Speed surfing: Kreisel and Gibson in the lead at the Speed World Championships in La Palme
The 2025 World Speed Surfing Championships, organised by the Prince of Speed, kicked off on 27 April at the legendary speed spot La Palme on the French Mediterranean coast. Under the direction of Principe Baldini, the first races in the fin and foil disciplines were held on the opening day despite changeable wind conditions. Around 40 male and three female participants in the fin class as well as six foil specialists from all over Europe travelled to compete in the supreme discipline of windsurfing.
The field of participants reads like a who's who of the international speed surfing scene. The top favourites Antoine Albeau, Vincent Valkenaers and Hans Kreisel are among those competing in the men's event. In the women's field, Jenna Gibson and Heidi Ulrich, the two current record holders, will meet.
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Difficult conditions and heavy losses
The World Championship is organised in several races, with each race lasting between 45 and 60 minutes. The average of the two fastest 500 metre runs is taken into account. Sébastien Bourgeois, one of the participants, told the French magazine "Planchemag" about an intense first day of competition: "On Sunday morning, the wind was initially weaker than expected. Many riders therefore chose larger sails between 6.0 and 7.0 square metres. I opted for a 5.8 with four kilograms of extra weight." However, the wind freshened to 20 to 25 knots during the day, with gusts of up to 35 knots. "The water was very smooth and the wind was coming almost at right angles to the beach, which made it difficult to reach high speeds, especially for the lighter riders," explains Bourgeois.
Hans Kreisel from the Netherlands took the lead in the fin classification on the first day. With an average speed of 42.02 knots (77.82 km/h) over two runs, he relegated Antoine Albeau (41.76 knots) and Vincent Valkenaers (41.44 knots) to second place. Jenna Gibson from Great Britain dominated the women's race with 38.16 knots ahead of Heidi Ulrich from Switzerland with 37.23 knots. The best German so far is Thorsten Luig in seventh place with 40.06 knots, Andy Laufer is in tenth place with 39.73 knots. Thomas Moldenhauer, Klaus Küppenbender, Björn Haacke - who provided some spectacular images with a violent exit - and Christian Bornemann are also taking part. Speed and racing talent Brendan Lorho leads the youth classification and is eleventh in the "big boys".
Isabelle Westervelp and Gaspar Evelio Schwarzenlander with impressive speed
According to "Planchemag", most riders used boards between 48 and 54 centimetres wide, with some lighter athletes such as Brendan Lorho even resorting to 40-centimetre narrow speed needles. The sail sizes varied between 4.9 and 7.0 square metres, depending on weight and wind strength.
After a break, a race in the foil class was also started in the afternoon. Antoine Albeau came out on top here. The performance of some young talents was also remarkable. Dutch sailor Isabelle Westervelp, who is only 12 years old, achieved a remarkable speed of 27.85 knots despite weighing less than 40 kilograms. The young Austrian Gaspar Evelio Schwarzenlander shone with 33.15 knots.
The World Speed Surfing Championships run until 6 May. According to the weather forecast, calmer wind conditions are expected for the coming week. There may be another chance for further races on the last weekend.
