Just for a bit of fun, let’s collate some times. Post your results to seabreeze.com.au with details of your equipment, wind and water conditions and comments. Post your GPS data on a speed site if you use one. Use this format thanks:

Sailor:
Date:
Time of day:
Wind speed:
Wind direction:
Board:
Sail:
Fin:
One way time (Seacliff to Glenelg):
Return time (if done):
Comments:

For more details:
Practice course (PDF) – course picture included
SA Calendar (PDF)

Article submitted by Richard Upton

l’Hydroptère, the French foiling trimaran became the fastest yacht on the planet yesterday, setting a new record for the 500 metre mark of 51.36 knots, thus beating the previous record set by kitesurfer Alex Caizergues who held the previous record of 50.57kts set in Namibia last year.

Alain Thébault and his crew also set new records for the 1000 metres lifting this mark from 43.09kts to 48.72 kts.

The records were established at Hyères (and are subject to the ratification of the WSSRC). A westerly wind of 28 kts was blowing for the records.

During the run Alain Thébault and his crew hit 55,5 kts (103 km/h) and a set a mean velocity of 51.36 kts

see the pics @ www.sail-world.com

©Oskar Kihlborg/Ericsson Racing Team

While we might be striving to better 50knots, please take time-out to appreciate the feats of Ocean Racing Ferrari’s.

In late October, Ericsson 4 broke through the 600 Nautical Mile Barrier – try doing that on a windsurfer. That’s an average 25knots per hour for 24hrs straight. Read more

1/Dec/2008 to 28/Feb/2009
Starboard are the proud sponsors of this competition. You can sail anywhere + anytime throughout Summer in South Australia and post your track to either GPSSS.com or GTC or email them to me, and I will collate all the tracks and information over the Summer and provide a result at the end of the season. Highest numbers across the board win…….but it’s not about winning, it’s about getting out there and having fun.

Divisions of 2 sec, 5x10sec, NM, 1Hr, Alpha 500 + Distance. Highest results per category are then totalled for each competitor to provide a ‘point’ score for the season. These will then form a ranking at the end of the season.

You must be a current financial member of Windsurfing SA or affiliate
www.windsurfing.org/files/SA_MSHIP.pdf

Trackpoint only as some sailors have GPS units that are not doppler enabled.

So get out there, and get your speed up and your distance.

Chris Dimond – 0419 035 031 chris@dimond.com.au

50 knots broken again, new outright speedsailing record
Alexandre Caizergues (FRA) is the fastest sailor on earth now, with a blistering 50.57 knots run today, accompanied by several more 50s and high 49s. Several more national outright records have been broken today in Luderitz, full results, pictures and interviews at www.luderitz-speed.com

Full details, pictures and reports can be found at
www.luderitz-speed.com

The event started with challenging conditions as the wind was pretty light in correlation to the deep angle of the course. The top speeds came close to 40 knots, with a close battle between Albeau and Diethelm. With improving wind speeds Dunkerbeck came closer, but was never able to really challenge the top duo. The places behind were hardly fought for between Maynard and the Moussilmani brothers, Slalom specialists Dan Ellis (GBR, Fanatic) and Peter Volwater (F2, North) as well as living legend Anders Bringdal (SWE) completing the top 10.
 
With higher wind speeds and the high tide in the afternoon the top speeds improved over the curse of the week, with Antoine Albeau again setting the top speed of the event with 40.54 knots average over the 500m speedcourse.

The womens competition was ever more thrilling, with a tie in points after 4 races between Karin Jaggi and Valerie Ghibaudo. Karin was then able to take advantage of the harder conditions towards the end of the competition, and closely snatched the victory. The final place on the podium was open for a long time, with Zara Davis (GBR) retiring after round 6 it became close between Marion Raisi and Emanuelle Duby (FRA), with the better end for Marion.

Australia’s Chris Lockwood (Carbon Art, KA Sails) came in at 12th,
and recorded a speed of 38.35knots

Daily reports and pictures free of charge are available
at www.speedworldcup.com. Also see Results PDF

At the mandatory skippersmeeting this morning at 10:00, all racers received, besides the last instructions, their personal GPS-device which identifies them during the race and enables a world wide audience to follow the racing action live on the internet. For the first time in the history of speedwindsurfing the official WSSRC timing system is combined with GPS timing. Thus all tracks of the speedsailors can be followed on the live spectator in real  time.

The first possible start was set at 12:00 am, but needed to be postponed by one hour as the wind was not suitable at that time. The combination of an average windspeed of 23-24 kts and a wind angle of 135° resulted in a top speed  for winner Antoine Albeau of 37.01 kts. Quite impressive in these tough conditions. The fastest women was Valerie Ghibaudo, she sailed an average speed of 31.39 kts over 500m. So the Frenchies did it again!

Tomorrow we expect the same wind conditions, but the tide will go down even a little bit more. The skippersmeeting will be held at 10:00 o’clock again, with a first possible start at 11:00 hours.

The Speed Windsurfing World Championship continues until the 2nd of August, with daily races scheduled from 10:00 hours on. The race can be followed live on the internet at www.speedworldcup.com

There was only a modest turnout, but in the end, the results were:
35.4 knots Sam Doecke
35.1 knots Tim Hemer
32.1 knots Chris Dimond
29.8 knots Richard Upton (27.9 on the Kona)
29.3 knots Norm Clarke
26.8 knots Nick Bellgrove

Crazy day, and super cold once again, but then that’s what this winter racing is all about.

The next round is on the weekend of 16/17 August, and will either be slalom or speed again depending on conditions.

Hope to see you there – Chris Dimond AUS06

Series Results to date