| Dutch speed windsurfers sail over 45 knots |
| Saturday, 14 August 2010 16:28 |
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Starboard's Dutch team riders have really stepped up their game: within the last month they have scored three riders into the GPS Top10 rankings, each with averages all over 43kts and peak speeds over 45kts,- and many new PB results - all on standard production equipment. Peter van Dijk, an original member of the Starboard/Severne Team in Netherlands, has waited a long time to go out and score on one of those "special days". And now, after taking the long road trip south (1300km, 12+ hours driving back and forth) to La Franqui, Peter and his team buddy Jurjen van der Noord finally got to unleash the full potential of their iSonic Speed Special W44's in some excellent speed conditions. With the famous offshore Tramontana winds blowing at 30 kts and gusting 45 kts, Peter chose to tune his W44 with a brand new untested Reflex 5.6 sail and 25cm fin, while Jurjen opted for the 6.2 Reflex and 23cm fin, both riders using a lot of downhaul on their new sails to help find that perfect shape for top speeds. Peter: "I've been to this spot for 12 years and with GPS around for 7 years, I didn't expect to do these speeds at this place. But the Reflex / iSonic Speed special combination helped me to progress my stats, and I'm feeling that there's more. " Jurjen van der Noord however rates his "best" speedsailing session as not his fastest, but rather a special session back home at the Brace: "It wasn't necessarily the fastest day so far. It was my best day because everything came together. Using an iSonic W53 and a Reflex 7.0 gave me speeds of up to 41.5 knots and I reached an 5x10 sec average of 40.55kts. I was very pleased with this speeds. It was a personal best for me with this big kit. It shows that serious speeds can be achieved even with a big(ger) speedboard and a large slalomsail." And whilst not making it to the La Franqui mission, back home at "da Curve" (Den Helder, Netherlands) new team member Erik Loots wasn't about to miss his chance either, tasting his first real small speedboard experience . "Definitely the fastest gear I have ever sailed! Should have bought a mini speedboard WAY earlier, the W44 has such a smooth ride. 45.9kn topspeed, 43kn+ average; I've broken all my records! The session was great, I am stoked, the new equipment rocks. I was sooo afraid not being able to perform the first attempt on a good level, new sails and boards together are always hard to get tuned up." With the year more than half over, it seems the speedwinds have finally started to return and the global competition for the coveted GPSSS rankings is really starting to hot up. Watch the season unfold and check all the session details over at http://www.gps-speedsurfing.com
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