It all started in 7th grade at Daltonschool St. Jozef in Lemmer. Teacher Hilko told us the Dutch Wadden Islands are among the most beautiful natural spots in Europe. He taught us a handy mnemonic to remember the island order: TV-TAS – Texel, Vlieland, Terschelling, Ameland and Schiermonnikoog.

When we started KiteActive in 2011 and organized our first downwinders in Brazil, we were hooked. Trips full of adventure, action and wind — we wanted more, and preferably all over the world. One of our earliest trips was a sailing tour of the Wadden Islands aboard the traditional clipper Manna with skipper Roel. Together with the participants we hunted down the best kitespots on the islands. The beauty of the Wadden Sea and those unique kitesurf spots grabbed us immediately. Since then we run several Wadden trips every year. During one of those weekends a wild idea popped up: what if we downwinded the whole TV-TAS with your kite!

Prokiter Roderick Pijls has been closely involved with KiteActive from the start. He guided many of our trips and since 2020 has been increasingly active in organising them. When I told him about my plan for a TV-TAS downwinder, he didn’t need long to decide.Action!Roderick immediately dived into logistics, permits, safety and route planning. In 2022 the event finally went live on our website! Within 24 hours the trip was fully booked — a first for us. Our customer service, led by AJ, was flooded with emails, messages and calls: "Is there still space?" With more than 400 people on the waiting list we realised we had something special on our hands.

Having a cool idea is one thing — making it happen is another. Our sport depends on the right conditions. For this trip we needed specific weather: a steady west–northwest wind force 5 to 6, ideally two days in a row. With only three possible weekends in September we knew we’d need a lot of luck. Luckily, September and October are known for the first autumn storms.

During our Wadden party in the first weekend of September we checked the forecasts. The radar showed a powerful NW wind of 7 Beaufort. Tension grew — this might be the perfect condition for our long-awaited trip. It felt like the weather gods approved. But soon it became clear it was too strong to run the trip responsibly. We decided not to sail that weekend — a tough but sensible call. Still, part of the KiteActive team went out to sail part of the route, to learn the area better and train. (Want to read more? Check our blog!)

The second weekend quickly proved to have no decent wind. But the third weekend… suddenly looked amazing. A clean west–northwest wind, force 6 — exactly what we needed! We could hardly believe it.

Every day we checked the forecast at least a hundred times. You live for it: will the wind drop? Will it come back? Will it shift? We had to be certain — there’s a lot of logistics involved. Fortunately we could trust Tobias’s accurate forecasts on Weer.nl. Two perfect days with wind from the west‑north‑west. We were ready.

Originally we wanted to start at the tip of Texel, but large ferry delays were predicted. Luckily we found a quick solution: we moved the start to Den Helder. And so DEN’ TV-TAS was born.

Stoked!

Start group 2022

Nerves?

Saturday 1 October 2022

Finally the day arrived. After a restless night with a storm rolling across the Netherlands, rain hammering on the windows and a few bad dreams, we left Lemmer with the KiteActive team at 07:30. When we reached the Afsluitdijk the storm had largely eased and there was far less wind than forecast. Arriving in Den Helder we found 33 people buzzing with adrenaline in their wetsuits. This is what we call the kitesurf itch.

After a briefing, buddy assignments and handing out SafeTRX watches, the club set off with Felix in front and Thomas bringing up the rear with the sweep vehicle. Think of our team like a pack of sheepdogs: our job is to keep the group together, set the pace and make sure no one gets into trouble.

Unfortunately it soon became clear that our online briefing and the many warnings about how tough this trip is weren’t enough to ensure everyone started at the right level. The first two dropped out in Den Helder, followed by one on Texel. Sadly they couldn’t complete the journey.

We lost a lot of time at the start, so we began with a delay. Pressure was on, and we had to push on with the club that could keep up. At the Razende Bol we waved to the seals and raced on to Texel. Huge waves rolled in there, but everyone played it safe. No room for mistakes — we wanted kilometers! Because the back was crowded, the lead group and the rear got far apart and we ended up waiting at pole 17. Thankfully we were well taken care of there and could grab some energy bars and drinking water. After Jelle Hak and Klaas Einte Adema paddled 7 kilometres back to help the rear, we reconnected with the group and moved on, but we’d lost more than two hours. The pace had to increase and the message was clear: we must get to Vlieland. From there we found our speed and sailed along the Slufter, a beautiful lagoon on Texel. We reached Cocksdorp in half an hour and could see the Vliehors in the distance. Between the islands the nautical team of Fryslân was on station. Walter van Berkum and Joris de Wit, two seasoned skippers from the brown fleet and good friends, were asked to guard the passages in a RIB. That might have been even more of an adventure than kiting. As a kitesurfer you’re flexible in almost any condition — the same can’t be said for a RIB in towering waves, shifting sandbanks and all directions of swell. These guys risked a lot to keep you safe and in my book they deserve a standing ovation!

What we hadn’t counted on was how much time — and therefore water — we had lost. The tide had pulled back and the Vliehors (also called the Sahara of Fryslân, a huge sandbank at the tip of Vlieland) was largely dry. Suddenly we didn’t have a downwinder but a hard upwind to bypass that sandbank. Arriving at Vlieland huge rollers came from the North Sea and you really had to think about which direction to take. Some people made the mistake of sailing too close to the wind on that crossing, which cost them dearly since they then had to fight even more against the wind. It’s crucial to follow our team’s lines when crossing.

By the time we hit Vlieland everyone was pretty drained. It was 14:00 and we’d eaten nothing but energy bars; we’d already been on the water for five hours. Combined with the many breakwaters at Vlieland that create odd waves, it was quite a stretch to get to the Badhuys where we went from hardcore North Sea conditions to fine dining — warm inside, lunch with soup and a sandwich, croquette and a healthy roll.

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The lunch gave us enough energy to tackle the day’s last crossing, Vlieland to Terschelling. A big 13 km leg notorious for its currents, swell and hidden sandbanks. Leaving Vlieland the waves were gorgeous — "downwind downwind, wave after wave, turn after turn" (listen to the downwind song on Spotify). Once out there the group found enormous sea swells up to 4 metres. It’s an unbelievable feeling to be lifted high above the water by Mother Nature, to have that full overview and then slowly be swallowed back by the grey mass of the North Sea with nothing but water around you. The crossing went well and everyone sailed safely.

We travelled slowly along the coast via a secret spot and reached the day’s finish: West aan Zee! One by one participants crossed the line and joy exploded across screens. The Arriva bus was ready and took us straight to our hotel in West Terschelling — a great spot with a stunning view. We showered, then headed to the Wigwam for dinner together and a round of tall tales. The lead group had a few beers in skipper’s bar ’t Zwaantje and eventually everyone collapsed into bed, exhausted and completely satisfied.

With the wind at our backs the group raced off under the lead of Thomas Vidal, who was in charge that day. It was a real pleasure. Day 1 I rode a strapless Appletree Klokhouse and day 2 a Sweet Shotgun — I loved both boards. On our twintip we could really rocket over the flat water, skating just under the beach at top speed — thanks to our coach Klaas Einte Adema (Dutch kitesurf champion 2008), 89.9 km/h!! We kept a good pace and soon reached the end of Terschelling. The dunes gradually shrink and turn into a widening sandbank. In the distance you can clearly make out the lighthouse of Hollum — the target is clear. All heads together, a briefing for the crossing and go for it. The fun of this crossing is that it’s not very long and there’s a clear point to sail to. But it’s a white‑water course between the islands: bubble baths, churning pools, pyramid waves, a giant egg-crate — chaos you have to kite over like you’re on a rodeo horse. If you get thrown off you’re basically out — the current grabs your board and in those conditions you must recover it and jump back on immediately. Luckily the crossing went smooth and we sailed a beautiful line towards Ameland. On arrival we hit a secret lagoon for a short session and pit stop to drink and recover. Then we carried on into incredible waves, top conditions and a brilliant session. The coast faded away and from Ameland we reached the Kus, a lovely spot where we enjoyed our packed lunch and the surroundings. One final obstacle remained: the longest and toughest crossing from Ameland to Schiermonnikoog.
A total crossing of no less than 14 km. From Ameland you can still just make out the lighthouse. Midway lies The Reef, a large sandbank that creates extremely turbulent water. Here we faced the toughest conditions of the tour: enormous pyramid waves that sometimes launched you up out of nowhere. Staying on your board was a huge challenge.

Jelle Hak and I were the sweep vehicle and the trip went smoothly until we reached the Dodemanshoek. We soon noticed one person falling behind and unable to keep the group’s pace. He was struggling to find his board, kept getting thrown off and — because he fell further behind — had a small blackout in a part of the North Sea where you really don’t want a blackout or panic attack. Bit by bit we coached him through it and into calmer water where he found his spirit again and, thankfully, kept his head cool for the rest of the event and kept his kite flying at all costs. This incident was a mix of factors: one day of hardcore kiting leading to exhaustion, kiting at the edge of your level, losing concentration, losing your board, falling behind, seeing the rest of the pack pull away and feeling utterly alone in the heaviest conditions you’ve ever seen (even though Jelle and I were with him the whole time). You have to keep your head and keep thinking. If you want to survive this you can’t give up and must stay calm. Our team did everything to give him the confidence to finish the journey well. Once in calmer water we surfed the downwinder and it felt like a huge victory to feel the sand of Schier under our feet.

Buddies!

Arrival Schiermonnikoog

The heroes who finished!

Summary of DEN TV TAS

To me this felt like the ultimate friends’ weekend. Together with the KiteActive team we were the shepherds, keeping the group together and ensuring a safe trip. Everyone chipped in and the achievement — the amazing views, the nature, the smallness of humans, the energy of people reaching an extraordinary goal, the strong friendships and the willingness to do anything to save someone’s life — it all came together.

Saving someone under the toughest conditions, like the heroes of the KNRM did 100 years ago with a wooden rowboat pulled by horses into the sea, trying with all their might to reach shipwrecked people without losing their own lives.

The trip had everything the Netherlands has to offer: delicious waves, huge flat‑water lagoons, uninhabited sandbanks, beautiful nature, sun, rainbows, swell, rain, strong wind, light wind, seals and a huge dose of fun. That makes this voyage one for the books and I think we all screamed our happiness several times.

Difficulty level of the trip.

Your level matters above all on this tour. People underestimate the waves, the strong wind, but especially the physical and mental aspects. Everything comes together during this downwinder. You must cope with hardship. You must keep a cool head in panic situations and you must be very strong. Especially at the end of the trip we noticed some people were too exhausted to finish the downwinder safely. That’s a tough variable for us because we don’t know you. A lesson for all of us: know yourself, know your limits and don’t take risks on adventures like this. When in doubt: don’t do it!

Rogue riders!

Before this tour departed we were warned about rogue riders. People who desperately wanted to join but couldn’t get a spot and decided to do it on their own. We’d like to make a very clear statement: don’t use this blog as inspiration to go it alone or think "I’ll do this with a group of friends." The risks are huge and the price you pay if something goes wrong is high — without local knowledge you won’t get far. Never attempt this trip solo or with just friends.

Safety of the tour

A total of 6 people had to drop out during the tripThat’s far too many and shouldn’t have happened. For next year we’ll run a trial downwinder to screen who can and can’t take part.
9 on-water guides with over 15 years of kite experiencewho have raced professionally, surfed in conditions all around the world and carried out rescue operations. The latter is especially important — our team is specialised in rescuing you. We also carry the gear for that in our waterproof bag.
Safety watchesfrom Safety Tracks. Without these it wouldn’t have been possible to organise this trip. With one push of a button the watch sends your location via satellite to the KNRM, and they try to coordinate a rescue.
RIB or jet skithe big question is whether that actually adds safety. With a RIB you’ve got almost no say in these spots and you can be flipped in no time. A jet ski could guide the crossings better, but that’s also very demanding. For next year we’ll look at how to organise this better — but you should always assume no boat can get to you, except someone from our team!!!
Weather and conditionsin cooperation with surfweer.nl we had a good view of the forecasts and conditions so we had the right knowledge to make decisions.
Experience and local knowledge.Thanks to our years of experience in this area we know it inside out, which lets us make the right calls and assess situations properly.

This leaves us wanting more!!

After an adventurous weekend we returned to Lemmer buzzing with excitement and plans for next year are already underway. Is DEN TV TAS 2023 on? Should we organise a German edition too? Want to stay in the loop about fun trips and events?

Written by: felix

Source: https://www.kiteactive.com/het-verhaal-van-een-tas-den-tv-tas/