"How did the old Yellow Pages endeavour record stand ?"

A combination of factors : It was (and still is) a damn hard speed to beat. Your average joe windsurfer who sails on weekends probably hardly ever goes quicker than 25knots.
Added to that, speedsailing fell from interest for many years, not a lot of effort was being put into that aspect of the sport in the 90`s. If no-one is tring to break records, they don`t get broken !
Now that there is a lot of interest again, we could see the record changing hands more than once a year, and there will be many more challenges from other boat-like craft, who are actually as far removed from sailing craft as windsurfers are from hot-air balloons.
"Apparently things aren't that easy for the board guys as some would like to make it appear."
I couldn`t agree more - makes the acchievement of Finian Maynard all the more remarkable, has broken the world speed record twice in as many years, after it stood for 11 years.

I won`t be at all surprised if a kitesurfer rocks up and gets there first either, a while back windsurfers were laughing at kitesurfers trying to go fast, now they are almost at the same pace.

Speaking of Yellow Pages, come on Wouter - your hulls at least are the right colour - just add hydrofoils and an I-20 rig, and go out in 45-60knots, you should set up a decent speed while cartwheeing down the North Sea ??