Quieter on the canal today, looks like Saturday through Tuesday could serve up some epic conditions and records could fall again. Great to see the winds come in for everyone making the trek to Luderitz. I believe Antoine was on his 5.8 most of yesterday and it was gusting to 50 knots. How windy does it have to be for him to get the 5.3 out of the bag!
I would have thought smaller sail = less drag
Not always, if you have the height and weight to load the sail/wing up you can get into the drag bucket range where the lift to drag ratio increases. One of the reasons why a foil isn't faster unless you can increase the wing loading like the Americas Cup boats do.
For those into aerodynamics, look at the shape of A2's sail, very Prandtl-esque in profile!
Wouldn't the drag from the bigger sail be small in comparison with the drag from Antoine's body?
Quieter on the canal today, looks like Saturday through Tuesday could serve up some epic conditions and records could fall again. Great to see the winds come in for everyone making the trek to Luderitz. I believe Antoine was on his 5.8 most of yesterday and it was gusting to 50 knots. How windy does it have to be for him to get the 5.3 out of the bag!
I would have thought smaller sail = less drag
Not always, if you have the height and weight to load the sail/wing up you can get into the drag bucket range where the lift to drag ratio increases. One of the reasons why a foil isn't faster unless you can increase the wing loading like the Americas Cup boats do.
For those into aerodynamics, look at the shape of A2's sail, very Prandtl-esque in profile!
Wouldn't the drag from the bigger sail be small in comparison with the drag from Antoine's body?
What's happened to AAs quest for 60? There was R&D and suit and wind tunnel stuff going on and all that's different is sail colours LOL
The Zephyr project stalled out, all the aero work is great when you are at higher speeds but unless you can make a foil go that fast, it's useless. They worked out early on the foil was not the way to go as there was no way to get it loaded up and handle the power. AA has gone back to a traditional windsurfer setup as it works and the drag reduction from streamlining the body doesn't do much at 55 knots.
Antoine and the boys spent the last few days sandbagging the edge of the course down towards the latter half, seems to have paid off keeping the rolling chop down.
Actually they sank the sandbags to reduce the wave rollings so the waves are going over the bags, and not hitting them and going back in the channel,
Also creating a pocket of water on the right side (going down the canal), that help spread the wave movement is making it really really nice this year from what everyone is saying.
4 windy days ahead... Bjorn has left, so the battle is now between Antoine and Gunnar.
Antoine and the boys spent the last few days sandbagging the edge of the course down towards the latter half, seems to have paid off keeping the rolling chop down.
Actually they sank the sandbags to reduce the wave rollings so the waves are going over the bags, and not hitting them and going back in the channel,
Also creating a pocket of water on the right side (going down the canal), that help spread the wave movement is making it really really nice this year from what everyone is saying.
4 windy days ahead... Bjorn has left, so the battle is now between Antoine and Gunnar.
Good luck Brendan! Awesome to see you improving each time on the canal! And gives us young lightweights a heap of inspiration to send it. Wish we had a venue here at my local that was over 500m long of flat water. I'm hoping to get there next year maybe. See what happens if the event is on again. Good luck over the weekend you're on fire
Actually they sank the sandbags to reduce the wave rollings so the waves are going over the bags, and not hitting them and going back in the channel,
Also creating a pocket of water on the right side (going down the canal), that help spread the wave movement is making it really really nice this year from what everyone is saying.
4 windy days ahead... Bjorn has left, so the battle is now between Antoine and Gunnar.
Thanks for taking the time to post an update Brendan, great to hear what's happening firsthand. Fantastic 50 knot 5 x 10 sec average on GPSSS, the number of runs you have done down the canal is awesome...you're a machine mate! Hope the breeze comes in for the weekend and you get a 50 knot 500m, you are so close. You remind me of a certain windsurfer who was just as relentless at 19, his first name is Bjorn and you have the same size, power and technique he had.
Antoine and the boys spent the last few days sandbagging the edge of the course down towards the latter half, seems to have paid off keeping the rolling chop down.
Actually they sank the sandbags to reduce the wave rollings so the waves are going over the bags, and not hitting them and going back in the channel,
Also creating a pocket of water on the right side (going down the canal), that help spread the wave movement is making it really really nice this year from what everyone is saying.
4 windy days ahead... Bjorn has left, so the battle is now between Antoine and Gunnar.
Good luck Brendan! Awesome to see you improving each time on the canal! And gives us young lightweights a heap of inspiration to send it. Wish we had a venue here at my local that was over 500m long of flat water. I'm hoping to get there next year maybe. See what happens if the event is on again. Good luck over the weekend you're on fire
Maybe they need to revisit the 500m standard or add 250m record
4 nice days of wind ahead youpiiiii
Today should be pretty good but stronger wind is forecasted to come rather late.
Tomorrow looks like very very very nice... earlier breeze so we could expect the peak around 1pm which is usually very nice
Monday also good forecast too...
I believe Ben will do a live again so you can catchup on his channel. There are no 4g signal at the end, a bit in the middle and some decent in the start. Dad is going to run up and down to feed the videos to Ben but it s exhausting to walk in the muddy side, so keep in mind when nothing comes up he is walking ahah.![]()
Thanks for your kind words... will keep pushing![]()
According to the live ranking, Brendan has just clocked a 50.17.
Congrats!
Brendon, can I ask your weight?
You seem to be quite tall, but not a big fella by speedsailing standards.
Boy, would I love to be there today!
The Live Ranking is not absolutely reliable but this does look like a new world record by AA.
Surprising how he can just go so much faster then Gunnar when it comes to absolute top speeds.
Epic winds today, December 1st 2024.
And tomorrow, Monday December 2nd, looks to be at least as good.
Maybe even 1-2 knots more. Hopefully the wind direction is OK too.

AA's 53.64kts done on proto EVO XVI 5.3 on custom Werner Gnigler 40 wide JP speed board and 19cm UFO fin. The board rides flatter with a bit more wetted area which he says gives him more stability compared with the production JP 40 that rides more on the tail.
The sail has a larger foot like his sails from 2015, you can see it extends back under the boom with a cutout for the boom.
Wind 45 knots at the start of the course as it bends round. Wind direction swinging from 200 to 230 degrees, optimum according to AA around 218.

Great result for Jenna. Interesting she was on a Neil Pryde sail and Patrick board rather than her sponsors Duotone kit.
Guess the new Duotone speed board, made to order, not yet on their website was waiting for final testing on the canal. Seems to be doing ok![]()
Jenna might have gone faster today, subject to checking the videos. I noticed her previous best 500m speed was around 38.5. The canal is better than West Kirby or La Palme, but its a massive jump in speeds. She posted on FB that F-Hot fins made several fins from 18 to 21cm in 0.5cm increments as she wasnt yet sure which size would work the best.
worthingwatersports.com/blogs/news/duotone-falcon-speed-d-lab?srsltid=AfmBOooMSHfRHcZ9AU1AkbBkEAaugu3tQ5lR7iqjBxdWWJbx8yv34fN4
Guess the new Duotone speed board, made to order, not yet on their website was waiting for final testing on the canal. Seems to be doing ok![]()
Jenna might have gone faster today, subject to checking the videos. I noticed her previous best 500m speed was around 38.5.
Jenna did 39.59 on the 500m course when we were at POS in La Palme earlier this year, and subsequently did a 41.42 for 250m at West Kirby. Like you say, doing a mid-47 is a massive jump though.
Jenna has been improving constantly throughout the year. This time last year she broke her ankle, when she had her first go on a speed board. 12 months later, and she is breaking world records!
Great result for Jenna. Interesting she was on a Neil Pryde sail and Patrick board rather than her sponsors Duotone kit.
Guess the new Duotone speed board, made to order, not yet on their website was waiting for final testing on the canal. Seems to be doing ok![]()
Jenna might have gone faster today, subject to checking the videos. I noticed her previous best 500m speed was around 38.5. The canal is better than West Kirby or La Palme, but its a massive jump in speeds. She posted on FB that F-Hot fins made several fins from 18 to 21cm in 0.5cm increments as she wasnt yet sure which size would work the best.
worthingwatersports.com/blogs/news/duotone-falcon-speed-d-lab?srsltid=AfmBOooMSHfRHcZ9AU1AkbBkEAaugu3tQ5lR7iqjBxdWWJbx8yv34fN4
I think she may have been on the Patrik speed board when she broke the record today.
Antoine's speed from today corrected down to 53.49 knots over 500m. Jenna's corrected to 47.58 knots.
Brendan continues his assault on the canal, 169 recorded runs, his best 50.62 knots over 500 for third overall this year. He deserves to get the "Terminator" nickname, well done mate!
Antoine's speed from today corrected down to 53.49 knots over 500m. Jenna's corrected to 47.58 knots.
Brendan continues his assault on the canal, 169 recorded runs, his best 50.62 knots over 500 for third overall this year. He deserves to get the "Terminator" nickname, well done mate!
Interesting her time on GPS Speed surfing the 500m was the same as the official results

Antoine's speed from today corrected down to 53.49 knots over 500m. Jenna's corrected to 47.58 knots.
Brendan continues his assault on the canal, 169 recorded runs, his best 50.62 knots over 500 for third overall this year. He deserves to get the "Terminator" nickname, well done mate!
Interesting her time on GPS Speed surfing the 500m was the same as the official results

The gps-speedsurfing speed was from 27th Nov, not Dec 1st, which was 47.72 for the 500m. Chances of that happening?
www.gps-speedsurfing.com/default.aspx?mnu=user&val=458802&uid=22769
Not as windy today but Jenna has done a 48.10 kts 500m to raise the women's record again. Video correction will probably knock it down to just under 48. Brendan puts in another 20 runs, to bring him up close to 190 runs down the channel!
Edit: Revised down to 48.03 knots, new women's windsurfing WR. 2 sec GPS of 50.05 knots, first woman over 50 knots on GPS.
Not as windy today but Jenna has done a 48.10 kts 500m to raise the women's record again. Video correction will probably knock it down to just under 48. Brendan puts in another 20 runs, to bring him up close to 190 runs down the channel!
Brendan is getting the maximum value for money ![]()
I saw Simon did 49kts on the Chris Lockwood Mistral 41 from about 2012. Pretty awesome for an old board ![]()
I saw Simon did 49kts on the Chris Lockwood Mistral 41 from about 2012. Pretty awesome for an old board ![]()
Same board did 51.54 knots over 500m back in 2012. Once fast always fast! It was also the first board to go over 50 knots for the 500m. www.surfertoday.com/windsurfing/anders-bringdal-breaks-the-50-knots-speed-windsurfing-frontier
www.gps-speedsurfing.com/default.aspx?mnu=user&val=111127&uid=3693&spotid=2927

Interestingly that there's no One Sided booms this year
Except for the one Antoine is using and broke the record with!

Awesome board! Anyone know what board Jenna was on today?


The 45 cm is her lightwind board. She's got a selection of boards down to 37 cm wide.