Canal Plus

The famed Saintes Maries de la Mer Speed Canal is once again open for business.

In the elusive quest of 50-knots, an extended holding period’s been set from November 2007 through April 2008 to catch the perfect day of record-smashing wind.

Leading the hunt is current outright world record holder Finian Maynard (F2 / NeilPryde) whose famous run of 48.7-knots sets the standard.

Maynard has forged a formidable partnership with speed legend Pascal Maka (F2) to enable the new attempt in the famous South of France hot spot.

Maka has been particularly instrumental in grooming the canal to precision for that magic supersonic day.

Maynard and Maka will be joined by PWA stars Patrik Diethelm (F2 / North), Karin Jaggi (F2 / North) and Valerie Ghibaudo (Tabou).

The 'French Trench' has produced eight outright world records since 1987. The location takes world record calibre wind from both N (Mistral) and SE (Le Marin) directions.

The steady yet rare South Easter is widely regarded as the best direction to yield a record.

You can stay in touch with all the latest speed news, view photo galleries, read rider profiles plus read a live ticker on the big days at mastersofspeed.com 


©PWA / Brian McDowell