Pete Davis – “There has never been any denying it, Bjorn Dunkerbeck has always been one of the fastest sailors on the planet. Whilst known for dominating waves and slalom on the PWA tour in his heyday, not many people appreciate that Bjorn really loves speed sailing. Brought up in the Canaries, he took part in the golden years at Sotavento Beach on Fuerteventura in the 90s. Bjorn’s DNA has had speed genes pumping through his veins from a very young age, which has driven him to take himself off to new and established speed spots around the world. Surprisingly in 2004 he rocked up unannounced at Weymouth Speed week to sail at the birthplace of speed sailing, which gave the organisers a bit of a shock. But more interestingly, he’s visited far-flung locations like Mexico, Africa and Thailand, looking for a new speed paradise. He wasn’t selfish in this quest either. In 2006 he went to Namibia to check out Walvis Bay and together with Zara Davis they both set new world records for the Nautical mile, both of which still stand today.
In 2007 he put together the speed dream team made up of himself, Antoine Albeau, Anders Bringdal and Robbie Naish, the mission was called “The World Speed Sailing Challenge”. Their aim was to try and break the world record, held then by a boat, Yellow Pages, at 46.52 knots and ultimately take it to over 50 knots. Which eventually, apart from Robbie, they all did in Luderitz, Namibia in 2012. During this time he also won the speed sailing world championship title. So it was no surprise that in 2014 Bjorn set up The Dunkerbeck speed challenge, a pro-am event on the island of Fuerteventura, which included the official ISWC (International Speed Windsurfing Class) European speed championships to encourage all ages and abilities to get the speed bug. It has run every year since and in 2016 it was awarded world championship status.
The pro-am concept is the real draw of this event. Which allows stars like Bjorn, Anders Bringdal and Zara Davis to compete for the official ISWC world speed title and at the same time encourages kids of all ages as well as up and coming speed hopefuls to rub shoulders with their idols, and in some cases beat them! The best example of this is Twan Verseput. He attended the event for the first time 3 years ago in 2016. Twan is an ex-volleyball player who entered for fun and came top 10 at his first event. He then returned a year later and upset the form book by beating Bjorn to take top spot, then this year came back again to prove it was not a fluke and won it again!