Vestas Sail Rocket boom... the 60 knot sailboat smashes the barrier at Walvis Bay, Namibia
With the modifications made to the new foil on Vestas Sailrocket 2 working so well in light winds, the team were keen to see if they would translate to high speeds.
Paul Larsen with VSR2 had constantly been hitting a 'glass ceiling' around 52 knots despite the fact that she was designed to do well over 60.
This is the day when theory turned into reality and the team got to see speeds they could only dare dream about when they started over 10 years earlier.
Peak speed 61.92 knots, average over 500 meters 54.08 knots (5 second average 59.08 knots).
This was the teams first sight of a new horizon.
The peaks and the averages are expected to climb in the following runs.
The record currently stands at 55.65 knots (64 mph) and is held by American Kite Surfer Rob Douglas.
Antoine Albeau broke the windsurf world speed record : 50.62 knots in Luderitz, Namibia
Anders Bringdal of Sweden and Antoine Albeau of France made history on November 13 when they became the first windsurfers to break through the magical 50-knot speed barrier.
On a fantastic day at the Luderitz Speed Challenge, Bringdal broke the world record on a production board twice, while Albeau broke the world windsurfing speed record with a new record of 50,62 knots.
Bringdal was the first to break through the 50-knot barrier when he broke the world record on a production board twice in quick succession, with speeds of 50,41 knots and 50,46 knots.
Albeau then improved that speed to 50,62 knots which was the equivalent of 93,74 km/h, while it was the second time that he had broken the world record at the Luderitz Speed Challenge after his initial record of 49,41 knots on November 7.
On a fantastic day at the Luderitz Speed Challenge, Bringdal broke the world record on a production board twice, while Albeau broke the world windsurfing speed record with a new record of 50,62 knots.
Bringdal was the first to break through the 50-knot barrier when he broke the world record on a production board twice in quick succession, with speeds of 50,41 knots and 50,46 knots.
Albeau then improved that speed to 50,62 knots which was the equivalent of 93,74 km/h, while it was the second time that he had broken the world record at the Luderitz Speed Challenge after his initial record of 49,41 knots on November 7.
Vestas Rocket : Friday, the 16th November 2012, in more open waters that are more susceptible to choppy conditions, they smashed the record themselves, with a 59.23 knot average, with a peak speed of 62.53.
ReplyDeleteAntoine Albeau registered even better numbers: 51.69 kts! Anders Bringdal 51.34 kts.
ReplyDeleteOn Sunday 18th , Vestas Sail Rocket 2 established a new one nautical mile record of 55.32 knots average, and during this run improved the 500 metre record to 59.38 knots.
ReplyDeleteBlown Away. VESTAS Sailrocket 2 truly smashes the Outright world speed sailing record
ReplyDeleteThis is the day that VESTAS Sailrocket 2 took speed sailing into a whole new era. Having already broken the existing Outright world speed sailing record by the biggest margin in the records history a little over a week earlier, the team took to the waters of Walvis Bay in strong winds to try and be the first to take the sport over the 60 knot average mark. (Sailrocket blog
65.37 knots average, 28/11/2012
The magic mile" world record 22/11/2012, 'Outright speed' record to 59.38 knots over 500 meters hitting a peak speed of 64.78 knots
The WSSR Council announces the the establishment of a new World Record : 65.45 kts ont th 24th of November, 2012 (course length : 500 m)
ReplyDeleteWSSRC : WSSR Newsletter No 219. Vestas Sailrocket 2 Outright Sailing Speed Record