For the first day of competition the mistral offered a magnificent show on Napoléon’s beach. The playground was really hard to deal with for competitors with a strong wind blowing at more than 110km/h in gusts and waves on the run making it even harder to exploit. However all kiters and windsurfers fought a fierce struggle to achieve the best possible time on this run of 500m. Spectators were not afraid to brave the storm to come and support our champions, and admire this French Speed Cup which looks more and more like a World Cup. Indeed, many foreigners have moved into southern France to try to establish a speed record during this event.

Logically, the legendary Bjorn Dunkerbeck won the first round

The participation of the Dutch multiple world champion has transformed this French Cup into an international competition with high standards. The first places of this first round were particularly hard to reach and after a tight battle, Bjorn Dunkerbeck won this round with an average speed recorded at nearly 70km/h (35.76 knots). The local rider Cedric Bordes has almost created a sensation by making the best timing of the day at 35.96 knots. In third position we can find Benoît Moussilmani from Marseille, with an average speed very close to the two leaders.

The other sensation of the day was the presence of the fastest kitesurfers in the world: Alex Caizergues (absolute speed sailing vice record holder and first man to have reached 100km/h on the water), Charlotte Consorti (holding absolute world record for female sailing and first woman to have exceeded 50 knots on the water) and some other specialists in the discipline. Unfortunately for them the course was not really suitable for their support and they could not be fully expressed. Though, Alex signed a nice time at 33.71 knots and won the first round just ahead of Sylvain Sylvain and Hoceini Morin.

In the women fleet, Charlotte Consorti imposes herself over the windsurfer Fanny Aubet, Melanie Augé and Zara Davis with a 27.60 knots run displayed.

A little rest

Today is a quiet day at Port St Louis du Rhone and the Mistral wind does not seem to rise in the early afternoon. The forecast seems optimistic for tomorrow and could allow the Speed Classic organization to launch a second round. To revive yesterday’s race in live, meet us on the GPS round replay thanks to our geo-localization partner MyGeolive.

For more info on the Speed Classic 2010 – www.speedclassic.fr

Rank Sail Name Nat Sponsors Average Speed Best Speed

Knots Km/h Knots Km/h

1. 11 DUNKERBECK Bjorn DUT 35.66 66.04 35.76 66.23

2. 91 BORDES Cedric FRA 35.53 65.80 35.96 66.60

3. 1 MOUSSILMANI Benoit FRA 35.06 64.93 35.07 64.95

4. 10 BRINGDAL Anders FRA 34.97 64.76 35.67 66.06

5. 71 MOUSSILMANI Cyril FRA 34.93 64.69 35.29 65.36

6. 22 GAREL David FRA 34.65 64.17 35.52 65.78

7. 800 BOULANGER Pascal FRA 34.59 64.06 35.70 66.12

8. 916 TOSELLI Pascal FRA 34.49 63.88 34.56 64.01

9. 98 BUREL Cedric FRA 34.14 63.23 34.39 63.69

10. 112 MAUFFRET Bieuzy FRA 33.94 62.86 34.06 63.08

11. 619 FIORENTINI Christophe FRA 33.66 62.34 34.27 63.47

12. 100 CAISERGUES Alex FRA 33.56 62.15 33.71 62.43

13. 767 JOLY Xavier FRA 33.50 62.04 33.72 62.45

14. 101 COUTURIER Fabrice FRA 33.41 61.88 33.54 62.12

15. 68 OGIER Martin UK 33.27 61.62 33.63 62.28

16. 986 RICHAUD Chritophe FRA 33.16 61.41 33.79 62.58

17. 53 HOCEINI Sylvain FRA 32.97 61.06 33.37 61.80

18. 30 MAURIN Sylvain FRA 32.39 59.99 33.22 61.52

19. 711 DONADA Romain FRA 32.26 59.75 32.85 60.84

20. 8 MICHEL Cyril FRA 32.25 59.73 32.46 60.12

21. 698 BERNARD Olivier FRA 31.90 59.08 32.77 60.69

22. 225 LAUBANET Steeve FRA 31.31 57.99 31.44 58.23

23. 111 FLANAGAN Steve IRL 31.22 57.82 32.81 60.76

24. 99 MAES Jean Charles FRA 31.15 57.69 31.31 57.99

25. 70 COURTIADE Fabien FRA 31.07 57.54 31.54 58.41

26. 9 PRIN GUENON Christophe FRA 30.99 57.39 31.36 58.08

27. 151 MORETTI Pierre FRA 30.48 56.45 31.27 57.91

28. 823 BRAULT Valentin FRA 30.24 56.00 30.80 57.04

29. 696 PAREDES VINUALES Gilles FRA 29.79 55.17 29.84 55.26

30. 29.25 54.17 29.52 54.67

31. 37 JOUFFRET Benoit FRA 29.05 53.80 30.11 55.76

32. 554 LANGER Nicolas FRA 28.47 52.73 28.74 53.23

33. 223 BALDINI Andrea ITA 28.36 52.52 29.24 54.15

34. 84 ESCARIO Maxime FRA 28.31 52.43 28.47 52.73

35. 39 BILA Jerome FRA 28.29 52.39 28.62 53.00

36. 877 BJORKVIST Anders SWD 28.08 52.00 29.25 54.17

37. 29 BORNEMANN Christian GER 27.55 51.02 29.82 55.23

38. 108 HAACKE Bjoern GER 26.90 49.82 27.61 51.13

39. 107 PASSATI Alberto ITA 26.02 48.19 26.23 48.58

40. 73 DAVIS Peter UK 9.59 17.76 19.18 35.52

Rank Sail Name Nat Sponsors Average Speed Best Speed

Knots Km/h Knots Km/h

1. 4 CONSORTI Charlotte FRA 26.70 49.45 27.60 51.12

2. 809 AUBET Fanny FRA 26.32 48.74 26.44 48.97

3. 47 DEVIS Zara UK 22.44 41.56 22.83 42.28

4. 21 AUGE Melanie FRA 21.69 40.17 22.79 42.21