The 40th Anniversary of Weymouth Speed Week was the host to the final round of the European Speed Tour. Light winds for the first few days but they built towards the end of the week. The conditions were tough on the first 4 rounds with winds from the east meaning a course set in the harbour and the inevitable chop! the final two rounds on the last day was the best with winds from the traditional SW and a flat course along the beach. The racing was close between the top 4 contenders David Garrel LUX Last years winner, Thorsten Mallon GER 2nd last year and leading coming in to this event, Daniel Borgelind SWE on the back of a win from Germany was on great form and so was his fellow countryman Anders Bjorqvist.

The condition did suit Daniel however as it was similar to his home spots in Sweden and that gave him the edge over David Garrel who was trying very hard to retain his title these two had a great battle with only Anders giving them cause for concern, Thorsten was not on form and a little bird tels me he had a lot on his mind, so that may have effected his performance. So this UK round results were

1st Daniel Borgelind SWE
2nd Anders Bjorqvist SWE
3rd David Garrel LUX
4th Martyn Ogier GBR
5th Thorsten Mallon GER

ISWC European Title final results were.

WSW was a big success this on this 40th Anniversary year. With over 120 riders and some very close racing combined with fantastic equipment and gear on display from the last four decades of speedsailing and to cap it all off even Johnnie Walker made a reappearance.

  David Garrel meets Johnnie Walker

Sweden dominates at the German round of the ISWC European Speed Championships.

Daniel Borgelind SWE took took top honours with-three straight bullets and Anders Bjorkvist SWE 3rd only Thorsten Mallon from Germany restoring home pride splitting up the two Swedes in 2nd place.

 Full results click here

The final round of The 2012 European tour is about to start on the 6th of October for seven days. At Weymouth harbour.

NOR is available here

It is also the 40th year of Weymouth Speed week so there will be a lot going on so well worth a visit.

The second round European tour which is part of the German speed championships are underway on the beautiful Island of Fehmarn, Germany. Unfortunately the wind is not playing yet so the organisers Rosi and Manfred Merle have been busy in keeping the competitors entertained with fun races and Buoy throwing competitions. With the promise of wind later in the week everyone is enjoying the sunshine and seeing the Island sights till it comes.

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.