My son Alex is 12 years old and last week he broke the 30 knot speed barrier. This is a world record for a child under 13. His maximum speed happened to be 30.82 knots.

I had been windsurfing for only 3 or 4 years in 1983 and vividly remember Fred Haywood setting a world record as the first sailor to break the 30 knot barrier. Of course they didn't use GPS like we do now and his speed was measured over 500 metres. But he also achieved 30.82 knots just like Alex.

In 30 years windsurfing sure has come a long way!

Fred Haywood was a 34 year old professional windsurfer who was 6'2" and weighed 90kg. He used a 6.2m sail with an especially designed winged mast which was such a difficult rig to use that he was never able to gybe with it.

Alex is a 12 year old that weighs just 36kg and was not carrying any extra lead in a weight jacket or even using a camber-induced sail. Alex's complete rig retails for less than $600 whereas Fred's mast alone was worth $1300 in 1983 (almost $3000 in today's money). Alex can use the same rig he used to break the 30 knot barrier as he uses to gybe, wave sail, pull off flat-water forward loops and freestyle. In 1983 it would have been extremely difficult for a child as young as Alex to already have 5 years windsurfing experience because the rigs would have been too heavy for him to start learning so young.

It would have been unimaginable in 1983 that, 30 years later, a kid that had just finished primary school would be able to match what an adult man could achieve then.

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KA360 said...

It would have been unimaginable in 1983 that, 30 years later, a kid that had just finished primary school would be able to match what an adult man could achieve then.

Well done Alex. ^^^

Great stuff.

However, 30 years of evolution is a very long time.

Three decades of brainstorming.

One would imagine the unimaginable might be attained by then.

What happened was this:

Polesurfing gear got very much lighter.

They tech-ed it up a few notches.

It's that simple.

A lot of the adults here really struggle to break 30.

To be fair to Fred, his girlfriend was Joyce D'Ottavio, so he probably was worn out most of the time.

Joyce

google Fred Haywood, he now sells real estate on Maui.

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KA360 said..

My son Alex is 12 years old and last week he broke the 30 knot speed barrier. This is a world record for a child under 13. His maximum speed happened to be 30.82 knots.

I had been windsurfing for only 3 or 4 years in 1983 and vividly remember Fred Haywood setting a world record as the first sailor to break the 30 knot barrier. Of course they didn't use GPS like we do now and his speed was measured over 500 metres. But he also achieved 30.82 knots just like Alex.

In 30 years windsurfing sure has come a long way!

Fred Haywood was a 34 year old professional windsurfer who was 6'2" and weighed 90kg. He used a 6.2m sail with an especially designed winged mast which was such a difficult rig to use that he was never able to gybe with it.

Alex is a 12 year old that weighs just 36kg and was not carrying any extra lead in a weight jacket or even using a camber-induced sail. Alex's complete rig retails for less than $600 whereas Fred's mast alone was worth $1300 in 1983 (almost $3000 in today's money). Alex can use the same rig he used to break the 30 knot barrier as he uses to gybe, wave sail, pull off flat-water forward loops and freestyle. In 1983 it would have been extremely difficult for a child as young as Alex to already have 5 years windsurfing experience because the rigs would have been too heavy for him to start learning so young.

It would have been unimaginable in 1983 that, 30 years later, a kid that had just finished primary school would be able to match what an adult man could achieve

WILL THIS EVER END !!!! GIVE US ALL A BREAK !!!!

Wow - Credit where its due.
Well done Alex. I'm 63 and still looking at the 30 knot barrier......

Well done Alex! Amazing speed for someone so light!

Well done Alex! Despite what everyone says about the gear being much improved, etc it is a great achievement, not only to break 30 knots, but also for someone so young to show the maturity to stick with a sport for 5 years while many of his peers have difficulty concentrating on things for longer than 5 minutes...
Good luck - I hope to see the 40 soon.

Well done Alex, that is a great achievement. Then or now, 30 knots is fast!!

Nicely done, Alex! I've been sailing for more than 30 years, but I guess my mind is still stuck in slow progress a la 1980 - no loops yet, and even my top speed is about the same. I'll have to try harder :-)

Well done Alex, 30 knots is a great effort and something you should be super proud of. I hope to see you at Gerroa soon so we can share some wave together with your dad.

Akim, The kids are look really comfortable out there now...Big leaps and bounds since I first saw one of the boys out there only a few months ago. Way to keep the sport alive, I'll be down there soon to catch up and go for a sail with you all....I hope I'm not the slowest one

Alex doesn't need any credit for hitting 30knts because we all knew he could do it , Alex needs some credit for his gutsy effort
i'm not sure if everyone has the big picture ,
i was sailing on a n/p 5.5evo111 on an 80lt slalom board and was way overpowered to the extent i couldn't sail off the wind in the flat water let alone out in the chop ,so the inevitable did the walk of shame
when i got into the ramp Alex had something like 29.9 on the dial and was rigging from a 3mt to a 3.6 to nail 30knts off the wind,
the board he was riding was a cut down naish sp60 speed board, i thought he was rigging for a one big down winder to hit the 30+, but to see him heading out time after time in 25 to 30knts on a speed board took a lot of guts and skill, sanctuary point isn't sandy point in a n/easter , its lumpy uneven chop ,
this board isn't the board you would like to be riding in heavy chop well done Alex

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PubMenace said..

KA360 said..

My son Alex is 12 years old and last week he broke the 30 knot speed barrier. This is a world record for a child under 13. His maximum speed happened to be 30.82 knots.

I had been windsurfing for only 3 or 4 years in 1983 and vividly remember Fred Haywood setting a world record as the first sailor to break the 30 knot barrier. Of course they didn't use GPS like we do now and his speed was measured over 500 metres. But he also achieved 30.82 knots just like Alex.

In 30 years windsurfing sure has come a long way!

Fred Haywood was a 34 year old professional windsurfer who was 6'2" and weighed 90kg. He used a 6.2m sail with an especially designed winged mast which was such a difficult rig to use that he was never able to gybe with it.

Alex is a 12 year old that weighs just 36kg and was not carrying any extra lead in a weight jacket or even using a camber-induced sail. Alex's complete rig retails for less than $600 whereas Fred's mast alone was worth $1300 in 1983 (almost $3000 in today's money). Alex can use the same rig he used to break the 30 knot barrier as he uses to gybe, wave sail, pull off flat-water forward loops and freestyle. In 1983 it would have been extremely difficult for a child as young as Alex to already have 5 years windsurfing experience because the rigs would have been too heavy for him to start learning so young.

It would have been unimaginable in 1983 that, 30 years later, a kid that had just finished primary school would be able to match what an adult man could achieve

WILL THIS EVER END !!!! GIVE US ALL A BREAK !!!!

There seems to be some history here, which I'm glad I am ignorant!

Well done Alex and well done your Dad for taking the time to getting you into the sport.

Alex that's a special achievement and I know from 27 years experience that Sanctuary Point can be a challenging flat water spot. In fact, I had my second sail there at the age of 15 and got hammered in 20 knots on a John Hall 340 and nearly ended up in Sussex Inlet. Last time I was there I cranked out 37 knots near the marker in the 20cm chop!

Times have certainly changed!

Congratulations and spend plenty of time over in the bay. Your skills will improve faster than in the basin! Over the Christmas break, I did a few days practice over in the bay in 25knots with a 6.6 and SL55 slalom board. Plenty of full on downwinders with peaks around 32-33knots in the metre high chop. It's hard, but it pays off with better balance and strength. Enjoy mate!

Well done Alex and Akim. Alex couldn't have done it without a lot of parental support and encouragement, and Akim, you have every right to br a proud parent.
30 knots is quite an achievement for a lightweight. It is not easy.

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Bonominator said..

. Last time I was there I cranked out 37 knots near the marker in the 20cm chop!

!

hey that sounds like Ado Ado i was there that day and you still hold the record in chop and scary stuff, i had a look at Arkims tracks in realspeed and he got a 35.60 heading to the marker on the speed board with a 17cm weed fin ,and a 36.60 in flatter water not the weed bed,
but now you have lost the 2 sec crown to mudskipper you'll have to come back next year and snatch it back

Well done Alex your going to go a long way

I think this is a great achievement for any one let alone a 12 year old, how cool.
last week I was out on a wally one design and cracked 20 knots on my GPS at soldiers point in lumpy crap. i was thinking how far the sport has come since I sailed these things in the late 70's 80's and now I want to go 30 knots on some newer gear.
Today I was out sailing with my 14 year old son on wally boards and thinking how cool this sport is, that a 50 year old can be racing a 14 year old around a made up track and having a great time.
Long Live windsurfing

Aloha

LEGENDARY!!!

Trying to teach my 3 year old son that he need to learn to swim before He can wind surf! He see's the boards in the garage and asks to go windsurfing - the future looks bright!

He can carry a wave board already!

Aalex - when I was your age Pascal Maka was the fastest man! And he still cool today!

You've got a good head of hair there Alex.

Fred Haywood once said he sailed so fast that it blew the hair off the top of his head.

Get a helmet if you plan on going any faster, as I'm sure you will.

Part (if not all) of the reason Fred couldn't gybe the sail is because it was designed with a wire from the mast head down to his harness (visible in the advert).

Clarence

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keef said..

Bonominator said..

. Last time I was there I cranked out 37 knots near the marker in the 20cm chop!

!

hey that sounds like Ado Ado i was there that day and you still hold the record in chop and scary stuff, i had a look at Arkims tracks in realspeed and he got a 35.60 heading to the marker on the speed board with a 17cm weed fin ,and a 36.60 in flatter water not the weed bed,
but now you have lost the 2 sec crown to mudskipper you'll have to come back next year and snatch it back

Maybe I'll try a speed board next time

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KA360 said..
It would have been unimaginable in 1983 that, 30 years later, a kid that had just finished primary school would be able to match what an adult man could achieve then.

Indeed.

It is an interesting thought-experiment to imagine what would have not been available today (for example, carbon-fibre), had say the aero-space program not been created... ie: we may have eventually created some cool stuff, but probably not as soon as we did.