsails Racing Blade
Starboard Isonic 107 with 41 Hurricane fin and 8.6 Loftsails Racing Blade
Starboard Isonic 107 with 40/39 Hurricane fin and 7.8 Loftsails Racing Blade
Starboard Isonic 107 with 39/38 Hurricane fin and 7.0 Loftsails Racing Blade

1 Björn Dunkerbeck SUI-11 Starboard,Severne Sails,Mystic,DunkerbeckEyewear
2 Ben Van Der Steen NED-57 Starboard,Loft Sails,Mystic
3 Antoine Albeau F-192 NeilPryde,JP
4 Finian Maynard KV-11 RRD
5 Micah Buzianis USA-34 NeilPryde,JP
6 Josh Angulo CV-1 Gun Sails,Dakine,Angulo
7 Jimmy Diaz ISV-11 Starboard,North Sails
8 Julien Quentel FRA-421 RRD,NeilPryde
9 Peter Volwater H-24 Fanatic,MauiSails
10 Pieter Bijl NED-0 NeilPryde,JP

PWA Fuerte 2011

Fri, 12 Aug 2011 08:51:16 +0200

Fuerte was the 5th PWA slalom event of the year . and with 10 slaloms completed in winds from 9 to 45 knots it was a hard contest again .

On registration day I had small sun stroke or flu and was feeling very bad but lucky I was feeling a lot better by the next morning and was able to race so here is what happened :

Race 1 :
winds were light and most people were on 7.8 and 8.6 sails. As was I on my 8.6 and managed to go thru my rounds and finish 3rd in this first slalom elimination 1 .

Race 2
In race 2 the winds were still light and I made a mistake by missing my boom in the gybe in qualifying position and went to the losers but the wind picked up a lot and I was way overpowered on my 7.8 and 107 by then and finished 13

Race 3
Race 3 the winds were getting stronger and I was out on my 6.3 sail and the 87 L board . but winds shifted before the finals to offshore and it got really gusty and was hard to choose equipment , everyone went for small gear but I decided to go with medium 107 board and 7.0 . had a pretty good start but the small boards were little faster ,still managed to get out of the first mark in 3rd and finish the race in 3rd .

Race 4
with very strong winds coming I started off with the 6.3 but later in the round had to switch down to the 5.6 with gusts op to a good 40 knots it was pretty hard conditions but managed to finish the final in 3rd again

Race 5
By race 5 the winds were super strong and managed to make my way to the final again with the 5.6 racing blade and my 87 Isonic with a ok start en a very good first gybe I got second out of the first mark with Volwater in 1st but he made a wobbly gybe on the 3rd mark and I managed to pass him to finish in 1st in this slalom round.

Race 6
Wind were strong again for this one and racing on the 5.6 loftsails racing blade again with the 87 Isonic I was getting comfortable on the gear and made a other 3rd place in this round

Race 7
Strong winds still with a battle with Cyril on every mark for 2nd and 3 rd but on the last mark I managed to get next to him and it was a drag race to the finish and I just managed to edge ahead at the finish to finish in 2nd .

Race 8
Race 8 was still windy and I had to push a little but I pushed a little to hard and went over early in the final so I got an 8th place

Race 9
This race was on the last day and the wind had dropped a lot in the morning and on top of that I had something bad to eat the night before and ended up spending the night on the toilet and a painful stomach in the morning was not a good start and had a second round exit. 30th

Race 10
The last race of the event I pulled my self together and we were back on the 6.3 by now and made it to the final after some good battles in the qualifying rounds . If I wanted to change places with cyril I had to finish 4 places ahead of him but he was right on my tail the whole way down the course so I finished the race in 3 rd and the event also in 3rd.

Gear combo's used :
Starboard Isonic 87 with Loftsails racing blade 5.6 and a 32 techtonichs fin
Starboard Isonic 87 with Loftsails racing blade 6.3 and a 34 techtonichs fin
Starboard Isonic 107 with Loftsails racing blade 7.0 and a 39 Hurricane fin
Starboard Isonic 107 with Loftsails racing blade 7.8 and a 39/40 Hurricane fin
Starboard Isonic 107 with Loftsails racing blade 8.6 and a 40/41 Hurricane fin

The Fuerteventura Grand Slam Men’s Slalom Results  1st Antoine Albeau (JP / NeilPryde) 2nd Cyril Moussilmani (Starboard / North) 3rd Ben Van Der Steen (Starboard / Loft / Mystic) 4th Bjorn Dunkerbeck (Starboard / Severne / Mystic / DunkerbeckEyewear) 5th Finian Maynard (RRD)

PWA Aruba 2011

Wed, 29 Jun 2011 14:12:19 +0200

Race report PWA Aruba

A great 4 days of racing in Aruba , with a pretty good trade wind blowing every day it was the perfect setup for the PWA Slalom .
The water was Flat and warm and the racing was hard and close , With 8 slaloms in the bag its was a successful event .
I used only 1 board my Starboard 107 iSonic and 1 sail my Loftsails 8.6 and 1 fin my hurricane 41. during the days the conditions were a little up and down but in the end I always stayed on the same gear sometime a little over powered sometime slighly under but it always seemed the best choice.

Race 1
Good start of the event getting to the final and finishing second battling with Bjorn on the last leg for first but he just had the edge on me.

Race 2
Bad start in the semi resulted in a losers final but still managed to win the losers final so a 9th place in this round off slalom

Race 3
In race 3 I managed to get back in the final and Antoine was gone but I was battling for 2 with gonzalo but just managed to get the edge on him and finish this round in second .

Race 4
Again a final this time 3rd just behind Anotione and Bjorn

Race 5
Disaster , last place in the first round with some weired chop from the boats I hooked in my harness on the last gybe and got stuck with my sail straight down there was no getting up.

Race 6
Nice to come back to the final after the disaster round I had in race 5. Back up in the final after a few good battles in 2nd round and the semis . ended up 3rd in this race .

Race 7
Close call on the semis but just managed to scrape in front of my team mate Questel in a fight to the finish and went on to do the final . Finishing the final in 2nd there was only a small gap left to get in to the event 2nd place but had to have some luck because it was depending on what the others would do .

Race 8
In race 8 it was all or nothing , could not loose 3rd but could climb up to second and with the fortunate event that Antoine and bjorn went over early in the semi it was up to me to get to the final and win this final. Managed to fight my way to the final were I did have a pretty good start but steve allen was on top of me as he had a little better one but I managed to arrive just ahead at the first mark and managed to stay in front the whole race winning the last race of this event which put me in second overall for the PWA slalom in Aruba

Super stoked about my result , In between the big boys . I am super stoked with the way my gear is going The starboard iSonic 107 with the Loftsail 8.6 RacingBlade seems like a magic combo .
Now back to Tarifa to prepare for Fuerte and Turkey , stay tuned

gear used :
Starboard iSonic 107 Lofsails racingblade 8.6 and a Hurricane 41 fin.