49.09 Official

We have a new world speed record holder, Antoine Albeau.

Seems his peak speed was just under 55 knots, thats just smokin'!!!!!!!!!

Good to see windsurfer still has it, not some weird useless boat or a kite.

Ian K said...

I share your sentiments Stewie, but brace yourself for Hydroptere. I've heard it's the one to watch. It's a proper boat, it's even got a railing you can lean over to watch the ocean slip by below.

www.metacafe.com/watch/501669/hydroptere/

Yeah but they've got inspirational, cinematic music and all, I think that may be breaking the rules.

hardie said...

shear tip said...

Do we know if he was wearing a GPS? I'd love to see a 2 sec peak.

There's a photo of him wearing one.

Where? where? where are you getting all this info from? Please share.

So the windsurfers are clawing their way back to where the kiters are...

Only 0.7 of a knot to go. At least the poley record is official.

New world record! YAY!!!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Speedsailing World Records tumble in Saintes Maries de la Mer

Antoine Albeau (FRA, Starboard) and Patrik Diethelm (ITA, F2, North) have broken the existing speed sailing records today in Saintes Maries de la Mer, France.

After months of waiting for the big mistral winds, the speed canal at the shores of the mediterrean sea came to life again.

Strong mistral winds with 45-50 knots hit the speed strip in a perfect angle, and although the conditions were quite gusty several riders set personal best speeds.

Already the first runs of the "big three" Antoine Albeau, Patrik Diethelm and defending world record holder Finian Maynard (BVI, F2) showed, that this day would have the potential to become historic.

At 9:30 hours Patrik Diethelm was the first one making waves, setting a new world production speed record with his F2 Missile XS at 46.51 knots, subject to WSSRC ratification.

Around noon, 12:29 hours exactly, Frenchman Antoine Albeau hit a big gust and flew down the 1km man made canal. The scoreboard stopped at 49 knots, after extensive video checking with the observer from the World Speed Sailing Record Council, the speed was verified at 49.09 knots, 0.4 knots faster than the old record of Finian Maynard.

The riders then pushed for the elusive 50 knots mark, the magical barrier in speedsailing around the world, but til the end of the day no one was able to increase the previous performances.

this is from [email protected]

Why?

It doesn't matter if the lift if produced by displacement (60' Crossbow ), Longshot (hydrofoil) or surface planning (windsurfer).

All three have held speedsailing records. Both planning and hydrofoil use hydrodynamic lift to keep the boat/board afloat. At least Hydroptere still floats when it is not moving unlike Antoine's 35x213 cm board.

X-man said...

nebbian said...

So the windsurfers are clawing their way back to where the kiters are...

Only 0.7 of a knot to go. At least the poley record is official.

New world record! YAY!!!

Their GPS is surely less accurate than official speed recording equiment. If so many of them break world records why wouldnt they get the official organisation to record their speeds? Congrats if they do

i always wondered about thathmmm..i know there is a plan to merge the sailing and kiting under the wssrc..if they(kiting) made a trench it'd sure be wide for deeper angles..i hate to say this but i think hydroptere has a really good chance since flat or rough seas doesn't really affect the craft so much and in just a couple of outings hit 45 easily that's incredible for such a big onebut congrats in advance to AA one hell of a run makes us all proud

NotWal said...

Is the kite record not considered the wind speed record or was the kite record not appropriately ratified?

Is kiting actually sailing?
Maybe need 3 categories for speed records.
Cat. 1 : craft with fixed mast.
Cat. 2 : craft with uni joint mast.
Cat. 3 : craft with mast made out of string.

what is the current official mens record on a kite? anyone know?

after watching many kiting and windsurfing DVD's, from a spectators point of view, windsurfing seems to be alot like tennis where there is a large difference between the power or dynamics of the top mens tennis compared to the top womens tennis (absolutley no insult to womens sport intended here) - with the williiams sisters probably being the closest to mens in tennis as far as physical strength, and the Marino twins in windsurfing - unlike kiting where the difference between the top mens and womens doesn't seem to be anywhere as great which would make kiting a terrific generic sport where absolutley everyone including all males and females have an equal chance at being the best at what they do when competing against one another regardless of sex