By Neto Baptiste
Kite-boarder Tiger Tyson said that having to battle strong winds, rough seas and problematic Sargassum seaweed made breaking a 15-year-old record during the RORC around the island race last Friday, a bit more rewarding.
The Antiguan completed the challenge in two hours and 38 minutes on his board to break the previous unofficial record of two hours and 44 minutes was set by Lloyd Thornburg’s MOD70 Phaedo3, a high speed trimaran by six minutes.
“Going into it, I knew the boat that had the record was a very fast boat and I didn’t really have any idea how fast I was going to be able to do it so I was a little nervous going into the race because I really wanted to try and get the right course on the day,” he said.
The weather was really bad, it was really stormy with squalls of 30 knots winds which are very strong, like 35 miles per hour. We had big waves like about three meters and also the Sargassum seaweed, there was a lot of seaweed so going into the race, before I even started, I was a little nervous just because I knew how challenging the conditions were and I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to make it around with all those obstacles coming my way,” he added.
It was the first time a kite-boarder entered the race RORC race and Tyson, who is in preparation for the Pan American Games slated for later this year said he would definitely take on the challenge a second time.
He will, however, now turn his attention to a number of upcoming events.
“I am going to Palma in Europe in March and I am going with my coach and training team there and we’re doing three weeks of training and then we have a big regatta there called the Princess Sofia [Regatta] and it’s a famous sailing race every year and then after that I will be in Europe for about six months. We have the first Olympic Games qualifier in August and right now that’s my main aim, just working towards that. After that stint in Europe, I am coming down to Chile for the pan American Games and that’s in October and that’s also an Olympic qualifier,” the athlete said.
Tyson, in November last year, created history for Antigua and Barbuda at the Central American and Caribbean Games, by conquering the Kite surfing modality, in the first Sea and Beach Games, held in Magdalena, Santa Maria.
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