It's Official - 3 New National Records on the 1st Day of Racing!!

The 1st National Speed Record was broken within minutes of the start of the Luderitz Speed Event 2010 on what was expected to be simply a training session in anticipation prior to the big winds forecast for next week.

Kite surfer Gavin Broadbent smashed the existing New Zealand national record within 13 minutes of the opening of the first day of the 2010 Luderitz Speed Challenge on Friday 8th October at 2nd Lagoon, Luderitz Bay, Namibia. After only 3 runs his official average speed over 500m was recorded at 44.51 knots – the previous record being 40.68 knots.

70 minutes later, also on his 3rd run, Swedish Windsurfer, Anders Bringdal broke the Swedish National Windsurfing record. The existing record was 41.96 and his official recorded speed was 42.9 knots.

Australian Kite surfer Tim Pumpa was the 3rd competitor of the day to set a new national record – Best Kite Speed record for Australia with an official speed of 40.72 knots. The previous record was 33.94 knots.

All new records are still to be ratified by the World Speed Sailing Record Council (WSSRC).e wind forecast for Friday is 30 knots. This will mark the 1st day of racing for the 2010 Luderitz Speed Challenge.