The annual November visits of Skerries windsurfer Oisin van Gelderen to the Luderitz Speed Canal in the Namibian desert in southern Africa continue to fascinate Irish sailors as he battles to achieve a sustained speed above 50 knots. He has broken the 50 knots barrier in short bursts, and did it again in November 2019, briefly registering 51.7 knots. His GPS for the course showed 49.66 knots - still a third of a knot short of the magic 50, but he continues to be Ireland’s fastest sailor.
Oisin Van Gelderen is Sailor of the Month (Speed Sailing) for November
2nd December 2019
Despite the lucky sail number, the magic 50 knots eluded Ireland’s fastest sailor Oisin van Gelderen by one third of a knot during his November 2019 campaign
Credit: Stefan Csaky
Published in Sailor of the Month
Published in
Sailor of the Month
Tagged under
About The Author
Afloat.ie Team
Afloat.ie is Ireland's dedicated marine journalism team.
Have you got a story for our reporters? Email us here.
We've got a favour to ask
More people are reading Afloat.ie than ever thanks to the power of the internet but we're in stormy seas because advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. Unlike many news sites, we haven't put up a paywall because we want to keep our marine journalism open.
Afloat.ie is Ireland's only full-time marine journalism team and it takes time, money and hard work to produce our content.
So you can see why we need to ask for your help.
If everyone chipped in, we can enhance our coverage and our future would be more secure. You can help us through a small donation. Thank you.
