On the day she set the record last year the next run down the course she cut her leg badly and had to go to hospital for 30 stitches.  When she left the site her close completion was about two and a half  knots slower, the day got better and better and they all improved by about two knots so potentially 48 knots was possible and with the advances with her equipment from Mistral, Simmer and Sonntag she believes that she could be the 1st women windsurfer to go over 50 knots. She is looking for sponsors to help her this year and share in the publicity. If you want to help or know someone who can, please get in touch  zara@speedsailing.com

She will be accompanied and supported at the event by her Mistral team mates, British record holder Farrel Oshea, Greek record holder Nick Vardalachos and Mistral CEO and the 1st windsurfer to break 50 knots Anders Bringdal. They are all hoping to exceed their success of last year.

To follow Zara and the teams progress follow her on Facebook “Zara Davis speed  windsurfer” or her website www.zaradavis.co.uk.

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

Zara's seat covers

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.

Don't Let Go, hitting screens soon!

The next two videos that caught our eyes came out at the end of the week, firstly it’s amazing to see Zara Davis on the BBC here and if you fancy something totally different check out Brawzi and Levi shredding in Maui here. 

Coming up the Christmas there has of course been a lot of penny saving present ideas and competitions around too: Lagoon Watersports in Hove have some great voucher offers, Tech Trial are selling the Drift Camera at an insanely low price, the Baker Academy are running a competition to win 8 hours of coaching, Juice Boardsports have vouchers with 10% extra free, Tushingham are running a competition to win a Starboard fin bag,  Ocean Elements are running some early bookers deals for 2013, as are Club Vass (with holidays to both Vassilki and Dahab centres)! Now that’s a whole lot of offers!

Finally in this weeks news, our sister site Boardseeker are proud to announce that the shiny new site is now up and running, so if you haven’t checked it out already head on over there now for more of an international windsurfing fix.

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?

This first thing that caught our eye this week was the awesome video released from the King of the Wind in Weymouth; it was a hugely successful event and brilliant to have such a great show on British shores as you can see!

The records continue to fall in Ludertiz, first we caught up with Zara Davis and then Antoine Albeau smashed the record again taking it over 52knots!

Boards also heard that Olympic silver medalist Nick Dempsey will be campaigning once more, for the 2016 Games in Rio now it is confirmed that windsurfing has retained its place.

Christmas is coming up quickly now, which means fantastic offers are around from many shops. Robin Hood Watersports and Zero Gravity both have fab offers on in the lead up to the festive season, whilst Club Vass have announced they’ll be running a competition to win a holiday for two! Plus, Boardwise have a Black Friday deal running for today only!

On day nine of the competition in Luderitz the competitors were treated to winds between 40 and 45knots, another great day on the canal and many sailors more than took advantage.

Antoine Albeau

None more so than Antoine Albeau, who increased the record time and again, finally resting at 52.05knots at the end of the day.

Anders Bringdal

Anders Bringdal followed with a new Swedish Record which is also Production board World Record : 51.45 knots!

Jurjen van der Noord

Jurjen Van Der Noord the Dutch Record Holder also went over 51 knots today, joining Anders Bringdal and Cédric Bordes, with 51.26 knots!

Bjorn Dunkerbeck the famous 41 times world title holder just joined the event today in the afternoon reaching 49.53 knots, he did this after only a couple of runs !

Martyn Ogier

Well done to Martyn Ogier from UK who recorded a speed of 48.21 knots (current British Record held by Farrell O’Shea with 48.82 knots) and to Martin Van Meurs from Netherlands: 47.95 knots who improved their best speeds.

Zara Davis

Zara Davis was back on the water today after a little injury:

“1st day back on the water today, after stitches in my leg five days ago. It was quite painful and I took it easy and only did 5 runs. Initially I was disappointed with my best run of 44.25 knots, then Pete reminded me my initial hope before I came was 43 knots and if I had been told before i got here that I was going to do 44 plus knots I would have been turning cartwheels. We are all getting a bit complacent for sure. The wind today was very strong but gusty which favoured the strong heavy guys. Big respect to Antoine, for his 52.05 knot run and pushing the record higher again. Lena did very well today with a 45.5 run she is getting quicker for sure. A huge well done to Nick V for getting in to the exclusive 50 knot club.” Follow more news from Zara on her Facebook page here.

Catch all the latest speed sailing news from Luderitz and beyond here on Boards.

You may also like to:

Read more from Antoine on Boards.

Antoine Albeau. Image credit PWA/JC.

But the question is how fast do you think he can go? Over 53knots? Over 55? Share your thoughts at the bottom of this post!

On Saturday 17th more records were broken as the riders in Ludertiz were treated to more fantastic conditions on the canal. Top news for the Brits is of course that Farrel O’Shea improved his UK record again to 48.82 knots, whilst Zara Davis took the women’s world record up to 45.83knots.

Zara Davis and Antoine Albeau

Before recapping on the full results Boards caught up with Zara Davis to find out more from the World record holder.

Zara Davis

Boards: How much faster do you think you can go? Do you think there’s potential to take the record even higher now?

Farrel O'Shea

After a successful King and Queen of the wind events the EFPT went behind the scenes to find out more from competitor and event organiser Adam Sims. Another event we have heard a lot about this week in the SWA Wet Dream Four….Play; with this event passed and the Northern Monkey event this weekend there is a lot going on in SWA land. Check out all the latest student windsurfing news and features here.

The other big news this week of course cam from Ludertiz, where all sailors have been increasing their top speeds day on day. Zara Davis and Farrell O’Shea have both broken records, but the top news is that Antoine Albeau and Anders Bringdal both broke the 50knot barrier. Find out more about Antoine, including some words on the record from the man himself here.  With more promising forecasts around the corner, we will continue to follow all the action in Luderitz, fingers crossed more records will be broken in the near future.

We finish up the news this week with a video from Juice Boardsports and their recent demo at Fraisthorpe beach.

Yesterday saw a moderate 20 knots fill in and Brit speed sailor Zara Davis had a crack at the canal to see how things are shaping up. Fingers and toes are all crossed that the main competition will get underway soon.

Other big names who are on the ground in Namibia are Bjorn Dunkerbeck and Antoine Albeau who are both vying to smash the World Speed Record.

Watch this space to see if they can do it!

For more info check out the official site here and Facebook page here

Luderitz Speed Challenge - Namibia

Scheduled to run from the 5th November until the 2nd December, the 2012 Luderitz World Speed Sailing attempt is set to be better than ever before.

Two years have been spent constructing a new course in Namibia and this will be the first time many of the top names have fired themselves down it attempting to break the 50-knot barrier. Built 300m further inland from the original course, the new speed run is said to have cleaner wind and be set at a better angle to the prevailing wind – all essential factors in world record attempts.

Zara Davis, Speed Production Record Holder

Current entries include Anders Bringdal, Farrel O’Shea, Andrea Baldini and Zara Davis, who will join them in November? Keep an eye on www.luderitz-speed.com to find out…

For further information and registrations please contact luderitz.speed.challenge@gmail.com.

BOARDS / UKWA Windsurfer of the Year 2011

BOARDS Mag once again need your help in deciding who will be the UKWA Windsurfer of the Year 2011…

The boys and girls at the UKWA have been hard at work, furiously whittling down the long list of worthy sailors who have performed exceptionally in their field over the last 12 months. It’s now down to five nominees from the five disciplines of Wave, Slalom, Speed, Freestyle and Racing.

So this is where you come in. In true reality TV style, you the windsurfing public get to decide who, out of the cream of talented sailors below who will receive the accolade of UKWA Windsurfer of the Year 2011.

The nominees for WOTY 2011 are:

Ben Proffitt

WAVE – Ben Proffitt

Ben is a larger than life character who started windsurfing at the age of nine and would have represented us in the Olympics if not for a back injury. He has gone on too much greater things now in wave sailing and a lot of hard work and training during the winter season in South Africa has obviously paid off. Ben has dominated the UK scene this year with two bullets and two 2^nd places and won the legendary Tiree event in its 25^th year.

Ant Baker

SLALOM – Ant Baker

Ant Baker has been racing slalom since he could walk; turning pro at the tender age of 16. He competed successfully in the PWA tour in waves and Slalom and was consistently in the top 10. His career since then has taken him all over the world but he has now settled back in the UK, running the Baker Academy. Ant still has what it takes in competition winning this year’s very competitive BSA – UKWA Slalom title with 3 wins out of 5 races.

Zara Davis

SPEED – Zara Davis

Zara has been our queen of speed for some time now. She holds two speed world records, and is the ranked No 1 in women’s speed in the world right now. This season however has been one of the best in her career to date. Starting with achieving a new women’s production speed record in Namibia then winning three rounds of the Euro speed tour to become the ISWC European champion for the second time. She also won Weymouth speed week for a record 6^th time as well as the women’s British GPS 2011 ladder.

Adam Sims

FREESTYLE – Adam Sims

A very popular guy on the freestyle scene, he is always friendly and approachable. The student fraternity will surely also be keen to vote for him as he attends all their events to offer help and advice. Adam has finally proved that he can compete with the top freestyle guys Bubble and Max this year by winning the UKWA 2011 Freestyle Tour with a solid performance including two event wins, two second and one third places. He also made it into third place in the NWF Night Tow in Freestyle Contest. Adam also competed in the PWA Freestyle Event in Podersdorf, Austria this year and achieved a creditable 25^th place.

Kieran Martin

Racing – Kieran Martin

Kieran is a mere 16 years old but has achieved a lot in his short career. He was under 15 European Champion and collected a bronze medal as the UK’s representative at the first ever youth Olympics. 2011 has seen Kieran make the transition to RS:X further loading his busy schedule. However despite the different techniques needed to compete on RS:X Kieran has not neglected his Techno and at the World Championships in san Francisco Kieran was once again crowned under 17 World Champion. Hastily packing away his Techno Kieran then jumped on his RS:X finishing an astounding 3rd overall in the under 19 fleet.

BOARDS / UKWA Windsurfer of the Year 2011

Your vote counts – so use it wisely at ukwindsurfing.com/woty

Only one vote per person, voting closes on the 30th December and the winner will be announced the 1st week of January 2012.

Kevin Greenslade and Ant Baker

Euro Speed Tour organiser Pete Davis brings us the latest update from Weymouth Speed Week 2011…