New World Speed record - Alexandre Caizergues, kitesurfer hits 54.10 k

by Tanguy Blondel on 14 Oct 2010

Alexandre Caizergues KOLESKY/NIKON/LEXAR

World Speed Record - Alexandre Caizergues beat the outright world speed record under sail with an average of 54.10 knots (100.19 km/hr) over 500 metres of the Luderitz channel (Namibia) yesterday. The young Frenchman is the new outright speed record holder. He has deposed Hydroptère and its 51.36 knots record.

The 12th October 2010 will go down in the long history of speed records under sail. Alex Caizergues, a native of Port Saint-Louis in southern France, had an absolute blinder of a day. During his first run, with 45 knots of breeze blowing along Luderitz’s legendary lagoon spot, Caizergues immediately powered off at blistering speed, well positioned on his board and harnessed to his 8 m2 wing.

At the end of an incredible 500 metre straight, the fastest kitesurfer on the planet gave free rein to his delight on discovering that he’d broken the 100 km/hr barrier across the water (54.10 knots). It was a top drawer performance, reminiscent of the sprints by a fellow champion, Usain Bolt!

Alexandre Caizergues thoroughly prepared himself for this feat. Since the start of the year, he has been going over his equipment meticulously as well as linking together an incalculable number of training sessions, both at sea and on land, in order to hone his physical condition. Arriving in Namibia last week, Alexandre tested the race zone twice, on Friday and Monday, so as to familiarise himself with the new facilities at the spot. This comprised a channel dug out parallel to the beach, which enabled the total optimisation of speed records under sail.

The French kitesurfer took back what was his as he had already been the outright world record holder in 2008 with 50.57 knots. This new record was achieved within the context of the Luderitz Speed Challenge, which each year gathers together the World’s top kitespeeders for a month-long event.

Alexandre Caizergues: 'It’s phenomenal! I’ve excelled myself. I feel like I’ve done something crazy! I knew I had the ability to get back the outright speed record under sail but to go this quick is something else. We had very good weather over this fantastic spot in Namibia. I’ve still got more in me too. We can go even quicker over the coming weeks. I’d really like to thank my partners, without whom this type of great performance would not be achievable. Thanks to Ouest Provence, F One, Alp'Energie and Volkswagen Utilitaires'.

The 500 metre records:
54.10 knots: new outright world speed record under sail achieved on 12th October by Alexandre Caizergues
51.36 knots: world speed record for a yacht achieved by Hydroptère on 6th September 2009
50.98 knots: the world’s outright second best time, world speed record on a kitesurfer achieved by Alexandre Caizergues on 14th November 2009
50.57 knots: third best performance in October 2008 in Namibia. Alexandre Caizergues held the record for this run for a long time, earning him the title of outright world speed record holder
49.09 knots: the world speed record on a windsurfer passed into the hands of Antoine Albeau on 5th March
46.82 knots: Finian Maynard’s record in the autumn of 2004, bringing an end to the hegemony of the Yellow Pages yacht
1986: Pascal MAKA is the first windsurfer to have a new approved record of 38.86 knots.
NB: the outright speed record under sail is the best average speed over a length of 500 metres by a craft with a sail… As such it should be differentiated from a peak speed!

This new record is awaiting definitive approval by the World Sailing Speed Record Council. An observer, Marcus Ellison, was on site.