Speed surfing: 47.63 knots on the open sea! - Three questions for Cedric Bordes

First of all, congratulations on your run! Is that a new record?

The only record that exists is actually that of the sailing catamaran Vestas Sailrocket, everything else is labelled as "performance". Thanks to GPS, there are always good times, which has caused a bit of confusion, also because sometimes people talk about kilometres per hour and not knots. But yes, this run was the best on the open sea, officially measured between two marks. Vincent (Valkenaers) once did 48 knots, but with his GPS alone, where he could choose the spot, his course and the location of the slingshot (accelerating downwind in a gust, editor's note). He is a good rider, but this one was on a fixed track and under conditions that were the same for everyone.

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What were the conditions like? It looked like there was really, really a lot of wind.

Yes, but it wasn't extremely windy. Normally it's between 30 and 35 knots in La Palme. The Prince of Speed is a stand-by contest, so we can wait for good wind. So we're not sailing in 20, 25 knots. On this spot you often have 30 to 35 knots, but during this heat it was a solid 40 to 43 knots. So a lot of wind, but nothing crazy. It was really good, the wind was very full. Because often the difficult thing in speed is to catch a gust that is blowing full on from the beginning to the end of the course. And that was the case here.

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What's next, are you also taking part in the Lüderitz Speed Challenge this year?

I was there in 2012, it was great. I've loved speed since I was a kid. And in 2012 Anders (Bringdal) was the first to go over 50 knots. Then I had the fastest time for 40 minutes ahead of Antoine (Albeau) and Anders, but then Antoine set a world record. Back then it was the first time anyone had gone over 50 knots. Of course I would like to go back to Lüderitz, but it costs a lot of money, I would be away for a month and I have two children at home. Let's see.

Thank you very much and good luck!

More about speed surfing:

• These are the speed records in windsurfing
• The best tips for speed windsurfing from Andy Laufer
• Speed surfing: "The ultimate goal is 100 km/h" - Interview with Antoine Albeau
• Jenna Gibson on the Lüderitz Speed Challenge and her world record
• "Speed is like ski jumping" - Interview with Gunnar Asmussen