Tilmann just set a blistering 500 run at 50.9 knots on a kite
he has been using doppler so this should be pretty accurate!.....Max. 2 sec. (software) : 54.9 knots with an Av speed 50.14 knots (53.1 51.7 50.5 47.9 47.4)
100 m run : 54.3 knots
250 m run : 53.2 knots
500 m run : 50.9 knots
Thats not just beating records its smashing them!







www.gps-speedsurfing.com/default.aspx?mnu=forum&forum=1&val=6096
http://50knots.xs4all.nl:3006/gps-kitesurfing/gps.asp?mnu=user&val=401&uid=4


Absolfurkenutely awesome

Nar, doesnt count, two reasons[}:)][}:)][}:)]
1: he fell off, in about 6" (about 150mm) of water, ya gotta stay in the saddle
2: He didn't give the Elmo salute, indicating he fell off on purpose and was all OK[}:)]

I like the way he controls his dismount, like a GP bike rider

That's cranking in anyone's book.

Tilmann's comments on this spot 6 months ago

"The key for the kiters to get the outright worldrecord is absolutely flat water. But you only have REALLY flat water on broad course (ca. 130 degrees) if the water is very shallow (2-4 inch). This is the reason, why Tarifa is not as good as Westerhever. In this fantastic location in Germany near St.Peter-Ording the beach is flooded with water every day. You have only a thin layer of fluid on a totally flat ground (like the saltlake in Utah). Even in 40 knots of wind you a huge area with no waves...flat like ice and you can choose any direction you want.
So I call it "liquid ice" .
If our timekeeper Manfred has time tonight, I shall post my unbelievable results from last monday...
cheers tilmann"

Awesome effort but to me it is more ice sailing. 5cm of water acting as a lubricating layer over slippery mud

Here is another post by tilmann

"Speedkiting in shallow water can be very painful, if you
are not fully concentrated on what you are doing with your kite, especially at the start and when you slow down after your run. If you make a no-control- jump here, because you steer back your kite too fast you can break your bones in the next second. ...A normal fall is no problem, you are just sliding through the water or the sand (not good for your harness) . But why should I fall, if there are no waves you can stumble over ? With a modern full depower kite gusts are no problem as well. Doing 46 knots in perfect conditions with perfect gear is like riding your car on an (empty) highway: Pure fun. (No pressing with your back foot and pulling with your front foot for example)
I`ll try to put fotos online today... "

"Doing 46 knots in perfect conditions with perfect gear is like riding your car on an (empty) highway"..... not quite the challenge of doing the same speed in 45-50 knots on a windsurfer... definitly no cruise.

Lucky he didn't miscalculate the location of the fence posts
Looked smooth (his stance and run)

When I last chatted to Hennie about the difference between windsurfing speed and Kiting speed, he basically said doing 45 on a kite is a walk in the park compared to doing 30-something on a windsurfer... but the crashes are a different story- 45 is 45 in that department...

But they are different sports altogether. As soon as the water is deep enough to windsurf in, the kite boards lose their massive efficiency gain from "ground effect" where the water pressure on the board is increased significantly due to it being constrained by the ground, but the drag is still the same- that means less board and less drag for the same lift. So there is some question about it being "sailing" when the venue is more "wet sand"* than water.

But at the end of the day its an exceptional effort- and good to see it done by a guy who copped so much abuse from some arrogant "pro" kiters who have been at him for ages for stealing "their" glory.

* this was an expression used by WSSRC observer Michael Ellison

sick_em_rex said...

out of interest and opinion, are we considering the 'holy grail' now broken/found?

Yep!

Maybe its my interpretation but in the WSSRC rules I can see nowhere that it says the course must be a straight line. It says that the course shall be a minimum of one half kilometer. If you set a dogleg course with a mark to be rounded and survey the distance from start gate to mark and from mark to finish gate this will satisfy the rule as I see it. The logical corollary of this is to use the GPS derived positions at each recording interval to define the turning marks and we have the GPSS linear distance of 500 metres and WSSRC half kilometer as the same distance. The records are the same. It is purely a question of accepting the accuracy of the GPS results.

See, I can't even spell it!

Well, I have to say Finian was correct. I was surprised to see that Tilmann did in fact sail a curved course. His run-in (at sub 50 knots) was at a tighter angle but the over 50kts+ section of his track for about 300m is relatively straight. Makes you wonder what he can achieve if he is able to go a little further when he gets up to speed.
The straight line calculation I saw from GPS-Results was 49.896 knots.
Nevertheless, 500m of actual distance was traversed and the average speed for this distance was well over 50 knots.

I just wonder when is shallow water "too shallow" ?

It could be argued that an ice yacht is also sailing on shallow water (a rather thin film for sure) and is just enjoying an even greater benefit of ground effect.

Where does one draw the line? Shallow water on sand, shallow water on ice.

What is the difference?

he said 2cm (not inches) was do-able, just that you drag through sand. Just think about that for a moment...

Yep sailed fin dragging spots at speed, our old spot point grey we used to do runs where you would see scrub marks 3" up the fins and unless you keep the power on in a gybe the board just stopped. We used to joke that it helped keep the board running straight.

My second last stack on Hardies was a cavitating fin @33kn the boar went sideways and I coped a 100m rib tickler sliding on my back whilst still hooked in and the sail still powered up, when I came to a halt I sank into water which didn't cover my chest, went out a bit further on the next runs.

Shallow water can take the chop out, but the are some pretty severe penalties if it goes wrong.

izaak said...

us wind surfers need to get our act to gether if you want to break 50 knots

You might be able to do it Izaac if you keep improving the way you do, you are the future mate!!!!!!