LUDERITZ - The Lüderitz Speed Challenge underway in Lüderitz saw windsurfer Nicolas David Garrel who held the French record in 2003 (45.51 kts) tumble Luxemburger’s old record on Tuesday - ending with 46.37 kts.
Belgian competitor Patrick Vanhoof battled it out with the current record Holder Alain de Gendt and managed to take the record with 46.82 kts. Three riders went over 49 knots and 1 over 50 knots on their first race day. World record holder in windsurfing, Frenchman Antoine Albeau reached 50.07 knots, while the Italian record holder Patrick Diethelm did 49.41 knots. Swedish record holder Anders Bringdal did 49.04 knots while the rhythm is getting faster each day. Conditions are looking good for tomorrow with riders having tuned their equipment and ready for more wind. So far, 21 riders have recorded over 45 knots while conditions at the Speed Challenge saw 30-35 knots of wind, which powered six new national speed records – coourtesy of Ukrainian Alexander Goncharov with 46.51 knots, Croatian Boris Vujasinovic with 46.53 knots and Remo Diethelm of Switzerland who clocked 46.07 knots. Belgian Alain de Gendt with 45.38 knots, Ole Kjaer of Denmark with 50.43 knots and Russian Denis Vladimirov with 44.61 knots were other prominent participants.
