NEW SPOT
This year’s event was due to be held at the classic speed spot of Sotavento, only a few miles down the coast from Matas Blacas where it has been held for the last 4 years. Then at the 11th hour, the organisers were told they needed an additional licence to the 4 they already had, due to it being in a national park. This meant that they couldn’t put flags on the beach and no timing boxes etc. Bjorn Dunkerbeck and his team sprang into action and reacted to this and managed to find alternative sites at different locations on the island. The riders were informed that the event was going mobile and that went down well with the riders who got onboard with the challenge.
The wind gods must have been looking down at this point and decided to play their part. The island for the whole competition period had unusually fluky winds from the north east. This meant that had the championships been run on the original intended site of Sotavento, there would have not been any competition rounds due to light and side-shore winds. Bjorn must have sacrificed a goat or something to achieve this stroke of luck! The best location with this NE direction turned out to be Punto de Jandia, about as far south as you can get on the island of Fuerteventura. It’s a beautiful isolated spot, accessed via 19 km of dirt roads. The remoteness of the site did cause a timing headache for the organisers and competitors as the GPS units used transmitted their data via a mobile phone signal. But the mobile signal was poor in the area and caused delays and some missed runs, but the majority of this was overcome.
These limitations were worth it though, as 3 quality championship rounds were held in ideal offshore winds ranging from the minimum 20 knots, to the windiest round held with winds over 40 knots. The competition as always at this event was fierce, but the experience of the top riders shone through. As previously mentioned, in the men’s fleet Twan Verseput from Holland took the top spot with 3 bullets from the counting rounds of competition and top speeds of almost 43 knots. Proving last year wasn’t a one off, Twan said “ I really enjoy this competition, the conditions are the same for everyone and this year’s site meant I could use my larger Starboard speed boards to get some serious speeds.” The very experienced slalom racer, Andy Laufer from Germany, was the dark horse of this year’s event. New to speed sailing competition, he revelled in the conditions, surprisingly pushing Bjorn into 3rd place. Bjorn was recovering from a hip replacement in February this year, but still managed to hold his own. The battle for top British spot in the men’s fleet saw the rivalry between Jim Crossley and Nigel Spriggs continue from last year with Nigel taking an early lead, but Jim in the next two rounds found his form to secure 9th place overall and Nigel 14th. Defending champion, Zara Davis, was also dominant in the women’s competition with 3 bullets giving Zara her 3rd world title. Speaking about the event, Zara said “I love this new event site, it threw all sorts at us! I used everything from my 96 litre Simmer 3XS slalom board and 7.0m, down to my 5.4m speed sail and Simmer Speed Demon board. Super happy to make it 3 in a row!” Zara was kept honest by last years women’s vice champion, Anne Schindler from Germany, who finished in 2nd place. Newcomer to the event Anja Kruse, also from Germany, came 3rd; she didn’t get to stamp her authority on the event due to an injury sustained off the water, but has vowed to come back stronger next year.
However, this event is bigger than the world championship, it has been designed to encourage all ages to take part, the youngest being Carlos Kiefer Quintana from Germany at 11, to Trevor Watford from the UK at 61. With prizes in all age groups, nobody is missing a challenge. There is also an eye on the future too, this year a foil category was added and was won by Defi Wind organiser Philippe Bru.
There are also prizes for father/mother/son/daughter categories and non-cambered sails etc., so it really does cover all the bases. Entry is on a first come first served basis, so if you fancy a go next year, keep an eye on the Dunkerbeck Speed Challenge Facebook page when entry opens in January 2019. This event is bigger than the world championship, it has been designed to encourage all ages to take part.
