Anders Bringdal at 40.2 Knots breaks Maui Open Ocean Speed Sailing Record – Again

Maui, HI — With steady winds in the 30-35 knot range Anders Bringdal became
the first to break  40 Knots in the 3rd session of the Maui GPS V-Max Challenge.

After setting a new mark of 39.6 kts the previous day Anders  was perfectly
tuned to take full advantage of the conditions.He used the same setup,5.2 Naish
Stealth 08 pre-production sail, 54 cm wide AB+ board and 24 cm  asymmetrical 
AB+ fin. Both board and fin are from Anders own company.

Anders:”I hit 40.00kts even on my 3rd run down the lower reef at around 2.30
pm”. He then came in for a quick break and to log in the time then went back
out and upped the speed to 40.2 kts.He and the Naish boys were totally stoked.
With low tide at  1.30 p.m. there was barely enough water over the lower reef
to sail.

Alex Aguera was 2nd at 38.7 kts upping his own personal best speed by .1 kts
but not without some hairy moments , Alex:”I had to jump a small wave at full
speed only to crash straight  in face of the  next one,I found myself standing
on the reef with the water not even knee deep.”Thankfully he was unhurt even
though the plume of spray  from his impact could be seen from Spreck’s beach
half a mile upwind.

Robby Naish was back for more speed, setting 3rd fastest speed of 37.7 again 
on the lower reef. Robby: ” the Amateur  wave guys are stoked”, yes ,more than
one took the photo – op to bring home their picture with Robby Naish. Mike
Warmuth came in from  his runs with a huge grin, his 37.2 kts good for 4th also
a personal best .5th was challenge organizer Erik Beale  at 37.1 kts.”I am
really happy for Anders and for the fact that we broke 40 in only our 3rd 
speed session.

The fastest Amateur wave rider was Patrick Bergeron at an impressive 32.7 hot
on the heels of guys with slalom gear. True to his word,he had promised to
break 30 kts the previous day. Fastest woman was Spreck,s massage guru, Twila
Folden at 23.0 kts,her personal best,truly bitten by the speed bug she was off
to dig her old slalom board out from under the house.

All in all the 3rd session was a great success with records broken, many
personal bests and nobody hurt. The low tide at 1.30 P.M. was making it
extremely risky to run the bottom end of the lower reef right where Anders 
cranked out  his 40.2. We will take a break for 4-5 days to allow the low tide
cycle to move through the afternoon and look to be running again towards the
end of next week.

RESULTS:
Rank Name Nationality Speed Class Equipment
1 Anders Bringdal SUE 40.2 kts Pro Speed 
2 Alex Aguera USA 38.7 kts Pro Speed 
3 Robby Naish USA 37.7 kts Pro Speed 
4 Mike Warmuth USA 37.2 kts Am Slalom
5 Erik Beale GBR 37.1 kts Pro Speed 
6 Peter Slate SA 36.1 kts Am Slalom
7 Matt Daniels USA 34.4 kts Am Slalom
8 Patrick Bergeron CAN 32.7 kts Am Wave  
9 Derek Vana USA 29.5 kts Am Wave  
10 Mark Winslow USA 29.3 kts Am Wave  
11 Chris McNeil USA 28.9 kts Am Wave  
12 Will Brown USA 28.6 kts Am Wave  
13 Nathan Corridon GBR 28.5 kts Am Wave  
14 Griffin Freysinger USA 26.5 kts Am Wave  
15 Tom James USA 26.4 kts Am Wave  
16 Richard Lloyd GBR 25.5 kts Am Wave  
17 Martin Mishlel CH 25.2 kts Am Wave  
18 Robert Kluijtmans NL 24.3 kts Am Wave  
19 Daryl Barber CAN 23.1 kts Am Wave  
20 Twila Folden CAN 23.0 kts Am-women Wave  
21 Barbra Sabbeth USA 19.6 Kts Am-women Wave  
22 Heidi Komac FRA 18.8 kts Am-women Wave  
23 Stephanie Mischler CH 18.7 kts Am-women Wave  

Anders Bringdal at 39.6 knots Breaks Maui Open Ocean Speed Record

Maui, HI — The second speed session of the Maui GPS V-Max Speed Challenge
Series took place Thursday June 21 off of Sprecklesville beach. The N.E. trade
winds built steadily through the day peaking at around 35 knots. This wind
direction allowed the speed crew to explore the potential of sprec’s lower
reef. Anders Bringdal set off with a mission, posting 39.3kts within a few runs
with a 6.4 M sail in around 30 kts of wind. Switching to a 5.4M as the wind
picked up, he then hit 39.6 kts on his first run for a new Maui open ocean
speed record. Anders, “I switched down a couple of sail sizes to get rid of
some drag which worked but it was extreme jumping 1 to 2 ft waves at full
speed.”

Indeed there was glassy water to be found over the extremely shallow reef but
with small waves crossing randomly  in all directions, these were not
conditions for the faint of heart. Alex Aguera  sailed all day consistantly in
the 38 kt range with a best of 38.5 for 2nd place. Alex, “I hit a turtle or the
reef and it sheared my fin in half and did so many jumps at full speed it was
nuts.” Jaques was 3rd at 38.0 kts but his day was done all too soon. After a
massive crash on the lower reef, he put his foot down on a sea urchin getting
around 50 spines in his foot, talking after being released from hospital he
said, “I’m totally bummed I’ll be out for 2 – 3 weeks”. We all wish him a
speedy recovery. 4th was challenge organizer Erik Beale at 37.4  “All of us
over 37kts 10 sec average were hitting over 40 kts peak speed, I don’t know how
I made it through some of those sections at that speed.”

In the am  wave class and first wave board rider in to the 30 kt range was
Matthew Kovar at 30.6 kts and First in the am women Stephanie Mischler at 21.9
kts. Patrick Bergeron, a wave sailor from Canada said, “This was my best speed
on a Revo 4.4 and Hardcore Wave XS 66 litres. Doesn’t look fast when you hear
all the 40+ records, but felt scary fast in the conditions!!” Normally a
competitor in the ALoha Classic and writer for Windsport Magazine, a group of
sailors from Hookipa heard about the speed sessions going on and wanted to give
it a go.  “It all felt like that sequence in an old Pryde video from the late
’80’s (Fast Forward!?) where Laird Hamilton speeds through wave peaks until one
just comes at him. This makes you want to tune a few things and give it another
run …for me, gotta break that 30!…..  A 4.2 Hucker would probably have done
it, but only have a 3.7 at the moment and it wasn’t quite strong enough …only
a matter of time, will try again tomorrow as they said they’d probably be
back”. 

OVERVIEW:
The Maui GPS V-Max Speed Challenge Series, is a new speed series organized by
two time world speed record holder, Erik Beale. This Speed Challenge Series
differs from the Navman Speed Series in that this series is ALL about TOP
SPEED, your V-Max. This series is also not tied down to any one location, but
to a number of locations, depending on the conditions. The Maui GPS V-Max team
is going to be scouting for the best speed sailing location on Maui in an
effort to break the 40kt barrier set by the previous speed series.

The location of the speed sessions are not pre-planned but are announced with
24-hour notice, and there is a SPEED HOTLINE that you call to find out WHEN and
WHERE it is happening (808-283-3588). The spees sessions will last from noon
time till 6pm to give people a chance to get off work and make it down to the
beach to put in some speed times.

“The goal is to break 40 knots open ocean, so we are looking for the fastest 10
second stretch of water off of Maui. We will be using gps set to 10 sec
interval as in the Navman series last year.” says Beale. Sailors who are
expected to participate include the fastest from the last two years of the
Navman series : Anders Bringdal, Erik Beale, Alex Aguera, Jaques Pauvert and

Robby Naish. There are no set heats or anything, people can do as many runs as
they want and stay as long or as little as they like.

For the latest news and results, visit http://www.mauispeed.com/