Tuesday, 7 February 2017
Billionaire Richard Branson has shared photos from a
Kite-surfing competition he had with former U.S. President, Barack
Obama. He narrated the experience in an article shared on his website
this afternoon.
"One
of the first stories Barack told me when he and Michelle arrived on
Moskito Island was how, just before he became President, he had been
surfing on a dangerous break in Hawaii. When he came in from an
exhilarating session, the new head of his security team turned to him
and said: “This will be the last time you surf for eight years.” For the
next eight years he didn’t have the chance to surf, enjoy watersports
or do many of the things he loved.
"So it was
tremendous to offer him the chance to learn to kitesurf. The sport has
really taken off in the past decade and we have the perfect conditions
and team to help anyone learn. I have also wanted to learn foilboard
surfing. So we decided to set up a friendly challenge: could Barack
learn to kitesurf before I learned to foilboard? We agreed to have a
final day battle to see who could stay up the longest.
"Barack
started learning to kitesurf on the beach on Necker for two days solid,
picking up the basics and flying a kite as if going back to being a
child again. Then he went into the water, standing up and getting a feel
for the kite. Finally, he put the board at his feet and gave it a go.
Being the former president of America, there was lots of security
around, but on the next stretch of water, I soon learned that
foilboarding, even if you can kitesurf, is a completely new sport. You
come shooting out of the water, crashing down at high speed, and very
much need a helmet and body armour for safety. But I slowly got the hang
of it.
"As you can see in the video, Barack
and I both fell many times, but we kept trying again and again and made
progress over the days. We were neck and neck until the last run on the
last day, when I got up on the foilboard and screamed along for over 50
metres, three feet above the water. I was feeling very pleased with
myself, only to look over and see Barack go 100 metres on his kiteboard!
I had to doff my cap to him and celebrate his victory.
"After
all he has done for the world, I couldn’t begrudge him his
well-deserved win. Now he has left, I’m going back into the water to
practice for the next challenge. On his next visit, we plan to do the
long kite over to Anegada together. Next time, may the best (British)
man win!"
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