Crikey, the kitefoil guys were nearly twice as quick to finish the race as the nearest, fastest windsurfer

http://hydrofoilprotour.info/news/san-francisco-day-3-race-report/

"Today also provided some entertainment with the local outrigger paddle boats racing along the shoreline of Crissy Field and sharing the National Park with other watermen. Both kiters and windsurfers raced the course with Johnny Heineken finishing in just over 45 minutes and Nico Parlier a mere 19 seconds behind. You can not drive to Berkeley and back in that time! The bullet finisher for the windsurfers finished in just over 88 minutes. That is on a formula board meant for speed. The hydrofoil kite racing is truly amazing in terms of speed."

Two questions. Is this a true and accurate report of the event? And who's going to post this on the windsurf forum?

haha! Yeah I thought about doing that, but then decided I had better things to do like mow the lawns The report is straight off the official St Andrews Yacht club/Hydrofoil Pro Tour page, its an accurate record of what happened.

I wonder......
That's speed over a set race course, upwind and downwind prevailing.
Anyone here ever pass a good windsurfer on a reach?
Extreme angles are ridden at relatively LOW board speeds, certainly well under 17 mph upwind, and a bit more downwind, but what is the higher end speeds on a reach?

Nick oarlier did 41knots on a reach on his Course racing foil this week at Hydrofoil Pro Tour Rockingham
Most if the top 20 are doinf 33-36knots downwind on a windward/leeward course

Has that translated to freesailing at all yet?
Sure, it's happening at the racing events, mostly course racing, but what do we see everyday out in the water?
I haven't sailed with Johnny Heineken ever, but do sail with Chip Wasson and Mike Zaicheck on their foils and foil kites.

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LeeD said...
I wonder......
That's speed over a set race course, upwind and downwind prevailing.
Anyone here ever pass a good windsurfer on a reach?
Extreme angles are ridden at relatively LOW board speeds, certainly well under 17 mph upwind, and a bit more downwind, but what is the higher end speeds on a reach?

Regarding slow board speed at extreme angles....
Most top riders are doing around 26mph upwind and 37mph downwind during a race

..and what is their reaching speeds?
24 mph?
Chip Wasson and Mike Zaicheck kill me upwind and downwind, going much slower than me, a mere rec non racer old fart. When they decide to say "hi" and sail across the wind, I walk away from them with freeride kit.

reaching @ 30+ isn't an issue

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LeeD said..
..and what is their reaching speeds ?......I walk away from them with freeride kit.

When you say "free ride kit" do you mean free ride windsurfing equipment or free ride kitefoil equipment ? I think the only way windsurfers can hope to match kitefoil speeds and angles is with hydrofoils of their own. Any form of displacement hull is just outmatched against foiling equipment in 99% of conditions.

Just a couple of weeks ago we've seen kitefoil destroy the record for the fastest Lighhouse to Leighton crossing (avg speed circa 33 knots across 19 kilometersbof open ocean) as well as dominate the Lancelin Ocean Classic against windsurfers over a similar distance (25 kilometres , 26:08min versus 29.42)