There has been much debate about the attempting of sailing records in very
shallow water. The controversy has only recently come to light because up
until now the need for skegs on windsurfers made water depth self-limiting.
However the high speeds being claimed by kite surfers has circumvented this
as although they need to "edge" their boards somewhat to generate lift, at
50 knots and at deep wind angles, the edge doesn't run very deep. There was
a real concern that unless some sensible ruling was brought in, a world
record claim using water only as a lubricant was a possibility. For example,
creating a record course by covering a large car park with a plastic sheet
and then wetting it to a few mm depth. There was a general feeling that this
stretched the aim of breaking records on "water" too far.

* The new rule states that "Record claims will not be ratified when, in the
opinion of the WSSR Commissioner, the minimum water depth over the whole
course is below 50 cms"