Speed Sailing Records Falling Like Dominoes
November was an incredible month for speed sailing with records dropping like flies. First up was the Windsurfers smashing records in Namibia then the outright record was obliterated down in Walvis Bay - 65+ knots - thats over 70mph!
As you can see from the photo above the Vestas Sailrocket is a pretty unique craft built with one thing in mind - owning the world speed record. The team at Vestas had their eyes set on the record that was owned by American Kiteboarder Rob Douglas when he clocked in a 55.65 knot run in 2010. Check out the video of Vestas in action below. Wild 'boat'!
The record is established over a 500 meter course and based on time. That means covering 500 meters in under 20 seconds! While the windsurfers have been struggling to regain the title they last held in 2008 the Vestas team was busy changing the game completely. The Windsurfers are all gathered in Luderitz, Namibia still trying to set more records in a purpose built sailing 'ditch'. Check out the action of Antoine's record run in the below video.
History of the record (courtesy Vestas)
2012 Vestas Sailrocket 2 65.45 kts*
2012 Vestas Sailrocket 2 59.23 kts
2010 Kite-board 55.65 kts
2010 Kite-board 55.49 kts
2010 Kite-board 54.10 kts
2009 Hydroptere 51.36 kts
2008 Kite-board 50.57 kts
2008 Kite-board 50.26 kts
2008 Kite-board 49.84 kts
2008 Windsurfer 49.09 kts
2005 Windsurfer 48.70 kts
2004 Windsurfer 46.82 kts
1993 Yellow Pages 46.52 kts
1980 Crossbow II 36.00 kts
1972 Crossbow 26.30 kts