Wow!!! Luderitz at its finest!! Today I started with the 5.8  Koncept on the 41 Mistral (only board I have here anyway) and 21.5 KA/Lockwood assy. I stuggled a bit on the first few runs and felt O was hitting a "max out wall" in the high 46 peaks and 44-45 10 secs . The wind was picking up so I grabbed the 5.4 Koncept. Apart from Daffy doing a run on it the other day it was brand new. The speeds were a touch higher but still dissapointing. It was time to separate me from my security blanket - the 21.5 assy. I fitted the 20 KA/Lockwood Assy and the next run was in 50+ knot of wind. It felt just like its 21.5 cm brother but faster! I hit the end of the run and saw 50.01 peak on the dial... woohoo.. I beat every one of my pb's in one run the next run saw my 5x10 pb fall. It was a bit slower. Then the timing gates were closed for the day. The yet to be confirmed 500 on the ratified course was 47.23 (New Aus record) and only .08 slower than the fastest guy of the day (French). The times will be officially ratified tonight so stay tuned. No sailing for the next 2 days  Fastest run : Ka Koncept 5.4 2014, Mistral 41 2013, KA assy 20.  

2nd day of good wind at Luderitz Speed Challenge.

New PB peak display speed of 47.29 Knots.

New PB 2 sec, 10 sec.

I only did two runs today. I tried to get going on the 5m a few times but kept getting slammed just as I got planing. I got the 4.6m Koncept and gave it a bit more downhaul. Then I got going easily and made a good entry and turn. The force and accelleration was a bit mind blowing but there is no choice once you turn that corner and accellerate. The run looked really narrow the further I went. The sail was pulling really hard. I felt like I was on the limit of what I could hold. I saw sand blowing accros the course almost the whole way but the gust hit in short bursts. I tried to push the gusts trough my front foot and stayed in control. The TM48 fin was really great, very stable and safe over the chop. At the end I just went straight downwind sheeted right out and did not seem to slow down very much so I eventually dropped in the water 15m from the end. It was fine!

I looked down and saw the peak speed and 10 sec and I was really pumped!

I was in no hurry to do another run as the wind seemed to get even stronger and there were very few getting down the course. When Tony finally did his 50 knot peak I was inspired to go again. It took me a few trys to get going as the wind seemed to suddenly ease back. My second run was quite a bit slower and I felt underlowered entering the run. I was debating if I would do some quick runs to get a 5 x 10 but they closed the course so that was that. I don't think it was going to be fast enough to get 45's anyhow.

The 2014 KA Koncept 4.6m sail felt awesome! Light in the hands and really stable and smooth with no draft movement at all.

The kiters were really impressive doing 53-55 knots in 500. When the strong wind arrived i made only 3 runs till i had a nasty wipe out. Feeling dizzy.... i decided to call it a day.

Congrats Tony. For now 1th. Place for 2013! Good job

2nd day of the Lüderitz Speed Challenge: strong, but gusty wind; slowly getting used to the canal again; testing new boards and fins; thanks Patrik for his very helpful coaching

Warm up session in Luderitz Speed Canal. Hope for more windy days soon...

1er essai de ma Speed RRD en 40 avec ma Neil Pryde5.0

1er essai de ma Speed RRD en 40 avec ma Neil Pryde5.0

Chaud les marrons !!!

Chaud les marrons !!!

New Belgian record 500m(4 times in 2 days in less then 10 runs, I think I have pretty good gear!! Thanx Monty and Phillipe!!! , only sailed 2 runs today because I wont blow up the arm(and it was pretty scary as well), both were a new record. these sails are amazing and the fin's I simply forget about them, it's one worry less. I saw the gust coming and deceide to not give in. if I would have had a gust al the way, it would have made it even better, I kept on accelerating on the strip untill I reached a peek of 47,76 kts. To put it this way, I'm not used to these boardspeeds yet, so it was a pretty scary experience, cause normaly your recordrun is a smooth one and this one was far from smooth!. If we get higher water levels next week I will feel more at easy and hope to go faster.Because of the continious on-off powercuts I didn't have the opportunity to update my story yet, will be for tomorrow I hope.

Deep respects to fellow light weights Gautier and Francesco for there achieved speeds today, they are in particular an inspiration for me. 

New Belgian record 500m(4 times in 2 days in less then 10 runs, I think I have pretty good gear!! Thanx Monty and Phillipe!!! , only sailed 2 runs today because I wont blow up the arm(and it was pretty scary as well), both were a new record. these sails are amazing and the fin's I simply forget about them, it's one worry less. I saw the gust coming and deceide to not give in. if I would have had a gust al the way, it would have made it even better, I kept on accelerating on the strip untill I reached a peek of 47,76 kts.  Dieter measured at the bend up to 54kts.To put it this way, I'm not used to these boardspeeds yet, so it was a pretty scary experience, cause normaly your recordrun is supposed to be a smooth one and this one was far from smooth!. If we get higher water levels next week I will feel more at easy and hope to go faster.

Because of the continious on-off powercuts I didn't have the opportunity to update my story yet, will be for tomorrow I hope.

Deep respects to fellow light weights Gautier and Francesco for there achieved speeds today, they are in particular an inspiration for me. 

Correction, I used 5,1 Blade instead 5,6 Blade 2014

Late post from Sunday but power cut here is still ongoing making things pretty tricky! 

I'm trying hard not to be frustrating from Sunday and make sure i am having fun but it was a tough day mentally and physically! The day started off well warming up on the 5.0 in 35-45 knots and my fastest 2 runs were the first. Maybe my sail was a little small at this point as I was getting 46.90 peaks but somewhere on the 500m run there would be a lull. I came in to change fin and the wind went nuts with massive gusts coming through at around 3pm. I decided to wait for it to calm down and did another run at 4pm but it was no quicker - I think in the 500m run I had a range of wind from 30-50kts! Also very frustrating not to get a 5th run for GPS average but the course closed before I could manage that. Still its a PB for 10 sec

Hopefully some free sailing in the lagoon today (still looks a very fast spot) and then 2 full on days ahead tomorrow and thursday.

Very full on day at the canal! Had one rund. Freaked out a bit and wated for the wind to ease. Then it was too late to do more.