The Belgian Speed week was the 1st stop on the ISWC European Speed tour.

Here is the organiser Patrick Van Hoof's event report.

It was a super week. Most of the time it was sunny and there was always wind. One competitor had an average of 90 km a day which is pretty impressive.
The first day the wind was too light for competition so we had a fun race, the second day we had enough wind to start a counting round but by the time we set the course, the wind dropped and again we had a fun race.
Wednesday we had 2 beautiful heats, both were +22 knots of wind. Thursday started with no wind at all, but during the day the wind turned and became bit stronger but after lunch the wind was still coming out of the wrong direction and was far from enough, so the flag for 'no more races today' came up.The riders were released for the rest of the day.

Friday the last day we planed 2 races of 1hour before lunch to allow time for prize giving an prepare the closing ceremony, results etc.
Unfortunately the wind wasn't that strong, so we waited and managed to get one good round in making 3 counting rounds and lots of fun racing for the week.

The price giving was on a marvelous location, a new big beach house and made even better by the beautiful weather. The sponsors Fanatic, North and Sonntag gave us a lot of great prizes including 5 Sonntag fins, a Fanatic Ray board, North ID 5.3 sail also a huge ION boardbag and a lot of smaller prices. So every competitor went home with a nice prize.

We also announced this was the last Belgian Speed week that we will be organising, we would thank all the volunteers, sponsors etc. who helped us to organize this speed events over the years.
In particular a big thanks to my wife Tania, who helped me a lot in organizing this competition without her, I wouldn't have managed to organise this event for so many years.  

We hope that someone else will take up the challenge to take over continue running this fantastic and popular competition.

Top 3 Results
1 David Garrel ( North/Fanatic)
2 Thorsten Mallon (North/PD)
3 Patrick Van Hoof (North/Fanatic)  

Full reults and speeds now on line click read more link below.

We are sorry to report that Alex Caizergues has been injured. Taking part in the Mondial Du Vent Orange Speed Crossing event in the south of France. Alex is a true competitor and we wish him a very speedy recovery.

http://www.kiterace.fr/2012/04/Hecatombe-chez-les-kitesurfers.html

 Belgian Speed week sponsored by Fanatic, North and Sonntag has finished. It is also the first event of the ISWC European Championship tour 2012. The event is held in Grussian south of France which has a reputation for beautiful beaches and strong Tramontana winds this time of year is a fantastic opener for the tour.

.  David Garrel (LUX) wins for the 2nd year running in Grussian.

David the current ISWC European speed windsurfing champion. Stamped his authority on this event and is clearly setting out to take the title fora second year.

Reports from the organiser Patrick Van Hoof

The Walvis bay speedweek is making a comeback in 2012!

This will be a recognised event by the ISWC

and the winners will be awarded the title African Speed Windsurfing Champion's.

The event is being staged by the legendary Hennie Bredenkamp and will run from the 23rd to the 29th of September.

The demand for an event at this legendary spot has become apparent over the last couple of years. With the fantastic speeds recorded in Luderitz the record chase has been well and truly taken away from Walvis Bay. What remains is the best speedsailing event venue in the world where up to 80 competitors can be accommodated on the speedstrip at any time. Windsurfers and kitesurfers can also compete at the same time. With GPS timing technology matured to its current level there is no need for a complicated and costly Video timing system and this has brought the cost of running an event of this type down dramatically.

The intention of the organizers is to bring together speedsailing enthusiasts of all types at this venue to compete against each other in an open and friendly basis in the true spirit of Speedsailing.

Luderitz Speed Challenge, World Record Attempt has been announced.

The 2012 Luderitz World Speed Sailing attempt will take place over 6 weeks with Windsurfers running from 5th of November to the 2nd of December and Kitesurfer’s 3rd December to the 16th December.

 Entries are open but will be very limited due to limited space on the shuttle vehicles that will be constantly ferrying competitors from the end of the speed strip back to the start line. Many Top riders have already signed up including the international Mistral team including Anders Bringdal, Farrel Oshea, Andrea Baldini and Zara Davis. They have all competed at the site before but not at the new course which has been created over two years.  It has been dug out approximately 300m metres inland from the original course, creating a better angle for the wind and with less wind shadows. The organisers are confident that the new course will take the overall record of 55.65 knots higher and take Windsurfers over the 50 knot barrier for the 1^st time.   For further information and registrations please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Events 2012

Several events and details for 2012 are still to be confirmed, status may change on short notice. Please do not book any flights before your starting place has been confirmed by each national organiser.

After four hard fought rounds held all over Europe. David Garrel from Luxembourg and Zara Davis from England were crowned at Weymouth Speed week in the UK the final leg of the tour. They are the official 2011 ISWC European Speed Windsurfing Champions.

     

The King and Queen of European Speed have been crowned at the final Event of the year in Weymouth.

The final event of the ISWC European Speed Windsurfing Tour has opened in Weymouth England the event runs from the 15th to the 21st of October. Where the King and Queen of European Speed will be decided.

NOR for this event CLICK HERE

Current European tour ranking after 3 rounds   MEN     WOMEN