French kite sufer Manu Bertin recently became the first man to KITE-SURF 2,700 miles across the Atlantic Ocean!
The trip took three weeks and included the use of three vessels powered by kite traction. Bertin used a regular kiter's surfboard, a "relaxation" kite-cat catamaran (designed by Peter Lynn of New Zealand) for when his muscles needed a rest, and a kite-towed dinghy for sleeping while keeping one hand on a single kite control line.
Bertin set off from the island of Gomera in the Canary Islands on April 26, 2006. Three weeks later, extremely tired but jubilant, he arrived at Pointe a Pitre in Guadaloupe. He was accompanied by a support vessel, the Baies du Monde.
At age 42, Bertin is a very fit athlete with over ten years of kite-surfing experience. He has several kite surfing championships to his credit and has amassed loads of experience in all types of kite surfing events and challenges. However, this feat was nothing short of amazing!
Congratulations to Manu Bertin for an amazing feat of personal endurance and application of modern kite traction technology.
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