Top Coaches and Guests

As it’s our 25^th year, we’re making Speed Week extra special this year. Join the Mighty Dave White, special guest Dutch speed record holder Jurgen Van Der Noord and top Club Vass coaches including Colin Whippy Dixon for an unforgettable week. As well as a phenomenal week of windsurfing, there will be plenty of 25 year celebrations – don’t miss it!

est the Top Gear – Leader Board & Jurgen’s Winning Sails

Jurgen Van der Noord will be bringing along the actual Severne Sails he broke the record on in Luderitz speed canal, Namibia. You will be able to use these sails with specialised speed kit including the Starboard Isonic and Futura. As well as various slalom events we will have a Top Gear style Leader Board so you can pit your skills against Jurgen, Whitey and the best of Club Vass.

More than Just Speed – the FAST Track to Success

Why FAST Track? Many previous ‘Speed Weekers’, including girls & kids can attest to the massive all-round progress they have made and how much sheer fun they’ve had. As Dave says, it’s all about getting comfy on your kit – the key to developing confidence and control that will help all aspects of your sailing. If you feel like you’re on a plateau, struggling with getting planning, carve gybes or other moves, this week is for you.

Dave White ‘’Confidently fast’ sums it up for me, it’s the key to planning gybes.”

Coaching Aids

The team will use coaching aids Go Pro, video and GPS speed guns to help bring out the best in your sailing. Dave will also be behind the camera alongside our resident photography force globalshots.co.uk to record all your best moments on and off the water.

For more info check out the Club Vass website here. 

More action at home came from West Kirby last weekend, where some incredible speeds were notched up by some of the UK’s, Ireland’s and Holland’s finest, check out the gallery here and a video from Ant Baker here. 

This week also saw the launch of a great new APP from Puravida Boardriders, making searching the latest info on their windsurfing equipment a lot easier.

And our final highlight for this week is to remind you that entry for the amazing Defi Wind is now open, all the info is here and we look forward to seeing a lot of Brits taking on the event this year!

Until next week….

Image credits Oisin van Gelderen.

Congratulations again Zara! Check out all the coverage from the Luderitz speed challenge here.

Zara's seat covers

Merry Christmas! Image courtesy North Sails

Also for your viewing pleasure, the BWA Tiree coverage will be on TV soon, so set your sky boxes to record! Full details here. 

Looking forward to 2013 competition there has already been a few rumours of more PWA venues to be added to the calendar, and now we learn that after an unsuccessful 2012 the Red Bull Storm Chase will continue into the new year, which certainly gives us all something to look forward too!

It is great to see not only the top level windsurfers, but also the up and coming stars, including the young Alex Blackmore that has just signed to team QSW.

Of course we can’t leave without mentioning that this week Boards has been all about freewave tests, with the complete line up of reports now here online make sure you provide your comments, feedback and opinions on all boards tested using the comments at the bottom of each post.

If you fancy a last minute trip away the Christmas, but don’t fancy and long, expensive flights, Stena Line are running some great deals over the the emerald isle.

And finally Boards would like to wish all readers a very Merry Christmas! Whilst we will be relaxing by the fire, eating lots and unwrapping much anticipated presents over the festive period, Boards will still be posting news and features after Boxing Day, so keep your eyes peeled.

Can you guess who is staring in our festive photo? Is it obvious? Or does it take you a few minutes to work it out? Let us know and have your guess in the comments below….

Want to find out more about the Luderitz Speed Challenge, where Zara broke the women’s world speed record? Check out all the coverage on Boards here.

Ghosts of Speed premiere

The film features riders such as Dutch record holder Jurjen van der Noord in some of Holland’s best speedsailing spots, if you’re into speedsailing, or even if you’re not Ghosts of Speed is well worth a watch! Simply incredible! After the movie premiered this weekend in Holland, it is now available for all to purchase on DVD, with a download version coming soon too.

Find out more at http://www.facebook.com/ghostsofspeed

Photo credits: Walther Siksma and Angelo Pecere – for Ghosts of Speed.

Check out the official trailer below:

Check out this awesome HD edit from the event by Eric Bellande on Vimeo.

In more speedy news British slalom champion Ant Baker was showing off his 2013 North Warps this week; and speaking of showing off looks like the girls are having more than a little bit of fun in Maui here! We are sure yet more showing took place in the Liverpool SWA event last weekend too, check out the gallery  and report on the event from Tushingham team rider Jo Wright.

Other big news this week was that it looks like there will be another edition to the PWA calendar in 2013, with Cape Town hosting the final round of the PWA Wave World Tour!

And so we leave you for another week, remember if you ever have any great windsurfing sessions, images, videos or news from your local spot please send through the info to amy@boards.co.uk

Ross Williams in action, how well could he do in Cape Town 2013?

After so many records were broken many riders were hopeful that the last Thursday would deliver more wind that would enable the speeds to be pushed a little further, but unfortunately it was not to be. Yet this will surely go down as one of the best speed sailing competitions in history, with many record broken, many times, and of course the overall speed record not only being taken over 50knots, but over 52 by Antoine Albeau!

Here on Boards we have covered the event every step of the way, so to check out all the coverage just head here; posts include videos, interviews with Antoine Albeau and Zara Davis, images and of course details of even record broken and top speed reached!

We would also like to congratulate all the riders that took part this year, it has been incredible to see everyone pushing the top speeds and it’s certainly inspired us to get the GPS out!

Luderitz closing ceremony

Are you into speed sailing? Has the Luderitz competition inspired you to head our to your nearest speed course too?

BSA Slalom pro fleet results 2012

The top level slalom fleet in the UK is full of some very impressive names; James Dinsmore, Si Cofield, Kev Greeneslade, and the young Sam Latham all proved themselves as incredible racers again this year, but it Ant Baker was that took the British title in the Pro fleet, counting only first and second places he proved that consistency is key. Boards catches up with Ant to find out more about his successful year:

Ant Baker

Name: Ant Baker

DOB:  09/11/75

Sail number: K77

Years competing: 27

Best previous results:

Top 10 in the world for freestyle, slalom, waves and course racing; British champ lots of times too

Title you have won this year:

British Slalom Association Champion, British Speed Champion.

Why and when did you first start competing?

I was nice when I first competed in the Bic worlds and came second, as my parents owned a windsurfing shop it was pretty easy to think I would make the world tour!

What equipment have you used on the UK tour this year?

Fanatic Falcon Slalom and speed boards with C3 fins powered by North Warp 2012.

Why do you use this equipment? 

Simple, it’s the best!

Ant Baker. Image credit Dave White.

What is it about your set up in particular that you like?

As we have the best control from our kit it makes it easy for me when the conditions change, also I received my 2013 boards before round five, which made a huge difference!

Who else would you recommend a set up like this? 

Our 2103 Falcons are the easiest boards to go fast on, and if you’re not first… your last!

How and where have you trained for the series this year?

Well I don’t get too much time for training as my coaching business, Baker Academy takes most of my time. I teach windsurfing, kitesurfing and paddleboarding, and have now opened a gym called Fitlab, so I will do a lot of my training there

Ant Baker

Have you just trained on the water, or what do you do off the water too?

I only use my race kit at the race events, I didn’t do too much training, but as my kit is so fast and easy to use it all went well!!

What are your plans for winter? Sailing here in the UK? Or heading abroad anywhere?

As I just opened Fitlab I will be taking martial arts and fitness classes most of the winter

What are you aims for competitions in 2013? UK and international events?

I plan on competing for the UK slalom and speed titles again and would love to get back out on the PWA tour again soon. Last year the PWA wouldn’t give me any entries, which seems silly as I was british champ last year also!!

Follow more on the UK slalom and  speed right here on Boards, and for more news and features on Ant Baker click right here!

Check out the other Champions of 2012 features:

In more Luderitz news Bjorn seems very happy to have gone over 51knots at the weekend:

“Hey everybody,

I finally reached the 50 knots barrier on the speed strip day 11!!!! 

The best result was 51.09 knots = 94,61 km/h on the 500 m strip, with top GPS speed of 99.02 km/h, so you see the 100 is very close now!!!  )

I did it on my 44 cm wide Star Board with my 5.6 Severne Sail Reflex 3.

I would like to dedicate this achievement to my 11 days old son Daniel, my wife Maria, and my other three kids, Alba, Liam and Martina!!!

Thursday looks promising for strong wind again, keep your fingers crossed for 40 knots +++,  to get some more action!! 

Also a big THX to the Luderitz Speed Challenge Team.

So long from Luderitz, Björn”

Follow all the news from Luderitz on Boards here.