World 500 metre speed sailing record smashed

Antoine Albeau smashes the 500 metre world record with a run of 49.09 knots © Gilles Martin-Raget

Frenchman, three times windsurfing world champion, Antoine Albeau today smashed the 500 metre world record with an astonishing 49.09 knots (92km/h) on the Sainte Marie de la Mer canal in Southern France.

14 "Masters of Speed" had answered the call of wind earlier this week. With the Mistral gusting up to 60 knots on the canal, conditions were perfect and Irishman Finian Maynard's time of 48.70 knots seemed doomed to vanish from the charts. Antoine Albeau did it on his second run of the day. The jubilant Frenchman said: "Conditions were rather rough, cold and far from the perfect wind angle..."

Swiss wind specialist Patrick Diethelm took also advantage of those great conditions and established a new world record in "series" category, reaching 46.57 knots.

Franchman Pascal Maka, organizer of the event to conclude: "The fifty knots mark is more than ever at these guys reach..."

The Masters of Speed:

1 Finian Maynard, British Virgin Islands
2 Farrel O'Shea, UK
3 John Smalley, UK
4 Andrea Baldini, Italy
5 Patrik Diethelm, Switzerland
6 Francesco D'Urso, Italy
7 David Garrel, France
8 Cedric Bordes, France
9 Marion Raizy, France
10 Antoine Albeau, France
11 Karin Yaggi, Switzerland
12 Thomas Gaudiot, France
13 Christian Bornemann, Germany
14 Cyril Moussilmani, France