Yanked like a puppet from 20 feet above Sengekontacket Pond, Nevin Sayre nearly lost his life when he hit the water in a kite-surfing accident earlier this month.
The Vineyard waters proved their worth recently as a speed sailing destination while hosting the North American Speed Sailing Invitational. Rob Douglas won 12 of the 14 races, and set a world record.
Brock Callen Jr. insists that sailing 67 miles in five hours on a kiteboard isn’t really that much. What it really is, he said, is amazing. There’s no other sport that fosters such interaction between sailor, wind and water.
The Vineyard’s own Rob Douglas won best speed and three out of four races at the National French Kitesurfing Speed Championships held last week in La Franqui, France.
If they were motorists, they’d surely be ticketed. Going over 45 miles per hour on the Vineyard is illegal.
But the dozen world-class athletes who competed in the second annual North American Speed Sailing Invitational attain their formidable speeds not on paved roads but on water. They raced on Sengekontacket Pond, Cape Pogue Bay and Katama Bay, depending on the wind conditions of each location. During the competition, which ended on Tuesday, the high-flying kites became familiar sights.
Vineyard resident and Black Dog CEO Robert Douglas placed first overall at the 2012 International Kite Association World Speed Championships held July 6-15 in Salin du Giraud, France. Mr. Douglas now has the distinction of holding and winning both the outright world speed sailing record (55.65 knots) and the 2012 World Kitespeed Sailing Championship simultaneously.
He is sponsored by The Black Dog, Edgartown resident Bill Lynch of Lynch Associates, Cabrinha Kites and CornerFive Surf Company.
