Op maandag 16 mei heeft Jacques van der Hout (NED-35) met 522 km in iets meer dan 14 uur een nieuw wereldrecord op de afstand gevaren.
Hierbij het gedetailleerde verslag van onze Nederlandse "Superman":
I don't know if the founders of www.gpsteamchallenge.com.au and www.gps-speedsurfing.com had this in mind.... but besides the great fun and the competition element of both websites, these websites are really helpful to improve your own skills and to raise the bar to crazy heights.
Sometimes i question myself why i'm driving so many miles to get better conditions for GPS speeds compared to my homespot close by, or to get out of bed super early to catch the best wind or try to do motivate myself to break (personal) records or sailing big distances. But on the other hand it always gives a lot of satisfaction and motivation to do it again and again.
A few times before i was sailing 200+km distance on one day, every time i was totally broken at the end but also had to quit because of the darkness or the decreasing wind. For a long time i was waiting for the perfect day to at least improve my personal distance and to set a daylight distance on windsurf equipment that was at least unbreakable by myself.
Last summer it never really happened, a few weeks ago i set my alarm already a few times very early to check if the wind was already strong enough, but at that time i cancelled the attempts.
Sunday 15 may i was planning a distance attempt as well but i had to cancel it again as the wind was not there and the forecast was not good enough anymore for that day. Monday 16 may 2011 i set my alarm at 4.30am, checked the wind and it was already blowing 8.2m/s, forecast was increasing wind but not super strong and at least the forecast was steady wind for the whole day. Without a doubt i jumped out of my bed and drove for one hour to the Grevelingen – Zonnemaire.
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When i arrived at 5.30am it was already light outside (so starting a bit earlier was possible) and started rigging directly. My choice was big equipment with a wide wind range, still controllable and easy to sail in powered up conditions. The wind was not steady in the beginning but i needed to start to get in already some distance. After 13km and 15 minutes of sailing i needed to get a new harness. It took me 15 minutes to reach my car and i was able to start again at 6.25am with 13km on the dial.
I was wearing 2 GT-31 devices and put them both on distance, had no time with me except for on the gps but display was on distance. Was planning to do at least 100km before having a brake, but after i reached this i still felt ok to go on. The wind direction was more West than fore casted so it was not possible to sail along the brick wall upwind and every lap i did 3,5 km through the chop and the way back 3,5 km along the speed wall.
Tried to sail as much as possible with the back hand loose and fingers stretched. First time in my life i was really happy with the rain, my boom was super wet the whole time and my mouth was not drying out like i experienced with previous hour attempt in the past. Also i sailed in fresh water and not in salt, this is probably also an advantage.
After 213km i decided to have a break, it was 11.30am. Was not planning at all to do more than 500km, was aiming for something around 350km or to break the dutch distance record (426km by Peter Vernet), so took it easy and went back on the water around 12. Luckily some more windsurfers joined me, this was a good motivation to go on. When Hans also arrived after a few hours the wind shifted to WZW or ZW and increased a little bit, now i was able to sail longer reaches, around 7,5km instead of 3,5. After i did 373km i took a small break in the water to drink some RedBull and to eat a Snicker. Saw Hans doing an hour attempt on the short very flat section behind the speedwall in front of the parking. This motivated me to do another faster hour together with him, this was my fastest hour of the day (45km) and compared to Hans his hour of 49 it was a bit slow.
I knew the record on GPSTC was 511km, so after 460 km of sailing i thought i must be stupid to quit after al those hours of sailing as i was so close to this record and still sailing in the perfect conditions. The last kilometers were not funny anymore, was alone on the water and every 1,7km i had to make a jibe. After 522 km on my display I went back to the beach were Hans and Roderick were sitting on a chair drinking beer asking me why i didn't go on;-). We checked the file with the doppler distance on the computer and this was enough, so this was it for the day. But it was still windy and 2 hours before darkness..... Hans Kreisel told me he will do the same attempt in the summer when the days are longer.
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It will be a nice battle between Hans, Peter, Dave (previous record holder), Kaleb or maybe somebody else will surprise us. I'm happy i can watch it now from behind my computer and wish you all the best to break it again.
Data:
- 16 May 2011
- Grevelingen – Zonnemaire, Netherlands
- Wind WSW 12-25knots
Time, Distance & Food:
- 5.30am – 5.45cm; rigging, bottle No Xplode
- 5.45am - 6.05am; 13km
- 6.05am – 6.25am; getting a new harness
- 6.25am - 11.30am; 213km
- 11.30am - 12.00am; bottle No Xplode & Bananas lunchbreak
- 12.00am – 16.10pm; 373km,
- 16.10pm – 16,15pm; Redbull & Snicker break
- 16.15pm – 18.15pm; 460km;
- 18.15pm – 18.25pm; Redbull & Snicker break
- 18.25pm – 20.00pm; 521km
Equipment:
- JP Slalom VII 68 V112 board
- JP 3D footstraps
- Hurricane SpeedSlalom M- 40cm fin
- NP RS Racing Evo3 7,8 sail
- Chinook double sail pulley
- NP X9 460 mast
- NP X9 200-260 boom
- NP Race Vario 22-28"harness lines
- Ronstan high load blocks
- Clamcleat on ring
- Formuline 3.8mm ropes
- NP MXT 14cm extension
- NP MXT base
- Bodywear
- NPX Zealot E3 5/4/3 steamer
- NPX Assassin High Cut 3mm boot
- NP Crossover Seat Auto Release harness
- Liberty Weight jacket
- Amarillo Triptracker GT-31 gps
- Amarillo Triptracker GT-31 bluetooth gps
- Aquapack
Links:
http://www.gps-speedsurfing.com/default.aspx?mnu=forum&forum=2&val=28751
http://gpsteamchallenge.com.au/sailor_session/show?date=2011-05-16&team=67
http://gpsteamchallenge.com.au/rankings/individual
http://www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Windsurfing/Gps/Jacques-da-man/
