It's back on next week and the top guns of speed are loaded up and prepped. Should be an interesting event with 100kmh over 500m the target. It's the next speed barrier that has eluded windsurfers for the last 5 years.
Antoine Albeau is now on Severne boards and sails and keen to stay top dog. Vincent Valkenaers is yapping at his heels with the full backing of Patrik for Project 100. Those are the two most likely to break the barrier if conditions are right.
On the women's side Jenna Gibson and Heidi Ulrich are back and fighting to be the first women over 50 knots for 500m.
Select to expand quoteRoo said..
It's back on next week and the top guns of speed are loaded up and prepped. Should be an interesting event with 100kmh over 500m the target. It's the next speed barrier that has eluded windsurfers for the last 5 years.
Antoine Albeau is now on Severne boards and sails and keen to stay top dog. Vincent Valkenaers is yapping at his heels with the full backing of Patrik for Project 100. Those are the two most likely to break the barrier if conditions are right.
On the women's side Jenna Gibson and Heidi Ulrich are back and fighting to be the first women over 50 knots for 500m.
Also Cedric Bordes said he is coming. Gunnar the german machine will be a strong outsider to Vincent and Antoine.
Not to forget the legend Bjorn.Jim Crossley showed some good speeds in La palme in April as well as Simon Petitfer.
Nils Bach makes his come back to the Canal.
Also some new guys like Alexander Petikidis who will certainly go after the greek record.
All participants : luderitz-speed.com/list/riders-2025/
Very exiting month ahead.
18 seconds is the magical time needed to break the 100kmh mark for windsurfing over 500m.
Official competition begins November 3 and there will be live timing avilable: lsc2025.gps-speed.com/AutoUpdateGPS.php
Tuesday the 4th looks to be the first good day of wind www.windy.com/-26.687/15.146/wind?-26.687,15.145,15
Question is will the course be ready?
Not seeing any top Neil Pryde riding speedsailors entered, looks as if their domination of speedsailing is finally over, a sad day indeed. My money is on Vincent to be the first to break the 100kmh mark, having seen him in action at La Palme a month ago he is hungry, dedicated and prepared for the challenge.
Is anyone using asymmetric boards for the channel or elsewhere?
With an asymmetric fin, one might also gain something from an asymmetry in the board, I would guess.
The ladies are saying they are aiming to be 1st female windsurfer to get 50 knts but if they get that and with a good gust they could also become the fastest female under sail record, held by Charlotte Consortini for the last 15 yrs at 50.43 knts (Luderidz 2010, kitesurf).
apparently the canal is only around 25cm deep along the 500m so they get thru alot of fins (!!!). It gets topped up with water each night as alot gets blown out during the day.
They each do around 150 runs over the month.
There is talk of it being the last year due to costs. Perhaps just gossip.
Apparently the participants have to pay around 2,000 US$ each per week x 4 weeks just for the entrance fee to cover dredging and daily maintenance. Long travel with kit and living costs on top. Sponsors help out but not that much. You have to salute their commitment.
Select to expand quotedecrepit said..
At a guess I think you still need equal planning area both sides of the fin.
I have an assay step hull with off set fin as well and it still tracks straight
Lots of wind at Diaz Point in L?deritz, the open ocean location not the channel. The Patrik team of Vincent, Nils, Heidi and Christian have been testing the latest gear. They dropped the first video here:
Select to expand quotekato said.. I have an assay step hull with off set fin as well and it still tracks straight
But does it go any faster???
The top guns are all holstered and in Luderitz. Cedric and Antoine arrived today, and took no time getting on the water at Diaz Point. Bjorn joined them for his first session.
The channel opened today, the windward side has sandbags for the full length. Antoine got some runs in and most of the Patrik riders were on the water. Wasn't super windy with around 5.8 the chosen sail sizes. 500m speeds in the mid to upper 40 knot range. Jenna was out on the water as well as Heidi. Wind picked up later in the day. Live timing not working yet.
Good instagram feed here from most of the participants. www.instagram.com/luderitzspeedchallenge/?hl=en
FMX racing www.fmxracing.com/invictus-pro-f44-2026/ have teamed up with Gunnar for this year's event. He looks to be one of the few top riders on Neil Pryde this year.
First runs from the Luderitz channel dropping on gps-speedsurfing.
500m of 44.18 for Nils Bach from Germany on Patrik. www.gps-speedsurfing.com/?mnu=user&val=489238&uid=6182
500m of 46.73 for Vincent Valkenaers on Patrik www.gps-speedsurfing.com/?mnu=user&val=489251&uid=6135
Video from Day 1
Select to expand quotedecrepit said..kato said.. I have an assay step hull with off set fin as well and it still tracks straight
But does it go any faster???
Hard to tell.. It did a 42
Tuesday 5th November, not the strongest wind on the channel today but plenty at Diaz Point.
Antoine Albeau 500m 43.97 knots LSC
Nils Bach 500m 43.17 knots Diaz Point
Vincent Valkenaers 500m 45.46 knots Diaz Point
A few days of calm until next week in Luderitz. Wind comes back on Tuesday but really kicks in on late Wednesday then Friday and Saturday look like first chance of record conditions.
Technical analysis from what has been used so far, Severne have gone for a radical rethink of their sails. Massive twist off on the foot section below the boom. Question is does this give up too much power and stability. Both Antoine and Vincent are using asymmetrical booms and seat harnesses.
Patrik have a very smooth even trailing edge on their sails. their boards are trimming much flatter to the water than the Severnes which exhibit more nose lift. It may be the Patrik sails with more shape below the boom are exerting more mast foot pressure and keeping the boards down. Patrik have also moved the batten tensioners into the luff tube rather than on the trailing edge of the sail to reduce the weight and allow the sail to breathe better.
All will be revealed next week on which design philosophy is fastest.
Some more video from Diaz point:
Patrik really are pushing hard this year. Solid team, little bits of innovation. And you can tell Vincent is going to be the man! Gunnar might battle him close potentially. And I can see the severne boys still really are fine turning and testing to get it right.
I can't wait to see what a big day in the canal brings. Anything or anyone could make it happen! And the windward edge of the canal is the best I've seen for them.
Select to expand quoteRoo said..
A few days of calm until next week in Luderitz. Wind comes back on Tuesday but really kicks in on late Wednesday then Friday and Saturday look like first chance of record conditions.
Technical analysis from what has been used so far, Severne have gone for a radical rethink of their sails. Massive twist off on the foot section below the boom. Question is does this give up too much power and stability. Both Antoine and Vincent are using asymmetrical booms and seat harnesses.
Patrik have a very smooth even trailing edge on their sails. their boards are trimming much flatter to the water than the Severnes which exhibit more nose lift. It may be the Patrik sails with more shape below the boom are exerting more mast foot pressure and keeping the boards down. Patrik have also moved the batten tensioners into the luff tube rather than on the trailing edge of the sail to reduce the weight and allow the sail to breathe better.
All will be revealed next week on which design philosophy is fastest.
Some more video from Diaz point:
Vincent in the first photo on his near WR run. Vs this year. Cant go wrong with a full belly in the sail and opened up leach with a lot of twist in the luff! Going deep off the wind.
New video explaining the thinking behind the Luderitz Speed Channel and how it works.
Select to expand quoteizaak said..
Vincent in the first photo on his near WR run. Vs this year. Cant go wrong with a full belly in the sail and opened up leach with a lot of twist in the luff! Going deep off the wind.
Sail designs went to crap when foiling came in the best NP sails ended with the RS:RACING EVOXI, I have the latest 6.5 but my old EVO 5 6.4 is so much nicer and easier to use, my new 5.3 is sweet though.
Another video on how to sail the channel:
The wind didn't come in as predicted so the waiting continues, forecast for next Tuesday/Wednesday looks more promising. Half way through the event.
Meanwhile Antoine's Zephyr project has sent down some data acquisition equipment to record data from his runs for analysis. Here's their post on progress so far:
"Here we go for a first run dedicated to "Data" with @antoinealbeau and our latest embedded measurement system.
It consists of various sensors that are recorded by a specific Android application, developed with our partner @alten_group ??
The @alten_group, inertial central in the black case, also designed with #sbgsystems allows to know with precision all the movements of the board in navigation: position, speed, acceleration but also all angles, also in speed and angular acceleration.
All data are lined up on universal time (via GPS), to analyze them on the same "timeline" and to be able to give Antoine information at the end of a run like here in the video:
In particular:
- the wind that @antoinealbeau (sensor at the front of the board)
- Strength in Antoine's harness...
This technological feat is made even harder in the extreme wind conditions we challenge, and with material transitions underwater at the start and end of navigation.
The data is sent at night to France to check if the sensors are working properly and whether the GPS coverage is reliable.
The engineers of our partners @alten_group and @team_bpce_si discort them with @marc.amerigo and the team for a better understanding of calculations, and also train models of algorithms that "learn" to navigate with Antoine Albeau's data.
Like a world first, it's done in stages, with good debriefs to make the measurements reliable when the strong wind hits.
Today was forecast to be in the 40 knot range with gusts to 50! Unfortunately it did not materialise and speeds over 500m in the channel were in the mid 40 knot range. Tomorrow should be good at Diaz point but it's not until next week, the last for the event, that the wind is forecast to be strong again.
Wind came in better than expected today so the channel was the favored location. Vincent set the fastest time of the competition so far with a 46.94 knot 500m run. Gunnar was only 0.02 knots behind! Young Brendan Lorho came third with a 46.40 knot run. The wind eases off tomorrow with Sunday the next opportunity for a decent breeze. The windsurfers are getting restless with the lack of record conditions after waiting for three weeks.
Forecast looking good for Sunday afternoon and Monday morning.
Great online discussion with Antoine here: www.instagram.com/antoinealbeau/reel/DRUP-Q3DOyC/
Live timing tomorrow at: lsc2025.gps-speed.com/AutoUpdateGPS.php
Will the 100 kph mark be broken over 500m?
Sunday and first 50 knot runs are in the bag. Course opened at high noon. Antoine was the first to break 50 knots for the 500m just after 4 PM, he recorded a 51.05 average. Gunnar clocked 50.14 knots 2 minutes later with Vincent up next later in the hour with 50.51. Both Antoine and Vincent had peak 1s speeds of 52.47 knots according to the GPS.
Penultimate day of the 2025 event and Huey decided to switch on the wind machine, Windsurfers hit the water just after 11:30AM and so far 192 runs have been recorded. Antoine leads the charge by a good margin with a 52,25 knot run over 501m. Vincent next up at 50.24, Cedric on 50.21, Gunnar at 50,08, and Brendan at 50.02, Jenna is leading the ladies with 46.77 and Heidi on 45.65.
That's all blokes...Luderitz Speed 2025 is over for this year. The magical 100kph over 500m remains elusive, Antoine came closest with a 96.77kph run. Yesterday he finally brought out some of the trick gear he had been working on with the Zephir project....anti-cav fin and aero-helmet! Cedric had a big crash with the fin a few days before but Antoine got it to hook up to beat everyone else by 1.74 knots! the aero-suit will have to wait another year, by all accounts it's not very flexible and makes it hard to jump start at the beginning of the run.
Vincent and Heidi on Patrik will be disappointed as the record breakings winds never materialised this year, they had been on site for 5 weeks and meticulously prepared.
In total 856 runs were completed this year. Young Brendan Lorho did the most with 136 runs down the channel, followed by Antoine with 95.
Here's the overall ranking for the 19 windsurfers this year.
