The Saintes Maries de la Mer Speed Canal, known to

windsurfers Windsurfing is a wind propelled water sport that is a combination of sailing and surfing. It is also referred to as "sailboarding" and "boardsailing", and emerged in the late 1960s from the aerospace and surf culture of California. Windsurfing ga ...

as The Canal, is a man-made canal or trench near the

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

coastal town

Saintes Maries de la Mer Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer (, lit.: "Saint Marys of the Sea"; Provençal Occitan: ''Li Santi Mario de la Mar'') is the capital of the Camargue ( Provençal Occitan ''Camarga'') in the south of France. It is a commune in the Bouches-du-Rhône de ...

, built especially for speed record-breaking sailing by windsurfers.

Background

The Canal, also called "The French Trench" by the

English-speaking Speakers of English are also known as Anglophones, and the countries where English is natively spoken by the majority of the population are termed the ''Anglosphere''. Over two billion people speak English , making English the largest language ...

community of windsurfers, is long and wide, in a west-northwest/east-southeast orientation designed to take advantage of the

Marin Marin (French) or Marín (Spanish "sailor") may refer to: People * Marin (name), including a list of persons with the given name or surname * MaRin, in-game name of professional South Korean ''League of Legends'' player Jang Gyeong-hwan (born 19 ...

and Mistral winds that blow in that location. In 1987, the idea of building a speed canal was thought up by British speed windsurfer Erik Beale and St Marie speed week organizer Michel Roussolet. The first version was 850 m long and it enabled Beale on 13 November 1988 to become the first sailor in history to officially break the 40-

knot A knot is an intentional complication in cordage which may be practical or decorative, or both. Practical knots are classified by function, including hitches, bends, loop knots, and splices: a ''hitch'' fastens a rope to another object; a ' ...

barrier, setting the Outright Speed Sailing Record of: * 40.48 knots by British windsurfer Erik Beale in 1988. Early in the 1990s, the canal was extended to its final length of 1,100 m, and windsurfers in 1990, 1991, and 1993 set four consecutive Outright Speed Sailing Records on The Canal, measured over a 500-meter course: * 42.91 by

windsurfer

Pascal Maka Pascal Maka is a French windsurf Windsurfing is a wind propelled water sport that is a combination of sailing and surfing. It is also referred to as "sailboarding" and "boardsailing", and emerged in the late 1960s from the aerospace and surf cu ...

in 1990 * 43.06 by

windsurfer

Thierry Bielak Thierry is a French male given name, derived from the Germanic "Theodoric". It is the cognate of German " Dietrich" and " Dieter", English Terry, Derek and Derrick, and of various forms in other European languages. It is also a surname. People ...

in 1991 * 44.66 by

windsurfer

in 1991 * 45.34 by

windsurfer

in 1993 Later the same year (1993), The Outright record fell to the Australian sail craft Yellow Pages at * 46.62 knots sailing in the sheltered waters of sandy point, Australia ending the 7-year reign of the windsurfers. That record would stand for 11 years until the next onslaught of the windsurfers in the early 2000s: Three consecutive Outright Speed Sailing Records, measured on a 500-metre course, were set on The Canal by windsurfers in 2004, 2005 and 2008: * 49.09 knots (90.91 km/h - 56.49 mph) by

windsurfer

Antoine Albeau Antoine Albeau is a French windsurfer who holds twenty-four Windsurfing World Championships in different disciplines since 1994. Born on 17 June 1972 in La Rochelle, France, Albeau set a new all–category world windpowered sailing speed record ...

, in March 2008. * The previous two records were held by the Irish-born windsurfer

Finian Maynard Finian Maynard (born 22 November 1974 in Dublin, Ireland) is a six-time speed windsurfing world champion (1998 - 2001, 2006 and 2009) and held the absolute 500m sailing speed record for all sailing vessels from late 2004 until early 2008. He we ...

, who competes for the

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, also on The Canal: ** A 48.70 knots record set on 10 April 2005, ** A 46.82 knots record (24.08 m/s or 53.88 mph) set on 13 November 2004. In October 2008, The Canal's leading position on the world sailing map was taken by the

Lüderitz Speed Challenge The Lüderitz Speed Challenge is an annual speed sailing event, held since 2007 in Lüderitz, Namibia, during the southern hemisphere spring. It is observed by the World Sailing Speed Record Council (WSSRC) and the International Sailing Federati ...

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

, when the "holy grail" 50-knot barrier of speed sailing was first broken by a kitesurfer.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Canal, The Buildings and structures in Bouches-du-Rhône Sports venues in Bouches-du-Rhône Tourist attractions in Bouches-du-Rhône Windsurfing Sailing in France 1980s establishments in France Sports venues completed in the 1980s 20th-century architecture in France

Background

See also

References