That was the max recorded speed Dave achieved, but the official average as logged on the GPS Speedsurfing ranking list, is 46.18 knots (based on 5 runs: 47.8 46.1 45.9 45.9 45.2).
There’s a full report on Dave’s website www.k-63.com where you can also see his GPS tracks. In the mean time, here’s a brief account of the action, in Dave’s own words…
“Today was the hardest call. After sailing the waves of the south cost it was time for a bit of speed, but the difficulty was where. I hadn’t been home for a couple of days and Southend was on the way, but then West Kirby looked just as good and from the phone calls it looked like everyone was heading up there. The final decision was taken out of my hands as the van decided it was sick and a garage at home would be cheaper.
The forecast was to be better in the morning so I arrived at 6.45 and rigged in the dark, Richard Ashintion had also opted for Southend so I wasn’t alone. As the tide dropped back we took to the water, the Westerly course had the right angle but unusually for Southend it was rough. To the east it was smoother but still had a small rolling chop running down the course, but the wind was tight enough to easily run back up the course.
First run down felt faster than it was with the chop busting the adrenalin rush, my garmin was showing 45.5 knots on the screen I new there was more to come, as it happened I didn’t get another run which didn’t start with 47. Something.
The forecast was for the wind to swing to a better angle, but it was one of those supper low tides that just gets too risky to sail at its lowest and unfortunately the wind and water were out of sequence and by the time it was deep enough the wind was blowing strait down the course.
By the sounds of things the boys had a good one in West Kirby, Steve Thorpe came out on top with the same set-up I was using, so I guess that proves size doesn’t matter.
A great week that just keeps getting better”
