Luderitz Speed Challenge New World Record of 54.1 knots

[cardsinplay]

During the first week of the Luderitz Speed Challenge, five kiters surpassed the 50 knot barrier. The fastest of them all was Alex Caizergues from France with a blistering run at 54.1 knots

It didn't take long for the world's best kiteboarders to absolutely obliterate the world speed record of 51.3 knots held by the huge French foiling trimaran, L'Hydroptere. With two weeks still left in the Challenge meeting, it is very likely that even higher speeds will be seen.

See the run here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DezbKUPhAvM

[Doug Lord]

Hydroptere remains the fastest sailboat in the world with more than one crew.
Congratulations to the Kite guys but where are the boards?
----------
PS-how these guys can claim a record when it is achieved sailing in a ditch is just preposterous!!!!!!

[SteveMellet]

Doug, I wasn`t aware that the WSSRC had a separate record for sailboats "with more than one crew"..
Your logic here is that it is less of an acchievement because it`s only one person sailing the craft, defies your love of all things moth-related ? So your recent blabbing on about a moth doing 31knots is now less of an acchievement because it`s a 1-person boat. I suppose if he had crew on board it would be even more impressive, so I`ll have to agree with you.

And having a trench in which the record takes place makes it "preposterous". I suppose it`s a matter of opinion based largely on whether you accept a kitesurfer of windsurfer as a sailing craft. Others would say that it`s "preposterous" that a boat that isn`t in the water can still call itself a boat, and that it`s record is no more a sailing record than a sailplane with a long fin that dives at 250km/h and dips it`s fin in the water.

My opinion is that Hydropteres acchievements are nothing less than amazing, given they sail in open waters, and that Alex`s acchievements are nothing less than amazing, given that he has to sail in a narrow trench in 40-50knots, I`m guessing that if he asked you or me to hold his kite for a minute while he goes to pee, we`d be dead in less than a minute.

[BWD]

Some people can sail anything, anywhere, and do it well.
Some can even sail 5 foot long boards over 100km/h
(54.10kts, eat it doug!)
down a narrow channel in 30-50kt winds,
powered by a kite.

Some people waste their time with little red toys and denigrating their betters.

Instead of imagining fanciful toys, why not try imagining having the strength and skill to sail a board (hydrofoil ) down a narrow channel at 60mph with nothing but your own strength, guts, and brain to rely on?

Reality comes knocking, even here.

[Doug Lord]

Originally Posted by SteveMellet

And having a trench in which the record takes place makes it "preposterous". I suppose it`s a matter of opinion based largely on whether you accept a kitesurfer of windsurfer as a sailing craft. .

================
Windsurfers and kites are sailing-thats for sure-but to equate a record set in a ditch with one set in the open ocean is,well, preposterus. It ain't right and makes a mockery of the whole "record" claim.....

[cardsinplay]

Doug, you may want to quit before it gets downright ugly.

However you want to slice it, Alex has not just passed the record of L'Hydroptere, he has totally blown it away. His new mark betters the old one by a gigantic amount. Before this run, new records were being measured in tenths of a knot and loudly proclaimed. This one is a full three knots higher and the boys and girls in Luderitz aren't done yet for the year.

Perhaps a rethink of your posturing with regards to L'Hydroptere is in order. Certainly taking a moment to project oneself into the pure physical requirements (if you can do this) and discovering just what it takes for a human to scream across any water at 54+ knots, much less the specialized course as used, would have the potential to draw you closer to the skill needed to perform this task.

This is the kind of rare moment that comes along every once in a very great while in sport, where an individual so demolishes the established norms of progression, that the sporting world is completely stunned.

Your attitude needs some significant work so that you can grasp the meaning of the moment.

[Doug Lord]

Originally Posted by cardsinplay

Your attitude needs some significant work so that you can grasp the meaning of the moment.

=============
I think what the kite guys have done is an accomplishment to be proud of.
However, equating sailing fast in a ditch with what Hydroptere has done just doesn't cut it.......

[cardsinplay]

You prefer to spend some ungodly amount of money (some say in the region of 20 million euros) for a foil riding boat that has not proven that it can sail effectively in the open sea. Did it not break-up when pushed hard when well offshore? So, it all comes down to the amount of cash spent and that's what moves your little cursor?

It's a pretty sad day when a human being refuses to properly acknowledge the accomplishments of another human being making use of the least expensive materials to produce the highest speed ever recorded. Higher, by a very big margin, than anything done by the 20 million euro boat.

The point, here, Doug, is that plain old everyday humans can relate to the single guy on the equipment that even he can buy. They do not relate to the massive amounts of money spent to hold the record for a very short period of time.

[Cheesy]

Whats even better is that it looks like there is a pretty good chance that this new record can be beaten

[CutOnce]

I'm still new here, but out of my fascination with unusual people I've read through a lot of threads driven by the local "personality".

I really don't think arguing with this person is a worthwhile endeavor. The battle and rage itself appears to be the interest, not the topic under discussion.

--
CutOnce

[cardsinplay]

Agreed, Cheesy. I'm looking for Douglas and Cattelan to step it up a notch and then it'll be some kind of Challenge cooking for the last two weeks of the session.

Cut Once: I think you are right with that opinion. Ignore mode in full effect.

[Cheesy]

There is some more bits and pieces here:
http://www.kiteforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2366900

looks like there really could still be a lot of development work to be done for kite speed runs

[Cheesy]

Originally Posted by cardsinplay

Agreed, Cheesy. I'm looking for Douglas and Cattelan to step it up a notch and then it'll be some kind of Challenge cooking for the last two weeks of the session.

Cut Once: I think you are right with that opinion. Ignore mode in full effect.

Just wait until someone on a course racing board beats a moth and lands a jump at the same time.....

[Doug Lord]

From Scuttlebutt:
---------------------

MODERN SPEED SAILING - NOT FOR THE PURISTS
Paul Larsen (GBR) has pursued the outright world speed record for nine
years, and currently holds the B Division (from 150 to 235 sq ft) record of
47.36 kts with his Sailrocket craft. Here are his comments regarding the
latest movement of the outright record:
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Naturally I have been following the kite surfers latest outright world speed
sailing record attempt with great interest. Yesterday (Tuesday) they really
stamped their dominance on the sport by breaking the record by the biggest
single margin in the sports history.

54.1 knots is pretty impressive as it not only jumps through 60 mph but also
over 100kph... so that's all the closest big round numbers dealt with then!

Our genuine congratulations go to Alex for being rewarded for the effort he
has put in. I think you also have to respect the effort put in by the team
behind the event who have continued to optimise the course and seen the
results improve with each iteration.

Whether you think a kite is a proper boat or not is a contentious issue. I
don't think it is a boat in any form... but it is definitely a contender for
the outright world speed sailing record and I don't even mind the ditch they
are running down. Sure, it's not for the purists but as long as it is
unaffected wind and water... then it's in in my books.

So how do these speeds affect us? Well they vindicate our decision to park
the old boat and build a new one. I'm pretty sure that the speeds are also
out of practical reach of all the other boats we have seen to date. Part of
the reason I say this is because I think that the kites still have a few
knots up their belt. They are not subject to the same issues of ventilation
and cavitation that windsurfers and boats are, well not to the same degree
anyway, and with a few readily available tools they can make an ideal
course. That's a big part of the equation.

So is this it for the boats? Definitely not, but we are coming to the end of
an era that requires something new. The beauty of this sport is that it is
unique in sailing for bringing the diverse fraternities together and putting
them head to head at their absolute limits. You have wind-surfers,
kite-surfers, foilers and 'boaters' all going balls out for the perfect run.
Everyone has their ideas, beliefs and favourites, they pick their sides and
this makes it interesting. -- Read on: http://www.sailrocket.com/node/272

[Munter]

All this open ocean vs ditch talk is just semantics. I'd be pretty confident that Hydroptere doesn't do her maximum speeds out where there are large ocean swells and slows down under those conditions. The same goes for a kitesurfer. The videos that the hydrop team put out when they claimed the record showed them sailing in a relatively sheltered bay with an offshore wind - ie not ocean swells. It wouldn't surprise me if they were also looking for the smoothest water they could find.