16COMPSPEED WINDSURFING
The Prince of Speed, Nautical Mile world
record attempt in the South of France.
The Nautical mile is a tough record to achieve, as sailing flat
out for a mile is hard on the body and requires a lot of skill to
keep the speeds high over the inevitable gusts and lulls of this
long distance, it doesn’t get as much attention as the 500
records speed’s, the shorter the distance the higher the
speed. (Its why people some people always quote their peak
speeds). Its also difficult to stage because there are not many
places in the world that have the ideal conditions for this
distance. Which is why until this event the majority of the mile
records were set in Walvis bay, Namibia way back in 2006. So
it was ripe for staging a mile attempt…. but where?
Farrel O’shea and Zara Davis fist muted the idea of staging a
nautical mile challenge in the South of France over a year
ago at the very popular Le Rouet beach known by the guys
from GPS –Speedsurfing as, La Franqui. Local sailor and very
experienced speed sailor Andrea Baldini (known as Principe
to his friends) also had the dream of staging an attempt
there and took on the daunting challenge of staging a
combined 500m and mile event called the POS (Prince of
Speed). It was a lot of work bringing together sponsors and
local support for this event but Principe worked tirelessly for
over a year to make it happen. It was well worth it, read on.
The men’s and women’s Windsurfing mile record attempt
started after the 500m POS competition, The mile was a
standby event that was called with three days notice given to
the 15 riders inscripted. The existing mile record was held by
none other than Bjorn Dunkerbeck, set at Walvis Bay in
2006 at 41.15 knots. Zara Davis held the women’s outright
sailing record form the same time at 34.74kn.
The first two riders to try and beat it on the opening day the
5th July, in less than ideal conditions were his old slalom rival
Antoine Albeau who squeezed it in before he flew out to
Fuerteventura for a PWA event and Oisin Van Gelderen who
stayed on after the 500m event. The phrase, ‘Close, but no
cigar’ for Antoine both he and Oisin Van Geren set new
national mile records for France and Ireland at 41.02 and
35.88 knots, respectively but no men’s world record.
The wind then disappeared till the 16th and official 500m
national record holders from all over Europe, Including
Christian Bourneman from Germany and our very own Farrell
O’shea, plus GPS specialists all turned up to try and add the
mile to their trophy cabinet and who knows the World record.
It was worth it with national mile windsurf records for
Germany, Italy, Switzerland and France but again no men’s
world mile record. Was Bjorn’s record safe?
There were some fast speeds posted by the men on the16th
including legendary speed windsurfer Thiery Bielak fastest at
39.79 knots and Andrea Baldini the event organiser taking
the National mile record for Italy at 39.03. But no one went
faster than Antoine on the opening day and no men’s world
record so another wait till the next call which was the coming
Saturday the last chance before the event closed.
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WIND
SURFING
Saturday arrived, so did the wind and the dark horse from
Belgium, Vincent Valkenaers. A young, little known
speedsailor, who has been making a name for himself online
on the GPS rankings but never entered an official record
attempt before. Even though he lives in Belgium he calls this
site La Franqui his home spot. With his knowledge of the site
and the stronger winds he proved he is a force to be
reckoned by taking the world record from Bjorn on his
second run with an amazing speed of 42.23 knots.
Zara Davis had everything to lose at this event. As the
current women’s world 500m and mile record holder at
46.49 knots and 34.74 knots respectively. Zara’s mile
record was also set in 2006 and equipment and competition
had got better and she knew it was a going to be a close
competition with speed specialists Heidi Ulrich from
Switzerland and Marie Paul Geldof from Belgium. On the
16th of July her first time at this venue, Zara was out to do
her best. After a long day of runs she managed to up her
personal record to 35.34 knots over the mile course but this
was not enough as Heidi was 0.6 knot faster at 35.91, this
meant Heidi took Zara’s world record.
Zara was very disappointed and then had to fly home to the
UK to see patients at her clinic Walnut Grove clinic where
she works. The only chance she had of getting it back before
the fixed period for the attempt was the following weekend
when more strong wind was forecast. With everything
crossed she flew back out for the next strong wind session
three days later. The mission to fly back was worth it, they all
went faster but Zara by the smallest of margins managed to
get the outright world Nautical Mile speed record back.
She managed 37.29 knots over the long mile run. It was
Zara’s day, the closest Heidi could get was 37.16 knots,
0.13 of a knot slower than Zara. This record is faster than
any women on any sailing craft (boat, windsurf, kitesurfer) of
all-time and is the outright record.
Kitsurfers were also taking part with Roger Oernvang getting
the men’s Swedish record, Marin Teattla getting the women’s
world and French records and the inspirational Chris Ballaois,
who achieved the men’s world and French record despite
having only one arm!
All speeds quoted when published in this article are
subject to ratification by the WSSRC (World Sailing
Speed Record Council).
Organiser Andrea and Zara