Karpathos 2007 event report

The 1st round of the ISA speed world cup kicked of on the idyllic island of Karpathos in Greece. The event was run last year for the 1st time and proved to be very popular with the racers for being the most welcoming on the tour. It was not surprising then for 2007, a record 75 entrants turned up from 22 countries including Australia, Brazil and Hawaii. The line up was extremely strong including PWA sailors Antoine Albeau, Bjorn Dunkerbeck and all the Moussilmani brothers, speed stars Finian Maynard the world 500m record holder and David White production world record holder. The women’s line up was also formidable with Zara Davis women’s world mile record holder, Karin Jaggi the women’s 500m world record holder, Valerie Ghibaudo the French Champion, and an unknown Pauline Pease from Maui who won the GPS challenge all in attendance.

The British speedsailing team over the two 2007 ISA events at Karpathos and Sotavento are lying in 2nd place overall in the world national rankings.
Only the French to beat!

Meet the team

David (Whitey) White, This guy needs no Introduction. But for the uninitiated, a true larger than life character that is an inspiration to us all. Current World Speed Record holder for production boards, a title has held 5 times.
Zara (outmore) Davis Zara’s nick name came from Whitey who thinks she needs to “get out more” Not a big party animal 3/10. But put her on a board and she can embarrass many of the men. World record holder for the nautical mile and British record holder for 500m.

Event report By Zara Davis
The Second round of the ISA speedsailing world cup held at the legendary Sotavento Beach Fuerteventura, finally delivered some good winds. The event in recent years has struggled with light winds and very rough conditions, so we were due a good one.
This event has been running since the eighties and has a fearsome reputation, but the increased popularity of Speedsailing has brought back some of the legends like Anders Bringdal, Farrel Oshea, show they still have what it takes.
The first three days where not what the doctor ordered! The Calime wind which some times blows in the Canaries was in full flow meaning NO wind at the strip. But the afternoon of the 4th day the wind switched and brought almost perfect flat conditions on the water, but not wind wise.
With 22-25 knots it was just sailable on an angle of 135 degrees.
So I was very pleased to cause the 1st upset of the week with a 2nd place to Karin who achieved an impressive 33.25 with me just behind on 32.51 and Valerie in third.
In the Men’s fleet the lead changed between Bjorn, Finian, Jose and Antoine in the beginning, but Finian had some put in some fast runs with a top speed of 37.34 knots.
In the end, this was the fastest speed recorded, and he was able to hold back Antoine to second place and Jose into third. Cyril finished fourth and Bjorn fifth.