The 50 Knot Barrier Has Been Broken...

[Craig Bergh]

Today in Southern England, Dutch Speed Sailor Martin van Meurs had an excellent speed sailing session.

His 2 second max speed was 50.5 Knots, with a single 10 second average 48.5 Knots.

This is a top 2 second speed of 58.027 mph, and a single 10 second average of 55.775 mph!

These times will need to be verified by the Dutch Time Keeper.

About a month ago, Chris Lockwood of Sandy Point Australia had posted a session with a speed of 47.33 knots (average of (5) best 10 second intervals). This was faster than the prior record of 46.6 knots set by Finian Maynard in the French Trench in 2004.

Martin is a very pleasant fellow. When I spoke to him last month, he was interested in coming to Worthington in 2008, and doing a Speed Sailing Clinic; perhaps during the US National Championships in June 10-14.

I think this would be really great for Midwestern Windsurfing.

Merry Christmas Everyone.

Craig Bergh
Worthington

[Jeff A]

Here's the link to more info on his speed runs:
http://www.gps-speedsurfing.com/gps.asp ... 527&uid=77

Jeff A

[Uffe]

Ran across this post on a speed sailing forum in Sweden, This RS-5 is going about 50 knots in some very strong winds Flying litteraly. Pretty tragicomical. Wonder if the owner works for NP quality assurance testing. Belive it was blowing about 56 knots. !!!



http://www.surfzone.se/forum/attachment ... 1195676006

[Craig Bergh]

Here is a link to some photos taken by the Dutch on a recent trip to France. These are some windy conditions.

There are over 70 photos in the gallery. The conditions get progressively stronger laer in the sequence.

....http://50knots.xs4all.nl/gps-speedsurfi ... 20(2).html

(Paste the URL into your browser, and then delete the 3 periods. ... Click return, and you should go to the photo gallery. This is an unusual URL, and would not show up properly on this LAKAWA Forum. Tighe and I both worked on this!)

In the following photo you can see the anemometer with an Average wind speed of 45 knots (51 mph), and a Max wind speed of 65 knots (74 mph).

.....http://50knots.xs4all.nl/gps-speedsurfi ... 0(37).html

I had to ask some questions about sailing these insane conditions. Martin said he can sail winds iup to 55 knots, if the water is relatively flat. These were offshore winds. In the various photos you can see the water really is pretty smooth.

Anyway, this is a nice photo gallery. I think it is cool to see what other windsurfers are doing in other locations around the world.

Merry Christmas Everyone!!

Craig Bergh