Bahrain kitesurfer tames weather in new record attempt

Manama: German kitesurfer Anke Brandt has successfully completed her bid to break her previous world record by kitesurfing 298km from Bahrain’s Amwaj Islands to Qatar capital Doha as part of the GET Kite Mission - Kitesurf Arabia.

Brandt currently holds the world record for the longest distance kitesurfed by a woman. “By kiting for over 17 hours, I managed to break my previous record of 250km,” she stated.

The record has to be officially approved by Guinness World Records through footage and photographic evidences. “I can easily say that this was the greatest experience of my entire life. It’s going to take a lot to top this,” she said.

The kitesurfer, who was accompanied by a team on-board a support boat, braved the weather conditions when she began her journey from Amwaj Islands’ ART Rotana on March 17 at 4pm (GMT+3).

“The goal of the mission was to raise $5,500 for “Wings for Life,” a charity organisation, which is trying to make spinal cord injury curable through an ongoing research,” she said, adding that donations could still be made through her website.

The initial aim of the GET Kite Mission - Kitesurf Arabia was to kitesurf 550km from Bahrain to Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi. However, weather conditions prevented the team from doing so.

“We tried to pick the perfect day, but things could change and this time the weather moved in too fast, so we had to make the call to stop at Doha,” she explained.

Stopping at Doha

Captain of the boat and BISS Marine owner Nabeel Hijris stated that the reason the trip had to be stopped at Doha came down to safety.

“We had set ourselves targets and had to be at way points at certain times using a certain speed so we could avoid a front which was witnessing strong winds,” he explained.

“Unfortunately, we weren’t doing that as the mission progressed and the boat wasn’t designed to bear those conditions,” he continued.

Hijris hence made the call to stop the mission at Doha to avoid putting the team in any danger.

“Of course, Anke didn’t have any problem and she would have definitely carried on a lot further if she had been allowed,” he added.

Challenges Faced During the Mission

During dusk, visibility on the water proved challenging for the team due to the changes of light. “However, as soon as it was completely dark, it was perfect,” said Brandt, adding that the team had two major challenges which interrupted the journey.

“The wind died down completely during the night, which meant we had to wait in the water for an hour. We also came across a big fishing net and were lucky that the boat did not get stuck and found a way out of it,” she explained.

“We also had tidal movements, which changed. All these factors are very unpredictable and can make it or break it and, in our case, we just didn’t make enough progress during the night,” she said.

Physical Conditioning and Training

Through intense training over the past one year, Brandt was able to overcome the physical strain of the challenge. “I’m feeling great now and am very surprised at how my body felt during the entire trip,” she said.

“I wasn’t extremely surprised, but after 17 hours I could have easily gone more and even today I feel my body is aching as much as I’d expected. So physically, my performance and that of the team was great,” she added.

Following the experience, Brandt is confident that she would like to try kitesurfing the distance to Abu Dhabi again.

“There were many lessons we learnt and there was the likelihood that the first time wouldn’t work out because there are so many factors playing their part,” she concluded.