ABERSOCH watersports star Farrel O’Shea has become the first Britain to break through the 50-knot barrier on a windsurfer.

Farrel, who is head of a clothing and watersports product company, achieved the new record after an incredible day at the Luderitz Speed Challenge in Namibia.

The windsurfer broke his own British record set a couple of days before, to record a speed of 51.2 knots (59mph) which puts him at fifth in the world on speed rankings.

Farrel was one of the first British sailors to break the 30-knot barrier in the 1980s.

However, at that time he was best known as one of Britain’s most radical wave sailors with photographs of his exploits often seen in popular windsurfing magazines of the time.