World Speed Sailing Record Attempt Namibia 2006

Tuesday, 10 October 2006

Yesterday co-organizer Juergen Geiger clocked a 47.3 knot top speed testrun in our record attempt venue, with an average of around 44 knots. This all without preparations and just "out of the box" in 35 knots conditions and an angle of 135 degree. We will do some more preparations on the spot until the record attempt starts and thus are sure to achieve some real wave making results !

Die Veranstaltung beginnt nach dem ISA Worldcup übernächste Woche, dauert 4 Wochen, mit den 20 folgenden Fahrern (2 Plätze sind noch frei):

• Alain de Gendt
• Alessandro Comerlati
• Bjorn Dunkerbeck
• Christian Bornemann
• Darren Barker
• Dave White
• Frank Stein
• Franz Grabner
• Hennie Bredenkamp
• Henrik Klagges
• John Benamati
• Juergen Geiger
• Maaike Kallenborn
• Morten Knutsen
• Nick Vardalachos
• Rob Munro
• Thomas Doeblin
• Zara Davis

Quote from FloHBrand

Wenn sich keiner mehr findet um die 2 Plätze zu besetzen würde ich mich zurnot aufopfern und mitfahren

@ Totti stellst du wieder Bilder und Berichte ein ???

Gruß Florian

Hehe, kein Thema. Die Startgebühr liegt bei rund 3.500?...

Klaro, Pics und Infos folgen. Heute ist der erste Tag vom Worldcup, Infos dazu in dem anderen Thread hier im Forum.
Der World Record Attempt findet ganz in der Nähe vom Worldcup Spot statt, direkt im Anschluß...

Grüße

Totti

Sooo, 2 Tage noch. Am 26. geht es los. Hoffentlich ist dann mehr Wind als jetzt zuletzt, die Prognosen bis zum Beginn nächster Woche sind allerdings miserabel...

Wednesday, 25 October 2006

We got some wind today, but the preparations for the record attempt that starts tomorrow even didn't allow for timing some testruns. All competitors left with a big smile from the first visit of the record attempt spot today, and there is already a chance for the first sailing session tomorrow.

Riders briefing will be tomorrow at 10:00 and hopefully we can go on the water directly afterwards!

Good Forecast

Although the wind conditions are only marginal at the moment, we are looking forward for some free sailing in the next days with a very good forecast for mid of next week. Still a lot of days to go, but from strength and direction Wednesday and Thursday are looking really big. Everyone is optimizing his equipment for the big days. All we need is a 30+ knots day and a lot of records will go down for sure!

Monday, 30 October 2006

The first windy day here in Walvis Bay brought again a real flood of new records on the nautical mile course set up today.

Bjorn Dunkerbeck missed the world record by only 0.5 knots, but set a production record on the mile with 39.52 knots. Hennie Bredenkamp (RSA), Alain de Gendt (BEL), Dave White (GBR), Franz Grabner (AUT), Frank Stein (NAM), Nick Vardalachos (GRE), Thomas Doeblin (GER), Morten Knutsen (NOR), Maaike Kallenborn (NED) on the windsurfers and Juergen Geiger (NAM) as well as Rob Munro (GBR) on the Kiteboard all set new national records on the mile (records subject to WSSRC ratification).

The forecast for tomorrow is even better so we are expecting new records set again tomorrow, hopefully we see the first world record going down!

Three world records have been broken today, subject to WSSRC ratification !

Bjorn Dunkerbeck (T1, North) bettered the old nautical mile record by more than one knot to 41.14 knots, Zara Davis (T1, Gaastra) also bettered the world record by more than one knot to 34.74 knots and Rob Munro (Cape Doctor, Naish) set a new Kitespeed world record over the mile with 35.65 knots.

A lot of national records have been also broken, full report and pictures will be posted tomorrow !

Speedsailing Record Attempt Walvis Bay 2006

The first day on the 500m course brought some more new national records, Nick Vardalachos from Greece made it to 38.92 knots and Morten Knutsen to a new Norwegian record at 36.98 knots. Weymouth Speedweek winner Nigel Bowley is going for a new British Kitespeed record with 41.38 knots.

Zara Davis from Great Britain set a new british womens record with 37.24 knots, after several times checking the official timing video.

All new records are subject to WSSRC ratification, but commissioner Michael Ellison so far confirmed the speeds.

Top speed of the day was set by Dave White from Great Britain at 42.91 knots on his production Tabou Manta 49, directly followed by Bjorn Dunkerbeck. Also joining the 40 knots club were Alessandro Comerlati and Darren Barker.

Sailing will continue tomorrow hopefully on the sandbar in Walvis Bay, and then we are waiting for the really big days in the salinas!

Thursday, 09 November 2006

The waiting game has begun another time, and the competitors enjoy themselves in the meantime with some freesailing and alternate activities like paragliding, shark fishing, quadbiking and some rounds of golf.

The forecast is looking good for the next weekend end middle of next week. We'll see what we get!

Friday, 10 November 2006

The forecasts here are giving us really a hard time, out of nothing we get a nearly 30 knots forecast for the next two days. Decision will be taken tomorrow morning for the sandbar or the salinas. The sandbar was prepared today with another course, which might give some extra speed, so lets see what we get in the end!

Saturday, 11 November 2006

Everything was ready on the sandbar and for a quick move down to the salinas today if the winddirection and strength would be right... but all we got was a slightly breeze in the evening. Perhaps the 10 knots that we were missing today are coming tomorrow in addition to the 23 that are forecasted...

Sunday, 12 November 2006

Not enough wind to break any records, but a nice training session for all the guys. Best speed from Hennie again with nearly 39 knots in 20 knots average wind. Impressive ratio so far!

The kiters session was won by Rob Munro with over 37 knots, and Maaike Kallenborn did nearly 33 knots in that low wind conditions.

The forecast for the next days is not looking so good, but we learned in the last few weeks not to be surprised if the forecast is wrong. So we still have hope!

20 knots of wind gave a nice training session today. As soon as the course was closed, the wind started to blow with more than 30 knots - but only for 10 minutes. Until the riders were back to the start, it dropped already again, so we "only" got a 40 knots maximum today. Here are the speeds:

Henni 40.08 knots
Thomas 38.24 knots
Nick 38.00 knots
Nigel 36.40 knots
Alain 36.21 knots
Alessandro 35.94 knots
Rob 34.98 knots
Maaike 34.43 knots
Darren 35.34 knots
Frank 34.24 knots
Christian 34.19 knots
Henrik 32.78 knots
Juergen 32.67 knots
Manu 32.67 knots
John 31.77 knots

The next days are looking again not so good, but we learned in the last 5 weeks to give a shit on the forecast ! So there is still hope for the remaining week of competition.

Still waiting

One week to go, and we are still not getting the wind that we need to beat new records. All day it is enough for good sailing, but not for really record breaking action.

But - one week to go, and a lot can happen!

Quote

Von: Nikos Vardalaxos

HELLO EVERYONE,

yesterday 20th of november we had a new greek record on the 500m. course!!!!

40.41 kts!!

now the greek record is a serious one..

best regards,

Nick Vardalachos, GR 800

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Herzlichen Glückwunsch!!
Hat es den richtigen getroffen, Nick ist ein Netter!!

Tuesday, 21 November 2006

The weather surprised us again with a nice 25 knots average day and a good angle on the sandbar, giving some more sailors the possibility to join the 40 knots club.

Alain de Gendt set a new Belgium record, closely reaching the appropriate margin with 40.15 knots on his production Missile XS. Nick Vardalachos improved his own Greek record, set just two weeks ago, to 40.41 knots. Also new in the 40 knots club is Frank Stein from Namibia with 40.41 knots.

Maaike Kallenborn achieved a new personal best with 36.48 knots but unluckily missed the appropriate margin to get it accepted as a new womens production board record, so her record is still standing at 36.45 knots.

All records are subject to WSSRC ratification.

Full results from yesterday:
Alessandro: 40.92 knots
Nick: 40.41 knots
Frank: 40.41 knots
Alain: 40.15 knots
Thomas: 39.81 knots
Nigel: 39.42 knots
Christian: 39.11 knots
Manu: 39.04 knots
Rob: 38.00 knots
Juergen: 37.53 knots
Maaike: 36.48 knots

The forecast is still not looking good, but as it changes permanently we have still hope for the remaining few days. Stay tuned!

Wednesday, 22 November 2006

As the wind seems to blow from the right direction in the salinas only during night at the moment, we gave it a try yesterday and went out for a night session. Unfortunately it was very cloudy and totally finsterness came to early. One more hour of light would have enabled us to do some serious speeds, but so far we got only a good 39 knots in 6 runs.

But the salinas prooved that they work in the right wind conditions, unfortunately the record attempt period ends tomorrow and there is not much hope to get some extra records.

But anyway, the result of the event is quite impressive, with five world records and 19 national records broken. Almost all of the riders set new personal best speeds on both the nautical mile and the 500m strip.

Perhaps we get a last session in tomorrow before we pack our stuff and everyone is heading home!

The 2006 record attempt is over!

Everyone is back home now, recovering from the challenges of the past few weeks. The 2006 record attempt is over!

Although we missed the big goal to break the 50 knots barrier, this event was extremly successful, with three world records broken, another two production world records, 19 national records and 14 personal best speeds achieved over the distances of 500m and the nautical mile.

All record claims are now forwarded to the WSSRC for ratification.

A full report will be published later on.