Atlantic Crossing with 6 Kitesurfers

[heintje23]

Some guys I know are going to cross the Atlantic kitesurfing. I went with them on testruns during nighttime in Torevieja, Spain. The mothership is a 50 foot lagoon cat and the aim is to have one kiter on the water permanently from lanzarote to turks and caicos, some 3200 miles. They leave tomorrow at noon.

Some of you might be interested in following this:

Enable Passion - HTC Atlantic kite challengeEnable Passion |

It is called the htc atlantic kite challenge

[Ocean Girl]

Godspeed to them! Hope it turns out well.

[bbowers2004]

Looks like a challenge in deed, good luck!

[denverd0n]

Perhaps I'm just in a foul mood today, but it sounds like an idiotic stunt to me.

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by denverd0n

Perhaps I'm just in a foul mood today, but it sounds like an idiotic stunt to me.

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

[bbowers2004]

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

haha, I felt this way as well, but some people feel that way about going across the atlantic in general, even on a perfectly cable sailboat. This stunt seems just right next to the 6 people saved off the coast of canaries...

[heintje23]

Most of them are Dutch.
They'll probably do well

[Ocean Girl]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

.wawawa..wawa wa...wow guys how cool!

Mark

That's the spirit

Cheers
Erika

PS
Edited to poke the lion

[deckofficer]

To be 20 or 30 years old again. I'll follow it just because it is ambitious. Consider they have 6 riders, will have one in the water at all times, and each rider will be running 4 times the mothership's speed, that is a lot of distance each rider has to do each day. Lets see, 3200 nm / 6 riders = 533.3 nm for each rider straight line, but they are going to cover 4 times that distance just to stay near the catamaran. Should be entertaining for us armchair cruisers.

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by deckofficer

To be 20 or 30 years old again. I'll follow it just because it is ambitious. Consider they have 6 riders, will have one in the water at all times, and each rider will be running 4 times the mothership's speed, that is a lot of distance each rider has to do each day. Lets see, 3200 nm / 6 riders = 533.3 nm for each rider straight line, but they are going to cover 4 times that distance just to stay near the catamaran. Should be entertaining for us armchair cruisers.

How does the mothership ever catch up. Does the surfer stop and wait it out till it arrives, it could take hours !!! or do they zig zag to stay near the vessel , that means they will spend hours going nowhere.

Dave

[deckofficer]

Consider the math of this endeavor. A 50' cat at best 7 kt average, the kite surfers around 28 kt. Even a fast passage in 20 days, the kite surfers will cover 672 nm for each day's run if the cat is making 165 nm per day's run. Each surfer needs to run 112 nm per day for 20 days. Does anyone know if this level of endurance is even possible for a athletic young person ???

Sounds like a level of endurance like the human powered flight across the English Channel, the Gossamer Albatross

[deckofficer]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

How does the mothership ever catch up. Does the surfer stop and wait it out till it arrives, it could take hours !!!

Dave

I would think the kite surfers are tacking back and forth in front of the mothership, that is why I think it is quite an ambitious effort. I wonder if any of the surfers have done over 100 nm in a day of surfing?

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by deckofficer

I would think the kite surfers are tacking back and forth in front of the mothership, that is why I think it is quite an ambitious effort. I wonder if any of the surfers have done over 100 nm in a day of surfing?

an in 40 foot swells too,

it'll be interesting !!

Dave

[deckofficer]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

an in 40 foot swells too,

it'll be interesting !!

Dave

That is why I'm going to follow it. They do address night surfing by projecting a strong light beam on the kite from the cat that gives the surfer "full moon" type of reflected illumination without effecting anyone's night vision (boat watch or surfer).

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by deckofficer

That is why I'm going to follow it. They do address night surfing by projecting a strong light beam on the kite from the cat that gives the surfer "full moon" type illumination without effecting anyone's night vision (boat watch or surfer).

where are you finding all this out from , the site doesnt deal with much techniques

Given the way these kites duck and dive, the guy on the light is going to be busy ! not to mention when you have a 40 foot swell in-between the boat and the surfer.

they shooting any video I wonder,

dave