THE BIG GUNS!

ANTOINE ALBEAU AND BJORN DUNKERBECK TALK SPEED!

Windsurfing legends Antoine Albeau and Bjorn Dunkerbeck sit down with Peter Davis to relive their legendary rivalry and break down the electrifying 2024 speed season at Lüderitz, where Antoine broke the record with an incredible run of 54.39 knots!

Photos: Peter Davis and John Carter/ PWA.

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ANTOINE ALBEAU

DRIVING FORCE

“I stopped competing on the PWA tour in 2022 and everybody was saying that I retired! For me personally I didn’t retire at all, I just finished competing on tour. I am still involved with my Zephir Project where we are researching why we cannot go any faster on a windsurfer. This project is my main focus. I think I could have continued the PWA but at the age of fifty I had other priorities that were more interesting to me. I have a big sailing centre which I run in the summer where I live. I have my family and I have the Zephir Project as well. I don’t want to go away for months at a time training anymore. It was too long away from home and the budgets were getting less and less. It was getting very tough to renew contracts every year even though I was winning. I was fed up with this. If I was thirty or thirty-five, I would have continued. I think the timing was good for me.

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This summer I was almost tempted to do the Slalom X in Pozo and Fuerteventura but that is the busy season in my centre, so I needed to be there. If those events had been in April or September maybe I would have gone. I think I can still be competitive on the fin. Maybe I would not win but I can play with the guys and just enjoy the racing.

During February I normally go to Tenerife since the mother and stepfather of my wife live there. For us it is great to visit so they can see our kids and spend some time with them. We do not stay in El Medano, but we are not far away. For me it is a useful break because I can go windsurfing while I am there as well.

After the first year I stopped on the PWA, I joined in with all the guys that were training for the PWA season, and they were thinking I was crazy to still be training. I was doing it because I didn’t want to lose my level, I still wanted to train and go fast. The guys were probably better than me on the gybes, but I was fast in a straight line on the foil. I think having me there was also great for them because I am somebody who can go fast, has the experience and can test their level. They need to train with people that go fast. I am not in competition with them because I have retired from the PWA tour. It was nice to train with them without any pressure. Next year I will go again in February for a few weeks.

I don’t know if it is like this for other sports people but for me it was hard to stop completely. I am still really competitive and I want to go fast. I want to stay on the water and still be a high-level sailor.”

BJORN DUNKERBECK

“Speed sailing is the discipline you can keep going the longest, especially when you are big and strong and quite heavy. Going 100km per hour you need to be at least 95-100 kilos to be able to achieve those speeds. That is why I am still doing speed. I have always enjoyed speed sailing and have been doing the speed circuit since the beginning of the nineties. I beat the 80km record at the world cup in Tarifa way back in 1993. I still enjoy the thrill of speed and the fact there are no limits. The limit is yourself, your equipment and the conditions. Antoine and I are still going head-to-head as we share a common passion. We have competed against each other for more than twenty-five years. Once we get on the channel, Antoine wants to be the fastest and I want to be the fastest. Everyone here wants to be the fastest! The competition spirit is still there. We keep in touch during the year!

I don’t stay in the same place in Lüderitz as Antoine. I always stay at the Lüderitz Nest Hotel which is in the historic coastal town of Lüderitz. When you have heavy days on the water, I feel it is nice to come back and have a hot shower and have excellent service with good food.”

ANTOINE ALBEAU

“I never had a problem with Bjorn. Even when we were fighting at the beginning, I was the first guy who challenged him for the title. He then went down a little bit in the rankings but then he came back in 2011 and won again. He came back that year and won fairly. I appreciate Bjorn for what he did. I know what it takes to win and how much training goes into it. I know he worked hard throughout his career and he still does. I think he knows that I appreciate and respect him. We never really had a rivalry like that. There were never any times when we ignored each other, there was no tension between us as we had a mutual respect.

Now there is even less rivalry between us because speed is more relaxed. There are not many speed events each year. There are only two events. It is more of an individual thing at speed. It is not really a competition between us anymore and we are both getting older as well too. We are not as good as we were before (laughs). I think I am better than him on the speed course. I could never really test with Bjorn because we were never in the same team.

I did not really socialize with Bjorn in Lüderitz. A lot of people say he keeps himself to himself. It is not easy just to go up to him and be all friendly and spend the day with him. I don’t know why he is like that. We were staying in different places in the town this year, so I did not really see him in the evenings. I did not stay in the hotel this year. It is not that expensive but when you pay 90€ a night for a month it can add up. Where I stay it is like 10€. It is not a bad place where I stay, I like it. I am not this luxury guy!”

BJORN DUNKERBECK

EQUIPMENT

“I am using brand new Z fins. 19cm asymmetric are what work best for me on the channel. They are asymmetrical. I have my 2 x 40cm narrow, Starboards, plus two warm up boards that are a little bit wider. I have my fastest sails from the last time I was here two years ago, plus a few new sails to try as well. I will take them all out there and ideally the new sails will be faster than the older ones.”

ANTOINE ALBEAU

PRODUCTION SPEED BOARD

“This year I have been using a production speed board at Lüderitz. All of the custom boards that I have are made in Thailand. With the production boards they are so small that there are less mistakes to make. I feel I know this board really well. I have tried a lot of fins with it and I really like this board and that is why I have been using it. I have tried some of my custom board here in Namibia, but they did not feel better than the production board. I feel confident with it. I am pretty sure I can go fast on it and break records on it.”

BJORN DUNKERBECK

“You can go speed sailing anywhere. It does not matter if it is flat or choppy, strong winds or light winds or a big board or small board. I would say get yourself a GPS device and keep your data in your laptop and keep a record of what equipment you have been using. Sign up for the Dunkerbeck Speed Challenge so you can compete against anybody on the planet. We have more than 1000 people signed up for the third period this year. It is a great way to stay in touch with people that love the same aspect of windsurfing yourself around the globe.”

ANTOINE ALBEAU

SPEED TIPS

“Brendon Lorho came here to the canal this season and it is hard to give any tips for him because he is already a super good sailor. This is his first time in Lüderitz and he has been doing a lot of runs to get used to the course. What is missing with Brendon is weight. He needs to be heavier, but he is only nineteen, so that will come. I was gaining weight until I was twenty-four. He is really talented and he has time to grow and improve. He has been playing with the gear he has, even if it is not the fastest. He needs to find his tuning and better fins.”

BJORN DUNKERBECK

THE GOAL

“Now I have had my second hip replacement my goal is to go 100km per hour top speed again. Ideally, I would like to do that on the 500m course but that comes down to the conditions. The equipment is already proven that it can go that fast. If the channel is as good as it looks, with the wind from the right angle, there is a high possibility of achieving those goals.”

ANTOINE ALBEAU

HARNESS CHOICE

“Back in the old days everyone used a waist harness but then guys like the Pritchard’s came along and they were using the seat harness. The Pritchard’s were fast and fighting for the first place. We were then thinking that with the waist harness it was slower. But eventually the guys on the waist harness were also fast. On the speed course I use the seat harness and the only thing I don’t like about it is the straps between the legs over the wetsuit, which is not super comfy. When I was slalom racing, I used a waist harness. I did a lot of testing back in the day with Micah Buzianis and Jimmy Diaz and I decided I was just as quick with the waist harness.

With speed I use the seat harness because I am big, and the seat harness gives me more room to wear the weight jacket. I feel confident with the seat harness. I don’t put the straps between my legs and like using it this way. The harness I have is amazing. It is an old one from NeilPryde and I still have three of them!

RECORD BREAKING DAYS

Back in 2015 when I set the last world record of 53.27 knots, I was on the course with a 5.3m and fully powered. The first days in Lüderitz, when I was close to 53 knots I was on a 5.7m and never felt I needed to drop to the 5.4m. This day for sure was a lot less wind than in 2015. In 2015, I was stacked on the 5.3m, I also did 53.17 knots on the 5.7m. I was going fast on the 5.7m as well. I think now the equipment is better. I can go faster if I get the right day. I don’t think I am any better, but I do have ethe experience of going fast. On my GPS this year I was checking and I have 54.22 on 250m! If we have more wind, I think I can break 54 knots. Back in 2015 that day felt apocalyptic I would say. It was an extremely tough day on the water and I think we can handle it better now.

ANTOINE ALBEAU

NEW WORLD RECORD 53.49 knots!

We knew there was going to be two or three days with strong wind with a good wind angle. The wind usually kicks in around midday. It may come a bit earlier if it is really howling. Then during the afternoon there can be a few magic moments where everything is perfect. You just need to be ready for that perfect window.

You never know if it is going to be a record day. If the conditions are perfect, it can be busy at the starting line, so you have to wait your turn which can be a bit frustrating. Some guys can be stuck at the start for up to fifteen minutes because they can’t get going. I could obviously do more runs if I was alone or if there were less people, but that is the way it is.

At the start you need to jump onto the board the best you can and not drag your feet on the water. You need to get straight into the foot straps and harness. I usually wait for a big gust so I can arrive at the slingshot with as much wind as possible. It is a really short distance from the slingshot to the beginning of the 500m course. You need a lot of wind in your sail and be going as fast as you can before you hit the start of the 500m. Once you are on the course you need to be looking at the chop and the gust as well. It is difficult as there is no water upwind to gauge it from. Then you need to draw the best line you can. During the run I am not thinking at all about the finish or how I am going to slow down. Who knows if I will have enough space to stop. It was kind of tight this year, but it was just about enough to stop. When you stop you need to put the sail down and I was putting the boom in the water to break. I was actually finishing with a 360! It was really shallow at the finish and super easy to touch with the fin. The fins were touching a lot and I damaged quite a few.

I was wearing goggles because there was so much sand flying while you were sailing. With the goggles I could just concentrate on technique.

On the 27^th of November I was using my 5.7m when I did 53.33 knots. When they checked it, it was 52.98 knots. I did not change down because my 5.3m was not ready and I was feeling fine on the 5.7m. I knew I was going fast and did not want to take time to change sail and lose the moment. Maybe it was a mistake, maybe not. On the 1^st of December when I broke the record, I knew it was a proper windy day. I was really ready and had tuned the two 5.3m sail that I had with me. I felt really confident with my gear, so I stayed on the 5.3m and I used the JP custom board 40 with a UFO 19cm fin.

I had some really high top speeds, up to 55.5 knots. To go faster you just need flatter water. On the 250m I did a 54.5m run. This really shows that we can go faster. I know I can go faster for sure. You really need a better channel to do this. The first 350m of the channel was really nice and flat but the second part was not that great because we had to go upwind a little bit. The sandbags were not totally straight, they went a bit upwind in the middle of the channel. It meant if you wanted to stay close to the sandbags, you need to point a little bit and when you point you go slower. That was slowing down the speed a lot. But at the end we had to work with what we had. If we had a better channel for sure I can go faster!

BJORN DUNKERBECK

DANGERS

“When the conditions are good, speed is relatively easy. When the conditions are bad, speed is very challenging. When it is not ideal you have to weigh up if it is worth going flat out or if you should take it a bit easy and go back and start again on the next run. That is what I usually do. When the conditions become too rough, you cannot go as fast as what you want anyways. You have to slow down and pace yourself and hope you don’t crash. I have hit the bottom a couple of times at the end of the run. That also hurts even when you are slowing down, you are still going at 70km per hour. My plan is to not wipe out badly! I do my speeds according to the conditions as try and sail as quick as I can.”

ANTOINE ALBEAU

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

The first time I saw this channel it was hard to believe that you can even sail down it. I remember the first time I saw it and I just could not work out how I would manage the sling shot and slow down at the finish. I was quite intimidated. In the end you figure it out.

When I fly down the canal at 50 knots I am not scared. Last year I crashed and I hit the bottom and broke two ribs going about 43 knots. That made it tough for the rest of the period. When the water is too shallow then you can hit the bottom and that is the scary part of going 50 knots. If the canal is deep enough, I am absolutely not scared to crash. I really don’t care. If you fall and it is deep enough you bounce two or three times…but this is just water, so it is not that bad.

I know that Patrik Diethelm crashed badly in 2015, but he hit his gear, and it was really bad luck. He hit his face and was bleeding everywhere. This can happen. Just to fall in the water at 50 knots I have no problem. Obviously if you do crash you don’t know what is going to happen. You are hooked into the harness and you can break bones very easily. In 2015 I got lucky a few times because I unhooked before I crashed. You can break equipment that is for sure, as well as your body. Going down that run is hard on the body. We had three days of mental wind in 2015 and I was destroyed by the end of it.

BJORN DUNKERBECK

“To break records, ideally you need wind between 40 and 50 knots. It has to come from a south easterly direction, so the water is relatively smooth. With too much south in it, the wind is too downwind and there are too many waves at the end of the course. You have to slow down then otherwise you will wipe out. I just hope for good conditions so we can all show our abilities. I know my boards, sails and fins are working really well. I am sure Albeau has great equipment too. There is also a luck factor. You have to take your turn whenever it comes and there can be an element of luck if you get the gust or not.”

ANTOINE ALBEAU

ROUTINE

“I follow the same routine in Lüderitz as when I was on the tour. Before I came here, I tried to be healthy and did a bit of training in the gym. We also went to see my parents in the Caribbean. But right before I came here, I was at the gym every day for two weeks. This was perfect. I have my routine. I don’t eat any food I don’t want, or I don’t like. Every day I go to the canal I am ready for it. I drink enough water and I know what amount of food I need to eat. I do take some supplements that I put in the water to help keep me hydrated and make sure I have all the right vitamins etc. I am sponsored by 226 ERS and they provide me with these supplements. Twenty years ago, we had none of this. I am not sure exactly what good it does, but I like it and I feel good mentally.

IDEAL CONDITIONS

We need nuclear wind and really flat water. I am pretty happy with the shape of the canal this year. The only part I don’t like is there is one point on the corner where you need to break, go up and then go down again. So, you slow down your speed for a moment. This was a problem. We can make it better by pushing some sand and roll the bags to try and make it flatter. I worked for three or four days with the guys when I arrived here. We made all the upwind side really smooth. So, the flow of the wind was really constant. You have to understand that the sail is really low to the water, so we want the wind to be right at water level. We take the wind from zero to three metres. So, if you upset the wind at a low level, the wind is not as clean or as strong as it can be. With the right shape at the edge of the canal you can even accelerate the wind and make the water flatter.

The wind angle is extremely tough. I feel you really need to go very downwind, but this can be tough because you are running with the chop and you need more wind as well. So, you need a sharp angle but a lot more wind.

BJORN DUNKERBECK

SPEED

“Windsurfing faster is just great fun and is a big challenge. In wave sailing you can get too old to perform at a world class level. I still enjoy wave sailing but I am not twenty-five anymore. I am 55 now!

The 500m is a set distance and I can do that no problem. It has been the 500m ever since I started speed sailing in the late eighties. Both my sister Brit and my father Eugen competed as well. Speed sailing also gets together all age groups and on the Dunkerbeck speed challenge we have age group classes. I have competed at events with both Liam and my father, so it is a great way to share the passion through the generations of a family.”

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