Atlantic Crossing with 6 Kitesurfers

[jongleur]

As I always say: Cod speed to them.

[Ocean Girl]

In fairness to the kite surfers, they are not students or novices, or seven years old. They have a pretty well rounded experienced team.

Their trip does seems risky to me. But looking at their bio, they have already accomplished feats many here would strongly disapprove of, call crazy, and dig up tales of misadventure and doom.

As far as what the biggest danger to them is, I'd say a kite surfer being lost at sea ( I know, my powers of deduction are amazing).

Did anyone see their storm plan? What weather threshold they decided to scrub the kite surfing?


BTB my dad, at 15, was the youngest to climb Grand Teton. Im sure the record has been broken, it was almost 70 years ago. He went on to climb the highest peak on every content, become a pilot, including gliders, and a circumnavigator. He didn't do all that to break a record or have bragging rights, he did it because he loved it.

[jkindredpdx]

Cool Dad! That explains a lot...

[hoppy]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

I totally agree with you. But there are some on this forum who do not like it when I call some idiotic stunt idiotic... Sooooooo....wow guys how cool!




Mark

I think there are some people on the forum who would consider crossing the Atlantic solo in an ex-charter plastic boat and idiotic stunt

[Jim Cate]

So, enough philosophy for now! I don't understand how the 7 knot cat will be able to illuminate the kites at night if they are going 20+ knots... or have I misunderstood something?

I have nothing against this sort of escapade... doing it for the challenge, and without much media attention. I don't think it is particularly important exactly how it is accomplished. Rather, it is important that the folks involved have enough fun to justify (to themselves) the costs... whether or not they succeed!

We have a friend who, when younger, rowed across Bass straights. No one knew about it until he arrived in Tasmania. He seldom talks about it these days, but I'm sure it was a huge event in his young life... and the same will be true for all these kite guys, win or lose.

Good on'em

Jim

[sy_gilana]

According to the web page, they are doing a northern gc route. Ahem!
The winds there are rarely from the east, so perhaps they are going to tack upwind all the way across?

[Artif]

Kites can go 50kts+ sailng boats can go 60kts+ doesn't mean they have to, tack upwind is no big deal (wouldn't be my choice though).

Maybe all the hating is down to them appearing to have fun, some people get a bit too serious about crossing the pond, people have swum across, how hard can it be.

[Fiveslide]

I wonder what they have for power storage and generation. I think lighting up the sky well enough to see a kite at night would tax even the best battery banks and charging systems. Not to mention their normal power needs, refrigeration and such. Will that charter cat and its system be up to the task?

[Sand crab]

Lagoon 500 cats frequently have very large generators. Lights won't be an issue.

[Ocean Girl]

Glow in the dark kite fabric :-). Has anyone seen an article about how they are going to keep an eye on em at night? Spotlight is not going to work, ruin night vision for all.

[heintje23]

When i was with them on their test run they simply tight a strong led light in their kite. That was enough

[Ocean Girl]

Originally Posted by heintje23

When i was with them on their test run they simply tight a strong led light in their kite. That was enough

Nice to have a kite surfer on this thread. Do you know what protocol is in place in case KS is separated from vessel? GPS tracker, LED and what else?

[deckofficer]

Originally Posted by heintje23

When i was with them on their test run they simply tight a strong led light in their kite. That was enough

I'm curious to learn more too. It sounds like the KS have to be in really great shape if they will be covering the kind of daily distance I speculated, as their speed will probably be 4 times the mothership's speed. I enjoy following the exploits of the adventurists, at certain times of my life I was the one enjoying the adventure. I hope to return in the future, but not water based but rather air based. Back country air camping, like skychick.
Bush Pilots | Skychick Ramona Cox

[GILow]

Makes our plans to kitesurf/windsurf across the Gulf St Vincent (35 nautical miles) this summer seem a bit lame. But, I'm still looking forward to it.

[deckofficer]

35 miles though physically taxing seems doable. Sounds like a great adventure. The 100+ miles everyday for 3 weeks is ironman/woman stuff.