Les Salins, La Palme, France was the location this spring for a world speed sailing record attempt from March 12 - April 30. Sanctioned as a private record attempt by the WSSRC (world speed sailing record council). World and national speed sailing record holders and a select band of invited sailors made the journey to the South of France to try out a new canal by its designer, UK speed sailing legend, Erik Beale. We caught up with Erik and fellow Brits, Zara Davis and Farrel O’Shea to learn more about the new addition to the speed event calendar.
ZARA DAVIS
There had been rumours for a couple of years about a speed spot and a WSSRC world record attempt in the south of France. The area is well recognised by the GPS speed boys and girls at a spot known as La Franqui. But nothing had ever come of it. So it was a big surprise when I got a message from Erik Beale saying I was invited to take part in a world record attempt at a new speed spot called La Palme in the South of France. It was very last minute to say the least, I had one week to make my mind up and the event started 3 weeks later!
Logistically it was a bit of a nightmare too, as we were in Tenerife at the TWS slalom training camp with all my Slalom gear, our van and our dog, Ziggy. All my speed kit was tucked away in our garage at home in the UK, so the only answer was a call to ‘FAZTERNATIONAL RESCUE’, a.k.a. my friend and sponsor, Farrel O’Shea.
After numerous Skype calls and lots of cups of tea we hatched a plan for me to fly home and get our speed kit to Farrel via Jim Brooks in South Wales so Faz could bring it down to La Palme in his van. We had to shorten our time in Medano and book a new ferry to get there in time for the start. Easy!
For me the motivation for doing this challenge was the buzz of somewhere new to speed sail. I had been to Namibia 6 times in the quest for my fastest speed and been amply rewarded with two world records, but this was a new spot with a reputation for nuclear winds, so I paid my money and set off for La Palme.
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New School
Slingshotâs windsurfing brand manager, Wyatt Miller, has noticed that kids are drawn to playing with wings and puts forward an interesting case as to why he thinks this could help entice them and others into windsurfing.
Changes
Wave sailor Flo Jung reflects on our changed world during his lockdown in Germany.
THE LAST WAVE
Lockdown stirred the creative juices of reader Björn Alfthan, who peers into the future to present a fictional story set in the wild waves of Norway, five years from now.
STILL IN THE GAME
After a horrific fracture in his leg from a crashed aerial in 2018, Alessio Stillrich is back! John Carter talks to the highflyer from Gran Canaria about his move to the Simmer team, recovering from injury and how he learned to windsurf in Gran Canaria!
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This month we look at how our front foot weighting can affect and improve different aspects of our main windsurfing moves.
SOUTH' KIPA
Nik tweaking it over home waters.
A NEW NORMAL
On a trip to La Tranche-sur-Mer in France last year, Tris Best estimated over 80% of the windsurfers were foiling. This summer in Portland Harbour, foiling activity has increased dramatically too he reports. With the market offering plenty of choice to recreational windfoilers, our test team check out some of the latest foil offerings.
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Realising we may be about to enter an extraordinary period in our lives, Harty decided to keep a windsurf-centric lockdown diary. Here are some of his choice excerpts.
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