Surfers show off at Speed Week in Walvis Bay

THE beach near Walvis Bay was once again a hive of activity on Tuesday as riders rigged all sail sizes from 5m² right up to 7.8m² in anticipation of the varying weather conditions.

The wind jacked up much better on Tuesday than Monday and the heat was started at 15h30. The first 15 minutes was complete pandemonium at the start as the large fleet of participants, eager to get some runs on the scoreboard, converged on the speed strip.Windsurfing legend Bjoern Dunkerbeck was on top form and blasted his way into top position early on with a 41-knot run.He fended off violent attacks from Patrick Diethelm, Antoine Albeau and Finian Maynard.Just when the top guys thought the local riders were not a threat, Namibian Matthias Roettcher blasted through a series of super fast runs in the 39.3 knots range, only 0.02 knots slower than the current leader of the World Speed tour, Antoine Albeau.The top-performing locals were Matthias Roettcher in 4th, Hennie Bredenkamp in 10th, Frank Stein in 16th and Darren Barker in 20th place.Karin Jaggi was the fastest woman of the day, having managed to stay ahead of Valerie Ghibaudo by just 0.04 knots.In the kite-surfing fleet it was Alex Caizergues who once again showed why he is leading the world speed tour with great consistent runs throughout the heat and went on to claim the first position again.In the women’s race a nail-biting match between Sjoukje Bredenkamp and Charlotte Consorti evolved.In the end Sjoukje had an amazing race and beat Consorti by almost a knot.A few broken masts and booms as were experienced as usual, and a few kites went down in the speed course.Australian speed demon Chris Lockwood hit a lost kiteboard full on, which took a huge bite out of his fin and gashed the bottom of his board.He uttered a few unquotable words, but in true sportsman style he just took another board and fin and headed straight back out.Even more wind came up yesterday afternoon as the surfers took to the waves again.Speedweek websiteThe first 15 minutes was complete pandemonium at the start as the large fleet of participants, eager to get some runs on the scoreboard, converged on the speed strip.Windsurfing legend Bjoern Dunkerbeck was on top form and blasted his way into top position early on with a 41-knot run.He fended off violent attacks from Patrick Diethelm, Antoine Albeau and Finian Maynard.Just when the top guys thought the local riders were not a threat, Namibian Matthias Roettcher blasted through a series of super fast runs in the 39.3 knots range, only 0.02 knots slower than the current leader of the World Speed tour, Antoine Albeau.The top-performing locals were Matthias Roettcher in 4th, Hennie Bredenkamp in 10th, Frank Stein in 16th and Darren Barker in 20th place.Karin Jaggi was the fastest woman of the day, having managed to stay ahead of Valerie Ghibaudo by just 0.04 knots.In the kite-surfing fleet it was Alex Caizergues who once again showed why he is leading the world speed tour with great consistent runs throughout the heat and went on to claim the first position again.In the women’s race a nail-biting match between Sjoukje Bredenkamp and Charlotte Consorti evolved.In the end Sjoukje had an amazing race and beat Consorti by almost a knot.A few broken masts and booms as were experienced as usual, and a few kites went down in the speed course.Australian speed demon Chris Lockwood hit a lost kiteboard full on, which took a huge bite out of his fin and gashed the bottom of his board.He uttered a few unquotable words, but in true sportsman style he just took another board and fin and headed straight back out.Even more wind came up yesterday afternoon as the surfers took to the waves again.Speedweek website