49.8 knots over 500m... on a kite!

So close yet so far.... 0.2 of a knot on the 500 from the magic 50.

Will he get another chance before Dave White at the Ray, Finian at the canal and MI at Sandy Point get there first in the next few months.

Whats the difference between a wake board being towed by a boat and a kite board being towed by a kite?

Nothing.[}:)]


As far as the WSSRC
http://www.sailspeedrecords.com/rulesbook/index.html
are concerned there are two distinct divisions for this discussion.

1. up to 10 sq.m SAIL area

and

2. a division for Sailboard with kite sails

Choco.. "The top ten on the kite gps site makes the windsurf site look well slow"

Bold claim!

No.10 on the Kite GPS Top 10 2007 = 41.3kn

No. 10 on the Windsurfing GPS Top 10 2007 = 43.9kn

At Walwis where kites ran with windsurfers they were off the pace. I think the best kiter couldn't get in the top ten overall.

Their main advantage is that they can run in 10cm or less and they can go way deep off the wind. This skimboard ability may be one of the reasons they are not recognised by the ISAF for the outright sailing speed record.

However, this doesn't lessen Alex's superb effort. He deserves to be congratulated, as do all the kiters knocking on the door of 50 knots.

I think it's brilliant what the kitesurfers have achieved, good on them. It should be no surprise either, Jim Drake, the inventor of the windurfer and physicist, stated 6 years ago that the laws of physics would determine that kites would put the speed record out of reach for every other water craft.

I think one of the issues here was that windsurfers for many years in order to differentiate and defend against the massive interest and defection to kitesurfing, would claim that windsurfers were much faster than kitesuring. This has come back to haunt us a bit.

Kitesurfing is deveoping it's own culture, and creating it's own boundaries, as it should, it's normal, and it's natural evolution.

Ask your self why you windsurf, most probably it's coz of the feeling you get, the investment you have put into it also creates the feeling, and some of the friendships you have made with similar minded people, also motivates. Is the only reason you windsurf, because it is a sport that held the status as the fastest water craft on the water?

For me personaly I have been windsurfing for 23 years and I have a lifetime invested in it. I am trying to reach the magical 40 knot barrier, it's what I'm striving for, and when or if I reach it, it will be a lifetime achievement and a magical buzz. I could get on a jetski tommorow, whack on my gps, and crack 40 knots, it might feel good, but what's it gonna mean to me? Similarly with kitesurfing, if I dedicated myself to it as I do with windsurfing, maybe I could break 40 knots within a coupla years, but it just aint gonna mean the same thing.

Viva la difference, good on the kiters, they deserve this, they believed in themselves, and were passionate about what they were doing.

Remember the famous words by President Kennedy "Why are we going to the moon......... Not because it's easy, but because it's hard!!"

It's a fundamentla psychological principle, meaning and a sense of achievement is positively correlated with degree of difficulty!

quote:

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Originally posted by jp747

no one ever thought of putting short hydro fins along the sides of the sailboard so it'b a hybrid of the hydroptere and kiteboard.. [snip] if not it just might break 55 in an instant....

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Having just written that stuff, I'm not trying to take anything away from this achievement.

Hey Matty, good read mate

I think it's different apples, and teabagging's not for me, but 50 on anything would be awesome

quote:

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on an official course, the distance from board to kite (along the path of travel) changes significantly; one could argue that such a craft would be required to have the same length (along the path of travel) at the start and finish lines, otherwise there is an unfair advantage (relates to previous point of different speeds).

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Get a smaller fin Jp