Sad news for all fans of speed windsurfing: the Lüderitz Speed Challenge has been cancelled for 2026, around five months before the traditional date in November. For many years, the artificial channel in Namibia was the Mecca of the speed scene for four weeks every late autumn and the scene of numerous world records. Organiser Raffaello Gardelli has now announced that the event cannot take place this year. "It's simply not financially viable," Rafaello told surf. "All the prices are twice as high this year."
The effort involved in preparing the channel in Lüderitz is immense, as Raffaello described to us in detail last year. Local workers spend months preparing the record-breaking channel, removing sand that has blown in, reinforcing the banks and giving the ground a special profile - mostly by hand. At the same time, the inflowing seawater first has to be drained off and then pumped back in for the event. The construction and preparation works were financed by sponsors and the starters' entry fees.
"To build the channel properly is an investment of around 150,000 to 170,000 euros, and we simply won't be able to raise this money this year, there are too few sponsors," explains Rafaello. But the plan is to continue with the Lüderitz Speed Challenge in 2027: "We are now looking at what we can do for next year. Some riders, such as Gunnar Asmussen and Antoine Albeau, are actively helping out so that we can get it up and running again!"
Tobias Frauen
Editor
