Kitesurfer Brian Kiss von Soly completes epic kitesurfing journey down the Australian coast to Aspendale

Brian Kiss von Soly completed the final leg of his epic kitesurfing journey down the east coast of Australia today. 

Photo: Brian Kiss von Soly

Brian started his trip from near Brunswick Heads in Northern New South Wales on 28 December.  Brian completed his journey (and a world record attempt) on Sunday 4 April 2021 at Aspendale in Port Phillip Bay.

Brian on the beach at Aspendale. Photo: Brian Kiss von Soly 

The long kitesurfing journey is over, Aspendale. Photo: Brian Kiss von Soly

Here is Brian's track log

The voyage took 86 days (26 days kiting) and Brian covered more that 1,700 kilometres to reach Melbourne.

Brian has a camp marked on the 90 Mile Beach but it looks like he did in one go.

Check out his route around Wilsons Promontory - that was a big day.

Brian Kiss von Soly kitesurfer, credit: Jonathon Carroll

Brian carried lightweight camping gear in a waterproof backpack and a Personal Locater Beacon for emergency communications.

External links

• Brian aims for kite surfing record – The Echo, 7 Jan 2021
• How a North Coast kite-surfer landed on Newcastle shores during world record attempt - Drive - ABC Radio, 1 Feb 2021 
• Coast pit-stop as Brian kitesurfs to Melbourne - Central Coast Community News, 8 Feb 2021
• Kitesurfer leaves Sydney to set world distance record, Sydney Morning Herald, 11 Feb 2021
• Brian Kiss von Soly - World Record Kite Surfing Journey Attempt 
• Local kite surfer smashes long distance world record – The Echo, 5 May 2021

Bruno Sroka kitesurfs from France to Ireland

Bruno Sroka completed a marathon kitesurfing journey from France to Ireland. on 19 July 2013, covering 250 nautical miles in 16h40.

He used a raceboard for much of the journey but swapped to a hydrofoil board when the wind dropped close to Ireland.

He departed a 6:25am from Penn-Enez beach in France and averaged 18 knots for the first 100 nautical miles.

He passed the Isles of Scilly from the Atlantic ocean (west) side to get better wind.

Bruno "hit the wall" with 90 nautical miles to go when he stopped for a break and realised how tired he was and that the sun was going down.

The wind dropped to under 10 knots for the lasted 50 knots - the hardest part of the journey.  He did the last 30 nautical miles on the foil board, which is quite technical to ride.

Highlights of his trip included some dolphins swimming with him and a flotilla of small boats came out to meet him at Cross haven.

An epic achievement.

Kitesurfing distance records

I have been researching kitesurfing distance records out of interest. I really enjoyed the downwinder we did from Ricketts Point to Hampton. It really piqued my curiosity about how far people have actually travelled with a kite and what may be possible.

So far, the best documented distance record I can find is that of Kirsty Jones who set a distance record for a kiteboard when she travelled 225km (140 miles), crossing from Lanzarote in the Canary Islands to Tarfaya, Morocco, in about nine hours on May 13, 2006. Here is a video of Kirsty's feat.





A record combination of distance and speed of 207 km in 5h 30 was set by Raphaël Salles, Marc Blanc and Sylvain Maurain on July 24, 2007 between Saint Tropez and Calvi, beating Manu Bertin's previous record of 6h 30 for the same journey. Their average speed was almost 38 km/h.

I have updated the kitesurfing article in Wikipedia with this information.

Allison Shreeve attempted to windsurf across Bass Strait on 26 March 2009. The planned route was 130 Nautical Miles (250km) between Stanley in Tasmania to Inverloch in Victoria. However, she abandoned the attempt out due to mild hypothermia and cramps around 80 kilometres off the Victorian coast late on Thursday afternoon after leaving Tasmania just after 7.30am (AEDT). She had to contend with strong winds soon after leaving Stanley on Tasmania's northwest coast and suffered cramps early in the crossing.

Only one other person has ever windsurfed across Bass Strait before - Nick Maloney, who took 21 hours to manage the feat in 1998.

References

1. Tampa Bay area kiteboarders take aim at distance record, Terry Tomalin, St. Petersburg Times, February 27, 2009
2. m8kite.com - Long Distance record
3. Allison Shreeve - Bass Strait Challenge 2009
4. Honourable exit for Bass Strait windsurfer