Cradle of their Kind

May 24 2009.<img style="border: none; margin-right: 10px; float: left;"alt="Sterkies Speed Event organiser Basil Cambanis lays off through the windswell as he lines up his speed run in calmer waters. Read the ." src="http://www.wavescape.co.za/images/smooth-gallery/thumbnails/sterkies_09/Sterkies_BasilSwell.jpg"/>Kiters go mal as 60 knot gale whips up 6-8ft windswell in a dam at the Sterkies Speed Event!

Waves lash against 20 foot cliffs on Sterkfontein Dam, site of the Sterkies Speed Event on 17 May 2009. Read the.

Sterkies Speed Event organiser Basil Cambanis lays off through the windswell as he lines up his speed run in calmer waters. Read the.

Cambanis comes screaming round the point at Sterkies into the lee, where he cracked a 50.28 knot peak, a terrifying speed. Read the.

You have 300 metres to clock your average speed and top speed before you run out of water and hit the bank. They use the kite as a parachute brake to stop in time. Read the.

Flying at average speeds of almost 90k an hour, these ous are total mullets. Cambanis on another run at the Sterkies Speed Event on 17 May 2009. Read the.

Basil Cambanis has it in black and white. The GPS does not lie. The best run of the day, the event and his life. Read the.

A list of best runs at Sterkies, and Google Earth screenshot of a typical 300 metre speed run (white line) along the leeward side as 60 knot gales scream in from the west. Read the.

Reese Hendrikz rips the Twintip class, averaging 38.2 knots and a peak of 42.1, but first he must ride some waves out in the middle. Read the.

Okay it may not be Teahupoo but when a 60 knot wind blows, you only need about 500 metres of water to create the beginnings of swell. Read the.

The tiniest chop acts like a launch pad when you are screaming along at 45 knots. Rob Chrystal in the zone. Read the.

Rob Chrystal gets serious air out in the middle at Sterkies. Read the.

Some of the crew before the winds began to scream through at 100 kilometres an hour, the result of a katabatic downflow off the escarpment towards KZN. Read the.