You can follow it on www.windsurfjournal.com Usually they have a live link when they run on the canal.
From their site
"As they say in France, never 2 without 3. In fact, following the record attempts of 20 / 21 November 2007, then January 3rd 2008, the runners for the Masters of Speed have been called up for the 5th and 6th March for the 3rd official attempt of the season on the legendary speed canal at Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, south of France… And all there with the same aim in mind, beating the 50 knot mark ! An event you can follow live here on Windsurfjournal.com !!!
After the often difficult sessions in previous years when there was simply a lack of wind, this winter’s season of Masters of Speed record attempts on the speed canal at Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer is a real bonus with the riders now called up for a 3rd session, this coming Wednesday and Thursday, 5th and 6th March !
And there’s a significant difference to this latest session, the predominantly south-easterly of the last two sessions has been replaced this time by the celebrated Mistral, a wind from the north, forecast to come in at 40 - 45 knots with surges up to 50 knots, so everyone’s hoping this can be the session that finally sees the holy grail 50 knot mark beaten…
Absent from the two previous sessions because of a planned trip to Australia, Karin Jaggi and Patrik Diethelm will be present for this third running, along with Finian Maynard, current record holder, for sure determined to hang on to his record but also to improve his mark…
And freshly flown in from Florida where he’s been competing in the Calema Midwinters, Antoine Albeau will also be "on the run" in his role as the main challenger to Maynard… Also new on the run, Cyril Moussilmani will be hoping to beat the production board record of 44.71 knots currently held by Diethelm… And, as they were during the last session in January, Cedric Bordes and David Garrel will be worth keeping a close eye on…
While the forecast for the 5th looks the most promising, the organisers have also planned to use the 6th when the riders could get on the water as early as 6.30am, if the conditions are worth getting up for !!!
As a major media partner to the event, Windsurfjournal.com will be bringing you live coverage of these two days of top class speed racing which, cross your fingers, could mark a new era for windsurfing… Even more than ever, stay online !!! "
Interesting devopment...
From Windsurfjournal........
"Kitesurf on the canal !
Hot news in this lunchtime, news that will for sure be causing a stir at the Masters of Speed speed trials at Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, with a kitesurfer, none other than Eric Carriere lining up on the start line with the windsurfers !!!
A jack-of-all-trades and a true pioneer of speed kitesurfing, this session marks a new departure for Carriere, his first opportunioy to familiarise himself with the unique conditions on the canal... And we'll be keeping a close eye on his performance, bearing in mind the excellent speeds posted by our kitesurfing "
It will be intersting to see if they can match their recent speeds produced in VERY shallow water (5cm etc) on the deeper canal. Should help answer the endplate question.
I am with you on this. Whatever Finian does, Antoine will have 0.5-1knots on him. He had half a dozen 47+ runs to Finian best of 46.6 last time they were together on the canal.
Watching the video at the last attempt at the canal Finian just doesn't look comfortable on the other hand Antoine looks as he's out for a walk in the park.
Interesting following the day... PD looks like he is also going to give FM some trouble. Yeah my money's on Albeau for this session. But you never know... all it takes is a "lucky gust" and its any one of these guy's day.
As for the kite guy, I hope he doesnt hurt himself. If he crashes like all the speed kiters I've seen at the end of the run, he's going to bounce onto the bank, over it, and then get dragged over a rocky mud flat. My bet is he wont even get on the water (if he's sane).
Today's conditions look just like what we had in '05 the day FM broke the record. Good broad angle and loads of wind...
Hmmm PD does a new world production record of 46.57 on an F2 missile. I reckon Chris' CA 40 goes quicker than that
Wow, AA rips in with a 48.14, second fastest time ever behind Finian. Smokin 
The team is charge of timing is checking and checking the video of the last run of Antoine Albeau... No official time for the moment but we wait for something really huge !!!
49.04 wooooohoooooo take that Finian!
From the site...
"We will be informed later about the performance of Antoine Albeau... Because the question is now : is it a new world record or the best performance in the world ?"
Hope they have this WR on video and I'm not referring to the start/finish cameras. No-one videoed Finian's 48.7 which was 5% faster than any previous run he had done on the canal and he said he'd done hundreds.
Anyway, it seems irrelevant now with A2 New WR speed of 49.04 knots.
Waiting for official confirmation. Question of margin.
Rules
6. MARGINS
In order to establish a new record the new elapsed time (corrected to 500 metres precisely) must improve on the existing record by a margin as follows:
a. On a course using land based transits and videorecorded timing:
Between records claimed on the same course and when the timing positions have not been moved and on equipment recording to 1/100th second, the margin is 1/50th second.
Old record 48.70 knots = 19.957 seconds for 500m
New Speed 49.04 knots = 19.819 seconds for 500m
0.138 seconds difference . Margin must be greater than 0.02 (1/50) second.
Therefore should be new WR.
Congrats Antoine.
from what I've read they have 2 video timing machines! Can't wait to see it posted. Sounds like there has been some carnage with PD breaking a mast and spin outs a plenty.
49.09 knots Official
It was pretty windy. See graphs below (closest to the canal but still some Ks away The canal is between the 2 weather stations ~20k from P Camargue and 10k from Beauduc).
A2 was on a 4.8 (Pryde proto) and he looked at least 120kg+ with weight.
From windsurfjournal
"The news is official since few minutes, the time of Antoine Albeau certified at 49,09 knots is the new outright speed record !!! Congratulations Tonio !!!"
gee Yoyo, looks like he might have peaked just shy of 55 knots! I bet Finian is going to be severely peed off at this result.
How's the 51.22 on the van's display, I bet that got people excited? Be interesting to see gps tracks if they had them on?
Hardie that may be the time ie. 10:51.22 Reports I've seen so far suggest the peak speed for Antoine was 49.9 knots or so. No reports of 50 on the dial.
if he didn't crack 50 then that makes his speed super impressive due to the consistentcy of his speed through the run.
Roo where are you getting your reports from? I'm struggling to find any more information anywhere.
Interesting to see Antoine still wearing a Foretrex and not a Navi.
Antoine is usually wearing a foretrex, so we'll probably never know what his peak speed was from the tracklog, but the display speed will be pretty close. Lets hope he borrowed a Navi and posts on gp3s.
There's heaps of info on the French forums which are going off... already between 10 and 30 pages on this topic only.
Will try to dig the interesting info. As for the GPS track, I'll see if the dude who analyzed it last time (and sync with Finian and Bordes tracks) will do it again for this record.
Cheers,
Remi
Try the french windsurfing sites Sick_em_Rex, they normally have someone on site who files a report in the evening. That's where I get my info from, albeit in Froggy speak!
Vmax GPS Albeau:
49.7 sur le run du record et 49.9 sur son run de ouf qui se finit en gros spin...
Je trouve pas ça énorme, enfin très pret de la vmoy, c'est à la fois impressionant et décevant, j'aurai pensé que la vmax serait bien supérieure...
In Ozanglais that would be: Vmax Albeau GPS:
49.7 on the run and record of 49.9 on his run ouf of which ends wholesale spin ...
I find it not huge, and very ready to vmoy is both impressive and disappointing, I thought that would be well above vmax ...
What has happen to Finian?
Maybe he should have stayed with Naish?
Does anyone know what speed the guy on the kite got?
Masters of Speed 5th March 2008 rankings
1/ Antoine Albeau : 49.09 knots
2/ Patrik Diethelm : 46.57 knots
3/ Finian Maynard : 45.85 knots
4/ Cyril Moussilmani : 44.46 knots
5/ Farrel Oshea : 44.34 knots
6/ John Smalley : 44.22 knots
7/ Cédric Bordes : 44.22 knots
8/ David Garrel : 42.71 knots
9/ Andrea Baldini : 35.81 knots
10/ Valérie Ghibaudo : 35.24 knots
What has happen to Finian?
Maybe he should have stayed with Naish?
Does anyone know what speed the guy on the kite got?
Masters of Speed 5th March 2008 rankings
1/ Antoine Albeau : 49.09 knots
2/ Patrik Diethelm : 46.57 knots
3/ Finian Maynard : 45.85 knots
4/ Cyril Moussilmani : 44.46 knots
5/ Farrel Oshea : 44.34 knots
6/ John Smalley : 44.22 knots
7/ Cédric Bordes : 44.22 knots
8/ David Garrel : 42.71 knots
9/ Andrea Baldini : 35.81 knots
10/ Valérie Ghibaudo : 35.24 knots
dl.free.fr/getfile.pl?file=/s1lZyqdV/Mos_5_03_08.avi
Can't see too much but it's a start...
Password/login: tonio
