Extreme Sailing - The Speed Barrier is Broken

Lüderitz, Namibia - Speed sailing has come to be more than just extreme speed, it's also about extremes in size.  Until this past week, the record for a wind-powered watercraft was held (and is still officially held) by a sailboard - a giant in comparison to the new unofficial record holder:  a kiteboard, which was able to average an amazing 50.57kts, exposing the 50kt "wind barrier" as the arbitrary number it was.  However, this week also saw the giant hydrofoil trimaran l'Hydroptere set its own speed record, and if they can keep it up over the length of the required course, the record will flip from the smallest competitor to the largest, but that's a big "if."

At the Lüderitz Speed Challenge (which is still going on this week, with more potentially record-breaking high winds predicted) 50kts was the magic number, and with big air (aka: "atomic," or "nuclear" winds) along this rather hostile stretch of the Namibian coast, that number was exceeded - several times!  First to break the barrier was Sebastien Cattelan, at 50.26kts, making him the fastest person under sail, for a day.  Cattelan's record was significant if short-lived, as Alexandre Caizergues set the current speed record on Saturday at 50.57kts.  These numbers are average speeds over a distance, and the sailors have been reporting burst speeds of over 58kts (via GPS).

In France, the massive hydrofoil trimaran l'Hydroptere has also been looking at breaking 50 knots for a while now, and perhaps the kite-boarders' accomplishment spurred the team on a bit as they pushed the boat harder than they have before, and hit 52.86kts.  This is the fastest speed ever recorded for a sailboat, but it is the average speed over 500 meters that sets the record, and l'Hydroptere has quite a lot of work to do to bring bragging rights back to the big boys.  Of course, if l'Hydroptere (or one of the other big-boat contenders) does make the record, there are a lot of kiteboarders ready to take it right back.  It's the minimalists against the maximalists, and for now, the minimalists are securely on top.

- B. Hampton for YachtPals.com

Read more about Sailing Records:

• l’Hydroptère Flying Trimaran - Setting Speed Records (article, photos and videos of l’Hydroptère sailing)
• Trimarans (all news about trimarans)
• Gitana 13 Smashes San Francisco to Yokohama Record!
• Artemis Transat 2008 - Loïck Peyron Wins in Boston Setting a New Record!
• New Transatlantic Speed Record
• World Record Sail at 49.09 Knots - Windsurfing Photos and Videos
• Interview with Sir Robin Knox-Johnston (first person to sail solo around the world non-stop)
• Thomas Coville sets new Transatlantic Sailing Record on Sodeb'O
• World's Largest Racing Trimaran Sailing in France - Banque Populaire V
• The World's Fastest Sailboats - Sailing for Speed Freaks!
• Sailing Records (all news about sailing records)
  

Sailing video: Sebastien Cattelan smashing the 50kt "wind barrier" on a kite-board.