Lüderitz Speed Challenge 2025: "A minor disappointment" - Björn Dunkerbeck's Lüderitz review

Björn, how was Lüderitz 2025 for you this year?

I have to say that this year has been very quiet. We had a few sessions on the canal, which were quite fun, but with top speeds of 90 km/h they weren't particularly fast. But the canal looks really good, the line is very straight and there is a lot of water in the canal. But unfortunately, it's been a very rainy season and that doesn't accelerate the winds down here in Lüderitz. The wind hasn't been as strong as we all wished for. So, I go home with a little bit of disappointment because I was expecting a bit stronger winds. I actually only managed to windsurf on my 45-centimeter speed board, which is normally my warm-up board. I have four different 40-centimeter-wide or narrow boards with me, that I couldn't actually take down the channel. Not one single time! I did a couple of starts with my new 40; it was a little bit thicker, but it was just not enough for my 57 to be able to carry that board all the way down the channel. So, I stuck on my training board, my warm-up board, and even though I managed to do 90km an hour top speed on the 45 production Starboard Isonic Speed, that's actually very positive. But I would have liked to have some more wind.”

I go home with a little disappointment because I was expecting a bit stronger winds."

I assume now from the operations you've had, you're fully recovered, you're fully back to fitness?

Yes, I would say so. Last year it was pretty fresh after my recovery and I could feel that my right hip was heating up after sailing. And this year I must say I've had no problems at all, not in the preparation in the Canary Islands in Gran Canaria or here after the sessions. Of course, you feel a little stiff after a couple of hours on the speed board, but that's normal healthy sport-after-windsurfing stiffness. But really happy. My left hip is still holding up very well after six years, and the right one since two years is tip-top, and I was looking forward to having some really strong fun days on the channel, but unfortunately it didn't happen.

You've got your 100-kilometers-an-hour challenge that you unfortunately haven't managed to do here, but you've got so many other things…you're so busy all the time. What else have you got going on?

Well, actually, first of all, I'll be home for a week, then I'll be going to the ISPO next week. It's the last ISPO in Munich, the sports fair. After 44 years, it's moving to Amsterdam. So, I'm gonna be there for a few days…Sunday the 30th, Monday and Tuesday. After that I'll be going to Austria to see the Red Bull HQ people and talk a bit about the season and what's going to happen next year. Then from the 16th to the 21st of December we have the stand-up paddle wave event in Gran Canaria for the 5th time in a row. Then Christmas will be slightly after that, so everything's going to happen pretty quickly. And then I will be at the "boot" Show in Düsseldorf, the first weekend of the show…the 17th, 18th, 19th, and 20th, where we're going to do a kids camp on the pool. It's a 100-meter pool with the fans in there. And Saturday 17th, 18th, 19th, and 20th we're going to have between 10 and 15 kids with the Saltwater Kids Academy And then, of course, preparing the event in Pozo in July from the 4th to the 12th of July. Wave sailing with juniors in all categories…under-13, under-15, under-18 and under-21 pros and men…with definitely one or two categories of masters. We've been trying to get the over 45 and the over 55 categories going and I think it's going to happen this year finally. It is cool because a lot of the masters have kids that compete so they can both compete together.

• boot Düsseldorf 2026: Stars, Wingfoil, SUP, Windsurf, Pumpfoil - the programme on the XXL pool

So, tell us about Waterspeed. You've been promoting that quite heavily; you're quite enthusiastic about it?

I think that the GPS, first of all, is a very important device for speed windsurfing and speed sailing in general. And as you well know, I was involved with Garmin with the Gecko and the Forerunner 20 years ago already at least and they have improved tremendously since then. We have devices that can go up to 20 points per second. Manfred Fuchs has a live device that we're using here in Lüderitz, and that's always helping us to promote windsurfing and speed sailing in a more direct and more precise way. You can get very nice precise top speeds and live tracking and Waterspeed is really the very best app for any water sports. They really want to be number one in water sports, and I've been working together with them for the past three years already. And managed to motivate them to do not only iPhone but also Android. And now we can do challenges on the Waterspeed app, so any local event can use the Waterspeed app and put in a little program…the challenges, teams or groups…and you can do your own personal events and you can put a time frame on! Let's say I'm doing my event six months out of the year. I'm doing my event in the summer months of July and we call it Surf and Fun July. So we can do one for our local spots, wherever we are. You can do one for local spots anywhere in the world with the Waterspeed app.

Thank you very much!

Interview: Peter Davis