Wing · Boom
2021
An early speed mark for the wing
At the Lüderitz speed channel Liam Dunkerbeck sails 26.92 knots over 500 metres with a hand-held wing, on a board with fins instead of a foil.
26.92knots
Liam Dunkerbeck, 500 metres, Lüderitz, November 2021
The speed channel at Lüderitz in Namibia had seen the fastest windsurfers and kitesurfers in the world. In November 2021 a wing rider tried it.
Liam Dunkerbeck averaged 26.92 knots over 500 metres; his own GPS showed a top speed of 31 knots. He did not ride a foil. His board was a non-foiling directional board with three fins, designed by Clinton Filen, and his wing was a prototype.
The speed was measured by the timing team of the Lüderitz Speed Challenge, whose system is approved by the World Sailing Speed Record Council. The run was reported as a new speed record for wingboarding, but no source shows that the council ratified it as a record.
It was an early reference point. Wing speed records were still new ground: inflatable wings had only been on sale since 2019.