The Saintes Maries de la Mer Speed Canal, known to windsurfers as The Canal, is a man-made trench near the French Mediterranean coastal town Saintes Maries de la Mer, built especially for speed record breaking sailing by windsurfers.[1][2]
The Canal, also called The French Trench[3] by the English-speaking community of Windsurfers, is 1,100 metres long and 30 metres wide,[4] in a West-Northwest/East-Southeast orientation planned to take advantage of the Marin and Mistral winds that blow in that location.
Three consecutive Outright Speed Sailing Records, measured on a 500 metre course, were set on The Canal by windsurfers in 2004, 2005 and 2008:
In October 2008, The Canal's leading position on the world sailing map was taken by the Lüderitz Speed Challenge in Namibia, when the "holy grail" 50-knot barrier of speed sailing was first broken by a kitesurfer.[7]