From Rob Munro
Wow! Luderitz went off the scale today and so did the internet!!!
Massive winds hit 2nd Lagoon today during the warm up to the Luderitz Speed challenge 2009! Not only were potential GPS records set and broken, but the wind took out the internet dish and the whole of the Luderitz area is now official cyber-blacked out!
BUT, the information via old-school-comms, the telephone is simply insane.... Sebastien Cattelan hit a VMax of 61.7kts and, subject to ratification, has set a new Record for the 10 Second average of 56.5kts including a 56.8 10 Second run and an even more important 53.058kts 500m just before the official start of the WSSRC event!... Read more
Hennie Bredenkamp and Basil Cambanis were on hand, as well as World Kitespeed Record holders Alex Caizergues and Sjoulkje Bredenkamp, who all went out in some serious winds hitting 48kts! Alex and Hennie were touching on the 58's VMax with 53's on the 10 second runs, but Hennie, who borrowed a new Bandit promptly destroyed it after his 2nd run, with what he muted as his "worst beating for years," went on to to Diaz Point with his sailboard, but couldn't keep the tail down using a 4.2 Stealth! Manu Taub trashed an 8m Bandit, Sophie has damaged her ankle and most were on the sidelines watching the day unfold due to the super strong winds. Sjoukje's 4.5m was too much to risk and Charlotte was tip-toeing down the strip. Luderitz showed it's teeth today and all are hoping for more to come!
Winds were solid all day, with a good angle, but spin drift and more, didn't stop Seb from using a 9m kite in winds close to 50 knots! What is to come for the month ahead??? Who knows, but it has certainly been preempted by major and World beating GPS speeds so far (subject to ratification!)
Keep an eye on www.gps-kitesurfing.com for sessions being posted and on www.luderitzspeed.com for all of the news from Luderitz (once the internet has been restored!)
Regards
Robhttp://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id= ... nge?ref=mf
Sorry No Windsurfing info yet
Mike Pacey
You can say what you want about the boardies over the wetsuit crowd but that is bloody fast...
hrm 62 knots of max ????
maybe it is time for us to use 4cm speed fins, or ?
so, let the kiters feels happy about that.
for me, kite it is different sport, and every sport need to have its records
so far we know who is the fastest windsurfer, are we?
With all other sailing craft the rig and the board are measured as one unit.
The gps speeds we get from the Kites only appear to measure the speed of the craft(sailor) and not the rig(kite) which appears to be a long distance in front(at the start).
So when they are doing timing gates for the official record do they start timing as the first part of the rig goes through the start and finish timing as the last part of the craft or rig goes past the finishing gate?
The gates are at water level (or just above) so they measure what goes through them, they are generaly(?) linked to Video so there's little room for mistakes
My attempt at an explaination of the "slingshot"effect Gooscrew is refering to is to compare it s to being whipped around a corner when waterskiing. You are travelling considerably faster than the boat that is towing you.
The implication is that you "slingshot" around the Kite that is towing you and are therefore moving faster than the kite.
So if this is correct the rider can travel the 500 meters faster than the kite.
Am I correct in my explanation gooscrew?
Some more physics:
If the kite is considered to the the part of the vessel that is timed, then it would be easy to get an artificially high speed by starting the course with the kite dead downwind, then whipping it forward to the edge of the wind window by the end of the course.
You're far better off by measuring the object with the highest mass (ie the rider).
Kite boarding is not sailing -
Its wake boarding behind an wind powered aircraft rather than behind a power boat.
eventually the kites will just boost ppl down the 500 meters in the air without even touching the water :)
Awesome country side no wonder it gets windy over there,the guys kiting remind me of the speed skiers we get here on the river similar stance/
The guy was travelling 60+knots across the water....that's ballsy and quick. as long as he is powered by the wind I dont think it matters how he got that speed, just a big congrats for getting it. just my opinion.
'Must admit I've gotta say: poor Seb.
He's put so much time & money into running this thing (twice now).
Takes the record in it last year, but is just pipped at the post by another competitor...
..then pulls 60 kn a day or two after the '08 event finishes...
..and now he's pulled a 61.7kn peak, but more importantly a 52.93kn 500m...
...but 4 days too early for it to be official!!!
...I'm guessing only one thing must be going through his head right now; dunno what how it's spelt, but it'd have to be the French version of "D'OH!!",..
.. "D'OH!, D'OH!, D'OH!, D'OH!, D'OH!, D'OH!!, D'OH!, D'OH!, D'OH!, D'OH!, D'OH!!, D'OH!, D'OH!, D'OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!!!!!!!".
.... poor fella.
Still, the fat lady ain't sung yet; who knows, Wednesday's conditions may crop up for them again while the event's running.
Go Seb.
why poor ?
He has the official 10-sec-GPS-world-record now, subject to ratification by the WGPSSRC.
