| Spot | Sterkfontein Dam, Harrismith, South Africa | |
| Average speed | 44.91 knots ( 45.62 44.92 44.71 44.68 44.64 ) | |
| Remarks | Super happy with my speeds today !
The trip started out bleak with the canopy of my trusty 10 F-ONE DOS exploding for no apparent reason on Thursday in only 18-20 knots while on my twintip; a long swim ensued.
Then my friend's car battery was flat in the morning and we couldn't get down to the water while the wind blew.
I was also upset at the prospect of being underpowered without my 10, as the wind was only in the 20's at the time.
But it fell into place shortly after I got on the water and had a gust propelled me from 35 knots at the start, to 52+ knots 6 seconds later. I was breaking hard in the last 4 seconds to slow down before the trees.
I covered 235 meters in the 10 seconds.
This improved my previous best peak at Sterkies (50.28 kts) by 2 knots, but in almost half the wind than in May 2009.
It's a bit suicidal to chase fast averages at Sterkies in strong wind, as you run out of water before the 10 seconds elapse.
But maybe there's still hope for a 60 knot peak there someday.
For pics and write up, check out :
http://www.speedkiting.org/site/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=64:5228-knots-at-sterkies&catid=2:blog&Itemid=6
| |