Bid to break kitesurfing record not on cards: Brandt

Manama : Bahrain-based kite surfer Anke Brandt said that attempting a new world record is not in her plans at the moment. Brandt successfully completed the GET-Kitemission Kitesurf Arabia, when she kited from Bahrain to Abu Dhabi last week. 

She holds the world record for the longest distance kite-surfed by a woman. She had set a world record in 2014 by kiting around Bahrain, and last month she broke that record by kiting to Doha. 

Last week, when she kite-surfed to Abu Dhabi, she broke the record yet again.

When asked about the possibility of setting a new world record attempt, she said she is currently not thinking of it but did not rule it out completely. 

“Another record? I don’t know. The world record is not something that you plan. I didn’t go out and said I need to set a world record. We were planning a charity event for Wings for Life and it became an official world record mission. Doing it again just became another opportunity to break a world record. But I’m not going out searching for records to break,” she explained.

Speaking about her recent mission to Abu Dhabi, Brandt said she had faced an unexpected challenge. 

“The kite went down and got the lines tangled in our safety lights, which is quite unusual because nothing had changed in the set up from the first time. So 27 metre lines were wrapped around me and the kite. It definitely tested my kite skills in untangling and re-launching the kite,” she recalled.

All the numbers behind the world record attempt is yet to be confirmed, a spokesperson from Brandt’s team said. 

“The numbers, that are shown by our GPS, counted and logged by the team and the captain are yet to be confirmed but we know this: Ankes GPS tracker was 491.7 km kitesurfing, 30.33 hours on the water with the kite, 32 hours total trip until we reached immigration, 507miles for the support boat from Bahrain to Abu Dhabi and back to Bahrain,” the spokesperson added.