Vineyard Haven USA-1045 local
Tuesday, November 25th, 2008
On July 17, 1993 amature bycicalist Graeme Obree, “The flying Dutchman” smashed the 1 hour bycicling world record with a distance of 51.596 km……….
So the UCI (The Union Cycliste Internationale) outlawed his cycling position called the “Obree Position” or the “Superman position”…………then on the evening of the world championships in 1994, the UCI passed a new law that banned Obree’s bike……the new law was so new that nobody had a chance to write it down.
Fast forward to November 2008…… The world governing body of sailing aka ISAF just announced at their November meeting that Kitesailing is not allowed to hold an overall world speedsailing title and took away the records of the three fastest sailors in world history………Alex Caizergues F-21 (F One), Rob Douglas US -55 (Cabrinha) and Seb Cattelan F-69 (Genetrix). All three records were observed by a WSSRC commissioner at the luderitz event.
What did the kitesailors do wrong?? We were the first sailors in world history to break the legendary 50 knots of sailing……
Furthermore, ISAF changed the rules and said kite powered craft do not qualify as sailing vessels after they recongized that kiteasailing was a class of sailing just like windsurfing is…..
“The International Speed WIndsurfing Class (ISWC) and the International Kiteboarding Class Association (IKA) officially acknowledged kiteboarders as rightful speed sailing outright world record holders. Kiteboards fully qualify under the ISAF Equipment Rules of Sailing and the WSSRC rulebook for the outright record. ”
ISAF didnt change the rules before the 50kts was broken, they waited until after and caved into the pressure of the big boats like L’hydroptere who has spent millions and many years attempting to be the first sailors to break 50kts………..
After millions spent, L’Hydroptere still hasn’t broken 50 kts over the 500m and they will never be the first. After kitesailor Cattelan broke 50 kts with a run of 50.26 kts (max GPS 58 kts) for the first time in history (ratified by the WSSRC), the L’Hydroptere team in the very next few days attempted to fool the world and released half baked facts of breaking 50 kts by realeasing top GPS speeds of a previous run…..not average speeds which is what speed records are based on….Hydroptere hasn’t broken 47 kts still……..more bad sportmanship????
This travisty in sporting history will bring more attention to kitesailing in the short term but it will leave a black eye on ISAF, L’hydroptere and the sport of sailing that will never heal in the long term.
If you cant beat them then change the rules
Sail-World said it best, “Although the WSSRC feels to be bound by an ISAF policy from former years, when kiteboarding was neither compliant with the Equipment Rules of Sailing nor being an ISAF international class, the only possible conclusion under the actual rule situation and in the spirit of true sportsmanship is to acknowledge the performances of Alexandre Caizergues, Robert Douglas and Sebastien Cattelan, all with runs of more than 50 knots during this years Luderitz Speed Challenge as the speed sailing outright record. ”
If you cant beat them, then change the rules………..
