| What live on the Net |
Watch the event from the comfort of your home. While the riders tough it out in the strongest of wind you can follow the sailors live on the internet. See who's pushing hard, or just taking a breather. Thank to gps-speedsurfing.com and championship for all the unseen work.
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Sorry to say, but windfinder has joined the other forecasts in predicting an East wind for the next few days, this ensures we will have no further sessions on the water for drivenbywind.
Once the dust has settles we'll take a look back over the last three months, but for now I'm gratefully to say we got some great results even if we didn't get the conditions. Dirk's run set a new standard for windsurfing on the open ocean, the two other national records and eighteen personal records are just a sign of what the Ray has to offer.
We may be calling this season to a close, but personally it feels like the job is left unfinished.
Thanks to everyone both on and off the water for all you support and effort
Dave |
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We're in the final days of drivenbywind and I've been hoping for one last chance to get out on the water. Unfortunately most predictions are giving an east wind which hits its peak at midday along with the high tide, that just about worst combination. Windfinder is the only forecast that gives us a last chance, so until tomorrow we will stay on hold to see if we still have a chance, but it would be a very early start.
The good new is we have three national records confirmed.
Holland: Dirk Doppenberg, Windsurfer. 44.49 kts
Greece: Philip Adamidis, Windsurfer. 42.74 kts
Ireland: John Kenny, Windsurfer. 40.44 kts
Great results, but Dirks 44.49 kts is not just a new Dutch record, but also the fastest speed recorded on the open sea by any windsurfer around the world.
Congratulations, but lets hope for one more blast. |
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| Frustrating Forecast |
27/03/08 |
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Sitting here frustrated, been watching all the forecast everyday since we started driven by wind and thought there was nothing more frustrating than getting less wind than forecasted. We'll the is, its been windy all morning, way more than forecasted and feel I've let an opportunity go by. Think it could have been good for the mile guessing 6.0 and powered up, so sorry for getting the call wrong on this one, but even this morning the forecast didn't look to solid.
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| On time but light |
20/03/08 |
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Looking out across the water to see zero wind wasn’t really part of the plan, but then it was supposed to swing and build through the day. The forecast was spot-on with the timing and direction, the wind even started to blow on time, everything was looking spot on for a good day. |
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| Challenging Conditions |
14/03/08 |
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Its been an incredible but also frustrating week in the Ray. With a 60 knot gust recorded in the area, we could not have asked for more, better direction maybe but you can’t have everything.
We leave the week with new National and personal records (subject to WSSRC ratification) fantastic results at any time, but in these conditions its really exceptional. |
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The forecast seamed too good to be true, but come the day the wind didn’t let us down, it was the exceptionally low tide that kept our times low. The abnormally low tide created the roughest waters Southend’s ray has ever delivered, not that it stopped the determination of the rider, run after run sailors raced across the far from perfect course, and amazingly despite the conditions good speed were still achieved.
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| The Perfect Start |
16/01/08 |
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The first days competiion and we’re already getting close. Finian Maynard came within a hair’s breath of breaking the world production record. His run of 44.32 knots was not only close but proved that Southend really does have a world class location on its shore’s.
This week was always billed as a test week; Southend’s Ray is a new event and as such has to be approved by the WSSRC before we can run on standby. Monday was more to test the equipment and get everyone familiar with the set-up, but no one really expected day two would bring such great results with ten riders posting their personal best 500m times.
Looking at the results you’d think we’d had a fantastic day, good would describe it better as the south winds ensured the course was square and only broadened the course as the wind dropped. This was just a test and more can be expected from this course, but just consider there is another course which is even flatter and faster at the east end of the Ray. When the real west-southwest wind kick in who knows what can be achieved.
All the riders we carrying gps devices, which transmitted the data to a live site where you could, chose which riders you wanted to follow. Click to watch the days action unfold. |
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Finian Maynard 44.32knots
Dave White 42.81knots
Dirk Doppenebrg 42.62knots
Martin Van Meurs 41.78knots
Simom Hinkley 41.60knots
John Smalley 41.15knots
Bob Cunningham 41.04knits
Steve Thorp 40.91knots
Bart Goemans 40.13knots
Farrel Oshea 39.94knots
Andrew Brown 38.92knots
Jamie Dodds 38.68knots
Pete Davis 38.09knots
Minos Efstathiadis 37.15knots
Timo Mullen 35.95knots
Denis Royet 35.63knots
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