Just a quick update today, here are the results. Congratulations to all, from the new 50knot club to everyone who sailed there today, there are more than are posted here as some are just doing it for fun.
Antoine Albeau: 51.69 knots World Other
Bringdal: 51.34 knots SWE record and production board?
Patrick Diethelm: 50.49 knots SUI / ITA record
Jurjen van der Noord: 50.41 knots NL record
Cedric Bordes: 50.17 knots
Nick Vardalachos: 48.84 knots (result today NNB)
Mark Grinnel: 48.67 knots SA record
Farrell O Shea: 48.82 knots record GBR
Matthias Rottcher: 47.34 knots NAM record
Martin van Meurs: 47 knots (result today NNB)
Christian Bornemann: 46.18 knots GER record
Zara Davis: 45.83 knots World record women
Lena Erdil: 45.74 knots
Christian Benzing: 45.57 knots (result today NNB)
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| Jurjen Van De Noord - Dutch World Speed Champion Photo courtesy of Eric Bellande |
All eyes were on the Dutch today, Jurjen who posted a Dutch record on Tuesday without wearing any weight had a very fast first run setting the standards high for the day. Martin van Meurs, whom many of us credit as one of the founding fathers of the current speed surfing scene, arrived late in the week and today would be his first true speed day on the course after an amazing warm up session in relatively light winds yesteday. He had this to say about yesterdays session.
"A fantastic first sailing day for me. I decided l would trim for the big winds to come and stuck to it. I want to finetune my set if “it” happens. The canal feels like it tailormade for me, but I guess most riders will feel that way. It’s so nice to sail here and I am happy I took the last minute decision. I was stoked seeing 47 knots 500 on the dial in my first run. After that the wind got too little for my 40 wide but I kept sailing it and learned a lot. I feel convincd time will tell. It was great to hear about Jurjens Dutch record. He was the first on the water, was sharp and walked away with the day price. Congratualtions to you, it was a well deserved victory!"
He documented his journey to Luderitz, saying that there was a 'Zen like feeling' about the place, with a great atmosphere and all the competitors being relaxed and really open to sharing advice and stories. This is a real credit to windsurfing in general, the fact that everyone would like to become the Speed record holder yet willing to help others achieve it as well. Unfortunately his session today did not fair as well.
"The Zen feeling is definitely gone. I had a nightmare day which I partially created myself as I didn’t want to give up and kept going. I made a stupid crash after the finish on my first run. I basically forgot to stop. My 5.5 was torn and I had to take the 5.1 which was way too small to waterstart in a normal way. I couldn’t get the corner right and I came to a halt twice on the leeward bank, once doing nearly 44 knots. I think I broke the land sliding record by a human person which is not the record I was hoping for…… Pictures showed me just how tense I was from the crash and I completely forgot about my style. I pushed the nose down with my body nearly tilting over to the nose of the board and in two gusts I was simply pulled over the handlebars. Crouching into the boom does feels safer when you are scared, but it’s for sure not the way to move forward if you want to go for speed. I hope the fear factor won’t be hitting in tomorrow, but for now I am definitely not feeling too well. Hopefully I end up in the middle between the feeling I had when staring and the feeling I’ve got now. Congratulations to Antoine and Zara, who had her share again as well and in particular to Jurjen van der Noord who was keeping up with the big boys in great style."
The records are falling again, and I am sure when Martin wakes up tomorrow he will start over with a more relaxed feeling, after all he did show us all 50knots was possible a few years ago at The Ray, Southend, England.
Zara Davis has shown her strength, after having stitches in her forehead after her crash on Tuesday she has taken the Womens Speed record even closer to the outright GB record which Farrel O'Shea increased today. Zara has to watch out for Lena Erdil though, who is catching her.
Tomorrow I expect this will all change again, I said on a forum before all this started that I think it will end with a 54knot win, it is looking more and more possible. You can see Antoine Albeau's record run here with an amazing 5x10second average of 52.05knots!
Good speeds and winds
The Bus
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