www.gps-speedsurfing.com/default.aspx?mnu=user&val=90655&uid=3693

5 x 10 = 48.03

Spotty Luderitz next yr for you!!!!!!!!

stoked for Anders, and glad he posted. The board he's using is identical to the plug that I sent to the factory for production.

DaGodfather said...

Windxtasy said...

How do you pull up at the end?

...using a handbreak ...

tsk tsk tsk, if he was wearing his boardshorts on the outside this wouldn't have happened.
Apparently the Kiters made a deal with the local warlord that they can use the canal as long as they lose the boardshorts.

Nice article,great to see Chris and Spotty get some press too. Just throw Tony and Mal into the mix as well and let the cream rise to the top

Can you sail Luderitz canal any time of the year or is it restricted to the competition window?

Is anyone else suspicious of the claim that in Luderitz Anders became "the fastest windsurfer in the world...ever"?

This is dubious at best. Anders' best 500m was 47.43 knots which is considerably slower than Antoine's world record of 49.09 knots, and also Finian's previous record of 48.7.

We'll never know what Antoine's and Finian's peaks or 5 x 10s were, but it takes a great leap of faith to suggest Anders went faster.

Sure Anders has the highest peak and 5 x 10 "ever recorded" but to claim that he is "the fastest windsurfer in the world..ever" is BS.

pretty sure AA or FM haven't seen a 50 on the dial yet- even on the days they broke the official 500m record. The canal is pretty special like that- the peaks are similar to the 500m.

I think the difference is to do with the start gate position. Its much shorter in Luderitz- maybe half the distance. Only 5 seconds from the corner to the gate. IMHO thats not long enough to accelerate to full speed at the start of the run. I havent seen Anders' tracks but I bet this is the reason for the difference in peak/average. From my experience, above 40kts even on a ball tearing run the acceleration is limited on average to just over one kt/sec, sure the peaks are a bit higher but over say 5 seconds the average is back around the 1kt/sec mark. So it would seem logical that even if Anders was doing 40kts around the corner (it doesnt look like it from the vid), he would only be doing 45kts by the start gate. His track log would show it pretty clearly.

Thanks for posting Mattias.

From the videos it looked like the wind was extremely gusty, and the track logs prove it. The canal banks are quite high, and steep, so its not surprising that the wind would be highly turbulent at windsurfing sail heights. The hills just upwind certainly don't help either. I sailed there before the canals were built and found the wind to be very gusty, despite the land immediately upwind of the water edge being very flat.

So Anders' speeds are really outstanding considering the wind conditions.

The canal in France is a different beast, with the land upwind being flat for a long way when its coming off the mountains, and dead flat for the few hundred metres to the ocean. There is very little to disturb the wind. Added to that the canal surface is raised by a few metres and it is pumped full of water, so the combined wind and water state is significantly better than anywhere else I've sailed.

yoyo said...

I read that Anders had a peak speed of 50.7knots. I haven't heard or read of anyone having a faster peak speed. ergo, he is the fastest windsurfer.
Fastest over 10s, 500m or NM etc are just averages.

For fun GPS peak speeds check gps-speedsurfing.com

To me Antoine and Tony are stil the fastest windsurfers as they are record holders in formal record hunts by two different coucils/committees.

This takes nothing away from Anders great speeds in Luderitz.