Antoine Albeau
Encyclopedia
Born on June 17, 1972 in La Rochelle
La Rochelle
La Rochelle is a city in western France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department.The city is connected to the Île de Ré by a bridge completed on 19 May 1988...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Albeau set a new all–category world windpowered sailing speed record on March 5, 2008 with 49.09 knots (90.91 km/h or 56.49 mph) on a 500 meter course at Saintes Marie de la Mer, beating the previous record which had been set by Finian Maynard
Finian Maynard
Finian Maynard is a six-time speed windsurfing world champion and held the absolute 500m sailing speed record for sailing vessels from late 2004 until early 2008....
with a speed of 48.70 knots in April 2005 at the same spot.
In October 2008 Antoine Albeau successfully completed a cross channel windsurf from Cherbourg, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
to Sandbanks
Sandbanks
Sandbanks is a small peninsula or spit crossing the mouth of Poole Harbour on the English Channel coast at Poole in Dorset, England. It is well-known for the highly regarded Sandbanks Beach and property value; Sandbanks has, by area, the fourth highest land value in the world...
, Poole
Poole
Poole is a large coastal town and seaport in the county of Dorset, on the south coast of England. The town is east of Dorchester, and Bournemouth adjoins Poole to the east. The Borough of Poole was made a unitary authority in 1997, gaining administrative independence from Dorset County Council...
. A crossing of 75 nautical miles (138 kilometres) taking just over 6 hours. Antoine was accompanied by Guy Cribb
Guy Cribb
Guy Cribb is a windsurfer and windsurfing trainer.-About:Guy is a former British racing coach and creator of the INtuition brand of technique coaching. His INtuition technique of instruction is very well regarded...
, and supported by Dave Hartwell from The Water Sports Academy, Sandbanks in a safety boat which also acted as a media platform.