Kiteboarding Speed Record Broken - not in Namibia!
After the previous two records were set in the man made channel in Luderitz, Namibia, the speed kiteboarders of the world all presumed that it was the place to be. Well while they were all camping out waiting for the wind in the final days of the Luderitz Speed challenge, Alexandre Caizergues was camped out in Salin-de-Giraud, having the ride of his life.
The sleepy little town in France is pretty well known for being windy, but it’s more known for producing salt back in the 1990’s. They probably wondered what on earth was going on when these guys started pumping up kites and tearing up and down the channel.
Anyway, we’ll get to the point. 56.62 knots. That’s the new world record for the fastest run down a 500m straight of water with a kite. Breaking Rob Douglas’s record 55.65 knots set back in 2010, the new speed didn’t come close to the all time sailing speed record set by the Vestas Sailrocket 2 in Namibia, but hey, we’re not using multi million dollar boats here!
With nothing more than a little tiny kiteboard and a stock standard F-One off the shelf, the Frenchman hurtled along for half a kilometer doing over 100kmph. Quite the achievement if we say so ourselves!
"I am delighted. It's great, it's fantastic," said Alex Caizergues."We validate the capabilities of our spot. We knew for a while that this could happen, we could go very quickly. In a north wind blowing between 45 and 50 knots, I made at least 15 runs and every time I was over 50 knots. I enjoyed a good burst to accelerate." Luckily, Christophe Simian was there. He’s got the title of Observer on the World Sailing Speed Record Council. A very important man when it comes to official-ness of speed records! He’s going to send away some paperwork to make the record official, and then the record will stand for all kiteboarders to aspire to! Or try to beat, how about we bring the record home to Australia? Could Sandy Pt be the next record breaking channel?
Elliott Heads, QLD
