Douglas Blows Away Competition

Island boy, and speed enthusiast Rob Douglas is doing it again. The fastest sailor in the country is back in Namibia racing against the clock and others to try to set a new world speed record. He has already broken his own American record and they are just getting started.
After a week of near calm, broken only by bizarrely unseasonal rainstorms and drizzle, the Lüderitz speed strip was re-opened on Friday, November 13 for three consecutive days of racing.

The first day back, the wind was blowing between 25 to 30 knots, and many riders were recording speeds in the low forties, the fastest time of the day going to Sebastian Cattelan (Solid) who recorded a time of 46.29 knots, with the second and third fastest times going to Christophe Prin-Guenon (F One) 45.19 knots and Rob Douglas (Cabrinha) 45.04 knots.

The following day, November 14, saw Frenchman Alex Caizergues (F One) blow the competition wide open, breaking the world kiteboarding speed record with an incredible time of 50.98 knots, improving on the previous world record of 50.57. 

Rob Douglas set a new American outright speed sailing record with an equally impressive time of 50.95 knots, just one hundredth of a second slower than Caizergues.

Other competitors also recorded noteworthy times including Sebastien Cattelan (Solid) who completed a run of 49.51knots before falling foul of equipment problems on his radical new prototype kite that has seen him hit a peak of 61 knots in the huge wind that blew in pre-event training. Christophe Prin-Guenon (F One) got 48.44 knots, and Jerome Bila (Genetrix) came in with 47.73 knots. 

Charlotte Consorti (F One) again led the ladies with a speed of 44.27 knots - fast, but still a full knot short of Sjoukje Bredenkamp’s (Naish) outright record of 45.20 set last year.

This day would also see Jernej Privsek (Jagermeister) break the Slovenian outright speed sailing record with a time of 43.49knots. A few days earlier, Felipe Johannpeter also established a speed sailing record for Brazil of 42.14 knots.

Sunday,  November 15 began a couple hours later than the previous days as riders waited for the tide to drop and the wind to peak.  It was a touch less windy than Saturday, and there was a little more chop.

The fastest time of the day went to Rob Douglas who ran a time of 48.45 knots, followed by Alex Caizergues (48.02 knots) and Sebastien Cattelan (47.39)  There were also several other riders who were hovering around the 47 to 48 knot mark.

With two weeks still left in the competition, everything is still up for grabs, including the highly sought after world outright speed sailing record of 51.36 knots, set by the French  Hydrofoil l’Hydoptère in September of this year.

(Release courtesy of luderitz-speed.com)