Its Official – Kite Surfers set Outright speeds

8 12 2008

‘Alexandre Caizergues Speed World Cup Port St. Louis’   

Backed into a logical corner, it seems that ISAF have realised they had no choice but to recognise Kite surfing records with the same status as other ISAF classes, so the new outright worlds speed record over 500 metres is now 50.57 knots.

 

John Reed the Secretary to the WSSR Council writes ‘‘We have been informed by the International Sailing Federation – ISAF – that they will support a decision by the WSSRC to ratify a claim for the Outright World Sailing Speed Record by a Kite-board. 
‘In accordance with this, the WSSRC announces the ratification of a new World Record.’

Record: Outright World Sailing Speed Record.
Board: Fone Prototype Speed. Fone Bandit Dos Speed 7sq m kite.
Name: Alexandre Caizergues. FRA
Dates: 4th October 2008.
Start time: 15:35:00.84
Finish time: 15:35:20.06
Elapsed time: 19.22
Distance: 501m
Current: 0.1kts
Average speed: 50.57kts
Venue: Luderitz, Namibia.
Previous record: 2008. Sebastien Cattelan. 50.26 kts

Here is the footage from that record run.

 

The Council of the International Sailing Federation at their November 2008 had ruled that Kite surfing records could not be recognised as outright records.

The comment on the WSSRC website posted after the November meeting says, at the end of a note ratifying the record of Sebastien Cattelan at 50.26kts as being that of a Kiteboarding record only and adds: ‘Note that at the November Conference 2008, ISAF clarified that a kite-powered craft cannot be recognised as the holder of The World Sailing Speed Record.’ A source close to the World Sailing Record Council told Sail-World that they did not understand the ISAF decision and were seeking an urgent meeting with the world body to resolve the issue.

Sail-World’s New Zealand, Richard Gladwell commented at the time of the original decision:

‘ One problem is that the history of kites in the world of speed sailing is long, and goes back to the 1970’s with craft called Jacob’s Ladder which was essentially a Tornado platform powered by a set of kites which could be multiplied to suit the windstrength.

 

This kite powered craft held the record on a 500-metre course (235 sq. ft. to 300 sq. ft. class) for six years with a speed of 25 knots. 
The ISAF decision was even more difficult to understand when the rules of the WSSRC state: ‘A yacht shall sail by using only the wind and water to increase, maintain or decrease her speed’. Maybe ISAF doesn’t consider a kiteboarder to be ‘a yacht’, but if that is the case why are they accepting records from kiteboards as a category at all?

The logical problem for ISAF was how can your sport be under the auspices of the International SAILING Federation, but that same sport not be eligible for Outright SPEED SAILING records ratified by that world body.

 





ISAF does not recognise kitesurfing speed records!

29 11 2008

sebastiencattelan

We have encountered a lot of confusion about the ratification of the 50.26 knots run by Sebastien Cattelan earlier this year in Luderitz, Namibia, and the upcoming claim for 50.57 knots by Alexandre Caizergues.

WSSRC newsletter number 165 states: ‘Note that at the November Conference 2008, ISAF clarified that a kite-powered craft cannot be recognised as the holder of The World Sailing Speed Record.’

At this stage we only want to clarify that the WSSRC has been always supportive to Kiteboarding and has made clear that they see kiteboards fully eligible to claim the outright speed sailing record. We are working on this topic now with full energy to resolve the matter.

The International Speed Windsurfing Class (ISWC) and the International Kiteboarding Class Associstion (IKA) both officially acknowledge kiteboarders as rightful speed sailing outright world record holders. Kiteboards fully qualify under the ISAF Equipment Rules of Sailing and the WSSRC rulebook for the outright record.

Although the WSSRC feels to be bound by an ISAF policy from former years, when kiteboarding was neither compliant with the Equipment Rules of Sailing nor being an ISAF international class, the only possible conclusion under the actual rule situation and in the spirit of true sportsmanship is to acknowledge the performances of Alexandre Caizergues, Robert Douglas and Sebastien Cattelan, all with runs of more than 50 knots during this years Luderitz Speed Challenge as the speed sailing outright record.

We have been consulted by WSSRC and ISAF to help and try resolve the issue and to ensure good sportsmanship is uphelp.

SOURCE: IKA





2009 Kiteboarding World Championship

21 11 2008

alt_crw_3534

For the first time in history, the 2009 Kiteboarding World Championship title will be sanctioned by the International Sailing Federation (ISAF).

This became possible by approving the International Kiteboarding Association (IKA) as official class association during the quadrenual ISAF general meeting in Madrid last week. From now on, Kiteboarding is on par with other parts of international sailing as the ‘Volvo Ocean Race’ or the ‘Americas Cup’.

To Markus Schwendtner, executive secretary of the IKA, this is an important step towards the positive development of this young sport: ‘Giving the world championship rights to the IKA clarifies the structures in international kiteboarding and ensures same reglementation for national and international kiteboarding competitions. It has now become possible to compete under consistant and recognized rules. Thereby the sport becomes more attractive and transparent to athletes, spectators and the media’. In the past, international kiteboarding competition took mainly place within two private world tours. Thus there have been two world champions, elected by different sets of rules.

The world wide unified rulebook used by the IKA paves the way for a global world ranking with one conjoined world champion. The ranking is intended to include the present world tours, independent organisers and national events. ‘National competitions become more important, because active sailors can collect valuable points for the world ranking already on a national level. Furthermore, access to the formula one of kiteboarding becomes accessible for a broader base of sailors’, illustrates Thilo Trefz, organiser of the German ‘Kitesurf-Trophy’.

The international kiteboarding scene welcomes the development as well as event organizers around the world, where the approval of the IKA earns positive feedback: ‘St Francis is very interested in hosting the course racing world championship and have a place holder on our 2009 schedule for a major kite event.’ says John Craig, race manager of the renowned St. Francis Yacht Clubs of San Francisco.

The IKA is now looking forward to start negotiations towards a worldwide coordinated regatta schedule 2009. For this purpose the IKA invites all promoters, organisers and associations to cooperate.

Mais info em http://www.internationalkiteboarding.org





APKite com Workshop sobre Meteorologia

20 11 2008

A Apkite, vai  realizar uma formação sobre meteorologia no próximo dia 1 de Dezembro, dada por um profissional, aberta a todos os riders, quer sejam associados ou não.

È muito importante a aquisição destes conhecimentos, para melhor entender as previsões meteorológicas e reconhecer as situações que poderão perigosas para a prática do kitesurf. Nós vamos lá estar, inscrevam-se também.

formacao_apkite1_

A APKite vai iniciar um novo ciclo na área da Formação no Kite, com a realização de uma primeira formação sobre Meteorologia, aberto a todos os Sócios e não-Sócios APKite.info@apkite.pt

Esta formação promoverá a prática de Kitesurf com maior segurança e maior conhecimento sobre as condições meteorológicas que estão envolvidas na nossa actividade.

Como tal, convidamos todos os praticantes e em especial todos os Instrutores de Kitesurf, a marcarem presença, por forma a que cada vez mais este seja um tema obrigatório na formação de novos praticantes.

Todos os formandos receberão material informativo e Certificado de Formação válido em futuros critérios de avaliação de Instrutores certificados na FPKite-APD.
 

Inscrições e mais informações_

Fonte : www.apkite.pt





Encontros imediatos com baleias

10 11 2008

encontro-com-baleia

O Australiano David Sheridan, montou uma câmara fotográfica no seu kite e registou o encontro com uma baleia, infelizmente como a máquina estava programada para tirar uma foto a cada 10 segundos, falhou o momento em a grande baleia o golpeou com a sua cauda !

O relato do encontro  :

As this amazing picture shows, a huge whale suddenly rose up close to the surface as the 42-year-old New South Wales man was riding his kiteboard – a small surfboard suspended beneath a large kite.

Seconds after this photo was snapped remotely by David’s camera, mounted on the kite apparatus, the whale flicked up its tail and gave him an almighty blow on the back of his head.

Because the camera was programmed to take pictures every 10 seconds it missed the moment when the whale struck David – but this incredible shot of the massive creature swimming beneath him is reminder enough of his close encounter.Seconds after this photo was snapped remotely by David Sheridan’s camera, the whale flicked up its tail and gave him an almighty blow on the back of his head‘It all happened so fast that all I could do was crouch down as the whale swam under me,’ David said.

‘I saw the huge shape and my reaction was to duck while remaining attached to the flying lines from the sail above me.‘The next thing I felt was its tail come up and hit me on the back of the head.‘I honestly thought I was gone – it was such a forceful blow – but then the whale eased off and I was able to sail away.

‘But my legs were really shaking. I’ve never been through anything like that before and probably never will again.’

David told Sydney’s Daily Telegraph he had gone to Valla Beach, on the north coast of New South Wales, for an afternoon of kiteboarding with two friends.

Because he wanted some unique photos of himself, he set up a camera on the sail that would haul him skywards so that he could then skim across the surface of the water – a dramatic sport that leaves beach-side spectators fascinated.

‘The camera was set to start firing off shots every 10 seconds as soon as I hit the water. When the sail was at full height the camera was about 25m above the surface.

‘It was a lucky shot to snap the whale as it came up underneath me.

‘It would have been great to have got a picture a second later when the tail came up and hit me in the back of the head, but you take what you get.’

He said he believed the whale was content to scare him away, rather than lash out aggressively.

‘It was more of a push than a punch. I expected more.’

Wildlife experts have identified the creature as a southern right whale, which gets its name from old-time hunters who believed the species were the ‘right’ whales to hunt because they were large, slow moving and floated when they were killed. They also provided large amounts of oil and bone.

‘Southern right whales are more unpredictable than humpbacks,’ said Mr Jeff Ross of the National parks and Wildlife Service.

‘It’s possible this one had a calf it was protecting, or was simply just reacting to the movement on the surface.’

e aqui fica outro encontro, desta vez com uma Orca na Nova Zelândia,

orca1

Orca whales head into Raglan harbour in New Zealand a couple of times a year to feed on the stingrays. An incoming tide this weekend saw a few venture inside its perimeters and the opportunity to kite with them was too much for Ozone’s chancer, Matt Taggart. Reliably informed by his kiting mates on the beach that ‘there has never been an Orca attack on a human’, however, the fact none of them left the beach spoke volumes for their confidence in that stat as Matt risked all for the moment.