On Friday, March 1st, Australian Brad Anderson became the first person to achieve a 30+ Kts average speed during the course of one hour on Lake George, in New South Wales of Australia.

No small feat for those knowing how fast 30 Kts truly is, and then imagining maintaining that speed for a full 60 minutes! But not only did Brad manage an average speed of 30.37 Kts during one hour, he also did an exceptionally fast 100m speed of 47.31 Kts! To learn more about the man behind the accomplishment and how this was achieved, we managed to have word with Brad himself.

• Name: Brad Anderson
• Birth date & place: 2/10/1973, Brisbane, Australia
• Current residence: Brisbane, Australia
• Sponsors: Board Crazy Brisbane, Black Project Fins

So Brad, what equipment were you using during your sailing on March 1st?

Brad: I used the Falcon Speed 51, MauiSails TR-8 6.3m & 28 Black Projects Speed Weed for the 1 hour & Falcon Speed 45, MauiSails TR-7 5.5m & Black Projects X45 for the speed runs.

And how were the conditions on this particular day?

Brad: SE Winds to 30 knts maybe a little bit more at times.

Can you describe to our readers the location of Lake George and what makes it so good for Speed Sailing?

Brad: Lake George is located at Beachport in South Australia. As the water in the Lake evaporates throughout summer your left with about 300mm of water above a weed bed which  grows about 150mm long.The weed seems to absorb the wave energy leaving a small surface ripple ideal for speed sailing.The lake also has a very high salinity which make it very efficient sailing. For me it was a 2.5 hour plane flight from Brisbane then another 4.5 hour drive South East from Adelaide.

And how long have you been speed sailing? And how does this record compare to your previous results…are you always sailing at these speeds?

Brad: I’ve been speed sailing for about 5 years & windsurfing since 2000, before this I raced Laser class boats from a young age at an international level.

I’ve been flying under the radar a bit with regard to international speed sailing. Where I live there are no real consistently good speed spots. Most of our speed sailing is done on 100Litre boards & 7m sails. So I guess I have been sailing at high level for a few years now and most people in the Australian GPS community have known my results to be good for the conditions I sail in. The trip to Lake George is my first interstate speed sailing trip.

What are your plans moving forward?

Brad: Luderitz is on my radar, just not sure if it is financially viable at this point and of course another trip to Lake George next year.

Thanks a lot Brad for taking the time to give us an insight to your shattering of the one-hour speed record and we wish you all the best in your future endeavours!

Source : wwwindsurfing.com