Words & Photo: Sophie Routaboul
13 October - Today started with a stable wind from 25 knots to 30-35 knots average on the first part of the day.
The Australian Windsurfers were still fighting for first place.
Jacques Kint who was ready for action and wishing to lead his nation, broke it straight away with 45.76 knots. His colleague Tony Wynhoven surpassed him rapidly and achieved 47.23 knots.
Belgian Alain de Gendt was growing in confidence and beating his own record with 44.94 knots.
Croatian Boris Vujasinovic who joined the competition 2 days later, demonstrated his skills by improving his record of last year and achieved 46.33 knots.
Alexander Goncharov keeps on increasing his National Record looking better and better and achieved yet another new Ukrainian Record of 44.94 knots.
Well done to Gautier Bourgeois, the youngest rider of the event, who realized the best performance of the day with 47.32 knots.
The Kitesurfer Taro Niehaus has smashed his South African Record (held since 2011 on the channel) with 53.01 knots.
The French record holder Sébastien Cattelan who engineered the channel and is at the heart of the event, reached an impressive 55.36 knots, only 0.2 knots outside the World Record and he kept achieving between 53 and 55 knots on each run.
If the wind was not as gusty as it was during the second part of the day the world kite surfing record would most certainly have been broken.
Tomorrow, the lighter conditions will allow competitors to recuperate and they will also have the opportunity to welcome local school children who will partake in an afternoon of water sports sponsored by SPAR.
