Starts Monday 4th November. Forecast for the first day looks good gusting to 40 to 50 knots. Hope they finish digging out the canal and have it ready in time. Antoine is back for another crack at the windsurfing speed record.

Unfortunately the canal wont be ready to open this week. One of the diggers sank into the sand and has to be freed, putting back the construction. Forecast looks good this week and next. Also some discussion this may be the last year for the L?deritz speed event.

Forecast: wx.iwindsurf.com/spot/86416

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Roo said..
Unfortunately the canal wont be ready to open this week. One of the diggers sank into the sand and has to be freed, putting back the construction. Forecast looks good this week and next. Also some discussion this may be the last year for the L?deritz speed event.

Forecast: wx.iwindsurf.com/spot/86416

Thats a shame!! Hope the comp runs a week longer for them. I bet a few would be upset. I wonder if AA's zypher project will come out? His been testing it heaps from 20knt winds to 50knot condition's a fair bit.

Maybe just maybe, in a ben profit video i saw. They can get a canal dug on the sand flats at LA Palme! Imagine how many more could afford to enter. Have spectators and logistics a lot easier! Plus it could be an event that can happen twice a year!

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izaak said..

Roo said..
Unfortunately the canal wont be ready to open this week. One of the diggers sank into the sand and has to be freed, putting back the construction. Forecast looks good this week and next. Also some discussion this may be the last year for the L?deritz speed event.

Forecast: wx.iwindsurf.com/spot/86416

Thats a shame!! Hope the comp runs a week longer for them. I bet a few would be upset. I wonder if AA's zypher project will come out? His been testing it heaps from 20knt winds to 50knot condition's a fair bit.

Maybe just maybe, in a ben profit video i saw. They can get a canal dug on the sand flats at LA Palme! Imagine how many more could afford to enter. Have spectators and logistics a lot easier! Plus it could be an event that can happen twice a year!

@izaak the Zephyr project has given up on breaking the overall speed record with a foil, they are back to windsurfing with a few surprises in store for Luderitz. The Greenies in the south of France have made it very difficult to dig another canal, Pascal Maka has been trying for years to get one done. The old one at Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, a couple of hours east of La Palme, can still be seen on Google maps. maps.app.goo.gl/iFiXFmwHJjh9FoiN7

What a shame there was a chance the world record could be broken today? Anyone there? At least some GPS records could be broken at Dias Point if the conditions were right?

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Roo said..

izaak said..

Roo said..
Unfortunately the canal wont be ready to open this week. One of the diggers sank into the sand and has to be freed, putting back the construction. Forecast looks good this week and next. Also some discussion this may be the last year for the L?deritz speed event.

Forecast: wx.iwindsurf.com/spot/86416

Thats a shame!! Hope the comp runs a week longer for them. I bet a few would be upset. I wonder if AA's zypher project will come out? His been testing it heaps from 20knt winds to 50knot condition's a fair bit.

Maybe just maybe, in a ben profit video i saw. They can get a canal dug on the sand flats at LA Palme! Imagine how many more could afford to enter. Have spectators and logistics a lot easier! Plus it could be an event that can happen twice a year!

@izaak the Zephyr project has given up on breaking the overall speed record with a foil, they are back to windsurfing with a few surprises in store for Luderitz. The Greenies in the south of France have made it very difficult to dig another canal, Pascal Maka has been trying for years to get one done. The old one at Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, a couple of hours east of La Palme, can still be seen on Google maps. maps.app.goo.gl/iFiXFmwHJjh9FoiN7

I did think that was the case! Hopefully the Frenchies get something happening again. Going to take some time and a lot of hurdles to get through no doubt!
in the meantime we will wait in Tassie for the potential causeway to be built in the windiest part of our state if the planned wind farm gets underway.

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izaak said..

Roo said..
Unfortunately the canal wont be ready to open this week. One of the diggers sank into the sand and has to be freed, putting back the construction. Forecast looks good this week and next. Also some discussion this may be the last year for the L?deritz speed event.

Forecast: wx.iwindsurf.com/spot/86416

Thats a shame!! Hope the comp runs a week longer for them. I bet a few would be upset. I wonder if AA's zypher project will come out? His been testing it heaps from 20knt winds to 50knot condition's a fair bit.

Maybe just maybe, in a ben profit video i saw. They can get a canal dug on the sand flats at LA Palme! Imagine how many more could afford to enter. Have spectators and logistics a lot easier! Plus it could be an event that can happen twice a year!

Next week is looking pretty epic, will give everyone a chance to warm up and get tuned it before the dogs get let off the leash! Sadly not many riders there this year, about 15 signed up. Good to see two ladies entered, both will be aiming for the woman's windsurfing record of 47.06 knots set 2 years ago. Antoine, Gunnar and Bjorn will be trying to break 53.27 knots over 500m set by AA in 2015.

I hope it stays for a few more years. Fingers crossed. It's on the bucket list. I truly hope records will be broken this year to show importance of the event. An safe sailing to all participants

Exploring the other potential spots in this world continues. That's the exciting part. ??

Might be time to explore wind chop flattening ideas again. ? Maybe another thread.

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Crasher said..
I hope it stays for a few more years. Fingers crossed. It's on the bucket list. I truly hope records will be broken this year to show importance of the event. An safe sailing to all participants

Exploring the other potential spots in this world continues. That's the exciting part. ??

Might be time to explore wind chop flattening ideas again. ? Maybe another thread.

We know the spot, it just needs a few mods to make it perfect.

Looking good at Luderitz this week. Four days of wind gusting over 40 knots. The big boys are in town, Antoine and Bjorn ready to rumble! Canal almost ready.

This was how it looked 2 days ago! Sounded like a few were in there practicing starts and getting well down the run. Should be on!

Saw a post earlier in the day which I cant find now to post it here, that said the canal was full and the comp would start today, can anyone confirm this?

Yes its on, Karo Van Tonder first run 40.74kts

Only 2 sailing, low speeds, must be wrong direction or light?

Here's a link to the live ranking. AA on 46.3 knots/500m so far.

luderitz-speed.com/ranking-2021/

Today at Diaz Point, Brendan Lorho.

Riders are starting to get twitchy in Luderitz. The canal finally reopened yesterday after another 8 days of low winds and maintenance to dig out the shallow spots. Forecast for next week looks promising, only 2 weeks left in the 2024 edition. Brendan Lornho has done 47 runs down the course!

Livestreaming on Youtube with Ben = .TV

A2 with top run of the day at 51.83 knots over the 500m. TBC new women's 500m record for Jenna Gibson at 47.41 knots, beating Heidi Ulrich's record of 47.06 knots from 2022. Jenna only took up speedsailing earlier this year, currently races on the PWA tour. She's named after another famous speedsailor from the early days of the sport.

Antoine and the boys spent the last few days sandbagging the edge of the course down towards the latter half, seems to have paid off keeping the rolling chop down.

Apparently the video result is 47.36 knots, so 0.3 faster than Heidi's 47.06 WR.

Those of us who sail with her regularly (Portland Harbour) aren't really surprised. She's got so fast this year!

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K888 said..
Apparently the video result is 47.36 knots, so 0.3 faster than Heidi's 47.06 WR.

Those of us who sail with her regularly (Portland Harbour) aren't really surprised. She's got so fast this year!

Great result for Jenna. Interesting she was on a Neil Pryde sail and Patrick board rather than her sponsors Duotone kit.

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Roo said..

K888 said..
Apparently the video result is 47.36 knots, so 0.3 faster than Heidi's 47.06 WR.

Those of us who sail with her regularly (Portland Harbour) aren't really surprised. She's got so fast this year!

Great result for Jenna. Interesting she was on a Neil Pryde sail and Patrick board rather than her sponsors Duotone kit.

I guess you use the best available "Speed Gear" don't think Duotone make speed boards and or sails

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choco said..

Roo said..

K888 said..
Apparently the video result is 47.36 knots, so 0.3 faster than Heidi's 47.06 WR.

Those of us who sail with her regularly (Portland Harbour) aren't really surprised. She's got so fast this year!

Great result for Jenna. Interesting she was on a Neil Pryde sail and Patrick board rather than her sponsors Duotone kit.

I guess you use the best available "Speed Gear" don't think Duotone make speed boards and or sails

Looks like production EVO XIV 5.3, she has a set of Dutones as well.

I think Jenna's first 47+ knot run was on the 2025 Warp 5m, then she switched to Farrel's old NP Evo14 5.3 for her record 47+ knot run.

Live stream for today = .TV

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Roo said..

K888 said..
Apparently the video result is 47.36 knots, so 0.3 faster than Heidi's 47.06 WR.

Those of us who sail with her regularly (Portland Harbour) aren't really surprised. She's got so fast this year!

Great result for Jenna. Interesting she was on a Neil Pryde sail and Patrick board rather than her sponsors Duotone kit.

How to loose a sponsor.

wildest thing on this aside from AA looking like he beat his old record, is the "speeds over time" plot. Now that shows how truly in another league is AA to the other guys there. Always on the top of the chart. For EVERY run. Thats something.

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slowboat said..
wildest thing on this aside from AA looking like he beat his old record, is the "speeds over time" plot. Now that shows how truly in another league is AA to the other guys there. Always on the top of the chart. For EVERY run. Thats something.

He really is a legend, it drives Dunki nuts when AA keeps beating him. They took the piss out of Dunki when he bigged himself up doing a peak of 100kmh.....anytime anyone goes that fast they call it doing a Dunki! AA is after 100kmh over 500m.

Looks as if both men's and woman's 500m records have fallen again. AA on 53.38 kts and Jenna on 47.53 kts subject to correction off the video timing. Edit: Timing screens have AA's top run revised down to 52.98 knots.

Some postings on GPSSS, Coros vertix showing 45.37kts for 500m, event GPS timing from Luderitz only showing 43.94kts!
Locosys GW60 recording 46.09kts event GPS with 46.89kts.
Another GW60 48.42kts for 500m event GPS 47.87kts.

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Roo said..
Some postings on GPSSS, Coros vertix showing 45.37kts for 500m, event GPS timing from Luderitz only showing 43.94kts!
Locosys GW60 recording 46.09kts event GPS with 46.89kts.
Another GW60 48.42kts for 500m event GPS 47.87kts.

The older COROS watches (APEX Pro and VERTIX) are horribly broken at the moment, since the Aug firmware. The 2s is particularly untrustworthy with the Aug F/W, often reporting several knots too high.

I guess the GW-60 reading 0.55 kts higher than the event GPS is mainly due to the GW-60 not knowing about the start + finish lines. 9 times out of 10 when I investigate a query during WSW or POS it is due to that reason. i.e. Fast start + slow finish or vice-versa.

The GW-60 under-reading by 0.8 knots is more interesting, assuming the event GPS was correct. I've also seen under-reading a couple of times on UBX devices during WSW and POS, but the issue is always glaringly obvious in the sAcc values.

The event GPS will sometimes over-read as several riders will attest, and unfortunately the case for Antoine yesterday. Jenna's records were only downgraded by 0.05 (47.41 -> 47.36 and 47.53 -> 47.48) knots which shows how well they can perform.

Quieter on the canal today, looks like Saturday through Tuesday could serve up some epic conditions and records could fall again. Great to see the winds come in for everyone making the trek to Luderitz. I believe Antoine was on his 5.8 most of yesterday and it was gusting to 50 knots. How windy does it have to be for him to get the 5.3 out of the bag!

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Roo said..
Quieter on the canal today, looks like Saturday through Tuesday could serve up some epic conditions and records could fall again. Great to see the winds come in for everyone making the trek to Luderitz. I believe Antoine was on his 5.8 most of yesterday and it was gusting to 50 knots. How windy does it have to be for him to get the 5.3 out of the bag!

I would have thought smaller sail = less drag

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choco said..

Roo said..
Quieter on the canal today, looks like Saturday through Tuesday could serve up some epic conditions and records could fall again. Great to see the winds come in for everyone making the trek to Luderitz. I believe Antoine was on his 5.8 most of yesterday and it was gusting to 50 knots. How windy does it have to be for him to get the 5.3 out of the bag!

I would have thought smaller sail = less drag

Not always, if you have the height and weight to load the sail/wing up you can get into the drag bucket range where the lift to drag ratio increases. One of the reasons why a foil isn't faster unless you can increase the wing loading like the Americas Cup boats do.

For those into aerodynamics, look at the shape of A2's sail, very Prandtl-esque in profile!