After an exciting week full of races and battles on the water, another very successful edition of the Dunkerbeck GPS Speed Challenge has come to an end. After several years without an official World Championship, this year the Dunkeberck GPS Speed Challenge hosted the International Speed Windsurfing Class (ISWC) World Championship, with more than 50 competitors from 10 different countries fighting for the world crown in both the Men’s and Women’s categories.

During the five days of competition, we had five rounds of one hour each where both the public present at the beach and those following via social media where able to enjoy the great action on the water with all riders sailing as close to the limits as possible, trying to get that extra speed needed to become the 2016 ISWC World Champion. With a wind average of 25 knots over the five days, the most chosen board type was a 56 cm wide speed board, like the iSonic Speed W.54 with sails ranging from 6.2m² to 7.0m².

Winning in the open category with a clear margin was Bjorn Dunkerbeck, with his fastest run reaching 38.48 knots (72 km/h) over 250 meters. He was followed by John Skye from the UK in second and Markus Emanuelsson in third. The women’s fleet was dominated and won by Zara Davis, while 2nd place was won by Maria Jose Medina, 3rd was Anne Schindler and in 4th the promising 14-year-old Alexa Escherich.

Apart from the World Championship titles, awards were given for the winners of the Dunkerbeck GPS Speed Challenge and the 2016 ISWC champions in the following classes, with these results:

• Dunkerbeck GPS Speed Challenge and 2016 ISWC Champion Masters (35+): Markus Emanuelsson• Dunkerbeck GPS Speed Challenge and 2016 ISWC Champion Junior (U14): Liam Dunkerbeck• Dunkerbeck GPS Speed Challenge and 2016 ISWC Champions Youth (U18): Aron Etmon

It has been a great week bringing speed sailors from all over the world together and for that we would like to thank our sponsors and partners who made the event possible.

We are looking forward to the next edition of Dunkerbeck GPS Speed Challenge and will announce the new dates as soon as possible. See you all next year!

- Words & Pictures by Dunkerbeck GPS Speed Challenge / Eric Bellande & Victor Couto -