L'Hydroptere may have broken the speed world record: 51.49 kts over 500m still be be ratified by WSSRC and 47.8 for the mile...
More news here: www.hydroptere.com/
You mean 48.7 for the NM and 50.3 ave for the 500 
Its a lots money, big boat V no money, no boat comp. Next stop for them is the outright record
*Subject to ratification from WSSRC
In the last run of the day the L'Hydroptere did 48.8 knot (56.12mph) one nautical mile run with a NEW 500m RECORD of 51.38 knots (59 mph). Peak speed of the day was 55.8 knots(64mph).
Mmmmmm......
Big thumbs up to l'Hydroptere for finally cracking it. 
However not too sure how long they'll be able to hold onto it: it's been too quiet for too long over on the kiters GPS site with none of the big guns posting sessions for a long, long time,....
... and the occasional one that does get posted by one of the top guys is way below their regular speeds (e.g ~35 knot speeds from a guy who regularly tops 45).
All a bit suspicious really,.....
..... and can't help but wonder if a bit of sandbagging is going on over there.
Ah well, the truth will out when the Luderitz event rolls around.
Bet the boaties will have their fingers crossed while that one's running!
Waterboy you need to look further afield and you'll find some sour grapes from the Luderitz organiser. "Now that would be nice! Between 2 buoys and with video timing! Until kiters can utilise the Trimble GPS's or get small enough 10mhz GPS's we will never be in a position to compare apples with apples, plus "our" advantage is shallow water (increased control chop) and was taken away by this sort of syndicate. Yet, L'Hydroptère and others continue to gain advantages which the WSSRC allow and refuse to share any information with other parties who request it (water depth over the course, beam of craft et cetera... )
Alex Caizergues has a 51.6 500m with a GPS without gates, so the fight is on, just wish others involved were happy to define sailing and then go at it with gloves off to get the greatest speeds possible!
"
Roo is right. It is not exactly a level playing field when everyone else has to run over a set 500m course hoping to get a good gust at the right angle whilst L'Hydroptere can set the course around a good gust and whatever angle they sail to get the best out of it.
Still it must have been quite a rush.
i guess people zipping about in a foot of water behind a sandbank after waiting for ideal conditions isn't exactly realistic and not likely to advance mankinds technology much, but a boat that can do it in real world conditions with technology that can be passed to commercial ships is probably of much more use.
I'd like to think this was their "hidden agenda" but it probably isn't
Video here
www.sail-world.com/USA
Imagine if something went wrong and it nose dived at that speed - those crew would be catapulted for miles.
Do you reckon that's the 51 knot run in the video?
It doesn't look like it's blowing anywhere near 28 knots there to me, more like 15-18, though the angle from the chopper can be deceptive.
Looks like l'Hydroptere's stirred up the kiters by breaking the record: only 5 days after l'Hydroptere did it's thing, Sebastian Cattelan knocked out a 52 knot 5 x 10 average.
Apparently he was just "gettin ready for the event....".
Only (??!!???) a 49-and-a-bit knot 500m in that particular session, but hey I guess he doesn't want to peak his form too early eh?
Hydropteres 500m speed according to the flash speed vs time ticker on their web site. Reminds me of the stepped results from Garmin foretrexs. In several places the speed accelerates and later decelerates by over 2 knots between 2 measurements on a 10 hertz recording (ie. in a 1/10 of a second).
Doesn't inspire a great deal of confidence does it, can't see how that can be real.
Just clearing up some earlier comments I posted, they were the opinion of the Luderitz organiser not mine. It should have read:
Waterboy you need to look further afield and you'll find some sour grapes from the Luderitz organiser.
Luderitz organiser: "Now that would be nice! Between 2 buoys and with video timing! Until kiters can utilise the Trimble GPS's or get small enough 10mhz GPS's we will never be in a position to compare apples with apples, plus "our" advantage is shallow water (increased control chop) and was taken away by this sort of syndicate. Yet, L'Hydroptère and others continue to gain advantages which the WSSRC allow and refuse to share any information with other parties who request it (water depth over the course, beam of craft et cetera... ) Alex Caizergues has a 51.6 500m with a GPS without gates, so the fight is on, just wish others involved were happy to define sailing and then go at it with gloves off to get the greatest speeds possible!
Also before we start looking for a smoking gun the data you see for speed is instaneous speed based off trackpoints. The 500 m run is calculated on 500 m distance covered between two trackpoints that are accurate to 10 cm after post processing to survey grade levels of accuracy not an accumulation of instaneous speed readings. So it would take Hydroptere 18.92 seconds to cover the 500 m distance between 2 points as shown in the time along the x axis. Whereas the GT-31 measures speed over time Hydroptere is measuring speed over distance, a distinct difference. Just to clear up Alex's 51.6 500m time is an accumulated measurement from instaneous speeds rather than a measurement between 2 measured points 10 cm accuracy.
Roo is right of course.
As they (Hydroptere web site) said themselves it is a "reconstruction" of the run and as Roo pointed out their record is calculated by time vs distance (18.92 sec over 500m) and not a summation of 1/10 sec speed/velocity points.
They probably did themselves a disservice putting up a "reconstruction" but I guess the Trimble data would not have ment much.
Still I wish someone had a Navi onboard so we could compare it to windsurf and kitesurf (and Sailrocket, MI) records tracks.
Dave
Yoyo how about 30 hz 3 axis accelerometer compared with 1 hz GPS. Here ya go, chew on this one. It's taken from some straightline comparisons and constant circle tests you can find the file here: http://www.ka72.com/GPSDownloads/305825dfe3ec4f959191a194ed352851/ROO%203_832000346_20090920_154157_DLG.SBP
