The first ISA Speed World Championship saw a great final. During the Walvis Bay Speedweek not only 21 speedsailing records were broken, but also the first official Speed World Champions were crowned.
After six action packed rounds Bjorn Dunkerbeck won his 35th World Champion title, making him probably the most successful professional athlete ever. Finian Maynard, finishing second, was not fast enough over the 500m, but on the nautical mile course he set a new fantastic world record with an average speed of nearly 40 knots.
In the womens fleet Valerie Ghibaudo won the event (her second this year), but unfortunately not the world champion title. Karin Jaggi was too far away in points from her success in Fuerteventura. But the French girl took comfort with the world record over the nautical mile.
The production board class was dominated by german riders, winning the second and third place in the mens fleet, which was dominated by Alain de Gendt, and the first place in the womens fleet, were Christine Pihan became world champion.
F2 dominated the impression on the water and in the manufacturers ranking, but a lot of production speed boards are in the shops, more than ever. Seems like the industry found new happy customers.
Without winning a single world champion title, NeilPryde dominated the Rigg Ranking. Seems like they lost their top riders, but this can be completely different next year.
The nations ranking is led by France ahead of Germany, but there are so many fast nations - more than 300 competitors from 25 nations and 5 continents took part in this first Championship Tour. Now we are waiting for the 2006 schedule to be released, for more action-packed races and a lot of new records!
