New 2000 kilometre kitesurfing distance record

Kite crazy Kiwi, Louis Tapper, successfully completed his attempt at the longest ever kitesurfing journey on 30 August.  His route took him along Brazil's Atlantic coastline - a journey of 2000 kilometres completed over 30 days.

Louis, who has only been kitesurfing for three-years, has set several other kiting records (including crossing the Cook Strait), but this was by far his biggest challenge.

Although Louis completing his journey on schedule he had plenty of highs-and-lows along the way - including a random allergic reaction that left him blinded and with nowhere to land his kite, close encounters with offshore oil rigs, and pretty much all of his kit breaking at some point on the trip. Louis had hoped to complete the trip with one board and one kite, but found that a directional board was too much for some of the more downwind days so used a twin-tip for these.

Louis' blog entry on finishing the trip reads: "I am pleased to finish and somewhat relived... I will do a full post in time. For the moment beer and food awaits."  Well earned too!

Louis beat the previous distance record of 1450km held by Eric Gramond, and his trip raised cash for SurfAid.  Read more Louis Tapper's Kitesurfing Adventures in his blog.