How Fast Will a Kiteboard Go?

When you learn to kiteboard, the sensation of travelling over water at speed is thrilling and
indeed many people spend money on new equipment and traveling to the perfect places to
try and go just that little bit faster. There are a group of avid kiteboarders that have being
raising the world kiteboard speed record over the last decade or so and can regularly exceed
sixty miles per hour on measured speed runs.

The current fastest speed is 56.62 knots or an amazing 65.16 miles per hour. This was done
in the south of France by Alex Caizergues on a 500 meter measured course. While this takes
specialist high performance equipment it is possible to reach significant speeds with normal
equipment that many people have. This because of the ability of sail powered craft to move
faster than the wind. This is because when traveling at an angle to the direction of the wind
the faster we move the faster the apparent wind will push us.

There are many factors that affect our speed including the kite we use, wind speed and
how smooth the water we are kiteboarding on is. As you learn the best way to use your kite
and kiteboard to extract the maximum amount of speed in the conditions available you will
experience that perfect feeling of having everything come together and powering through
the water faster than you had thought possible. If you want to know our actual speed then
a GPS unit or kiteboard speedometer can give your actual speed so that you can have some
data on what actually makes you go faster rather than what feels faster.