Antiguan watersports athletes, Jake Kelsick and Dani Edwards, are the latest to circumnavigate the island after having completed the 64.4 nautical-mile course on Tuesday.
What makes their journey especially significant however is that it was the first via wingfoiling, a wind-propelled water sport that evolved from kitesurfing and windsurfing.
Kelsick, a professional kiteboarder and Edwards, who is a young sailor, completed the feat in just over six hours.
Kelsick said the high winds were ideal for the feat.
“Didn’t want it to be like crazy or unsafe, but we wanted to have some wind because with wingfoiling it’s kind of a low-power sport so the more wind you have the easier it is you can make sure you can keep going to get stopped by a lack of wind.
“On Tuesday it was between 25 to 30 knots which was a little bit windier than we wanted but more wind is a little better on wingfoiling because that risk of getting stuck because of no wind goes away so we had good power the whole way around. Even when we got to Jolly Harbour side there was never really a score of no wind. It was a little bit rougher than we expected for us and the guys in the boat with the waves from Long Island. We got to Green Island and we almost though about calling it quits going into Half Moon Bay because it was so rough and rugged,” he said.
Last February, national kitesurfer Tiger Tyson circumnavigated Antigua in record time, eclipsing the fastest time held by a yacht.
But this is the first time the feat has been successfully accomplished on a wingfoil.
Kelsick says it’s the first sport to give kitesurfing a run for its money in 20 years.
“The feeling is pretty similar but in kiteboarding you can go up a bit further than on a wing, so it’s a bit easier in that sense and you can cover a bit more ground quickly. It’s also less stressful on the body than kitefoiling because you can really get a lot of power with the kite and it’s just really efficient and where wingfoiling is still on a hydra foil but it’s a bit more like holding on to the full winds power with your hand and you can’t use a harness which we did but you’re still going to have that full power through your whole body the full time so it’s definitely a little more tiring,” he said.
And while Kelsick is not averse to the odd white-knuckle experience, these days he concentrates less on competing, as he did before, instead focusing his attention on teaching.
His Dutchman’s Bay-based school is testament to wingfoiling’s burgeoning popularity.
“This year we’ve had just as many kite lessons as wingfoiling lessons whereas two years ago we had no wingfoiling lessons. So the demand is there mainly because of the accessibility because you don’t need a big beach … you can basically launch off the back of a boat. Also, the risk of getting stranded there is less of a fear because if something goes wrong you can just paddle yourself to safety.
“It’s super cool and it’s a new sport and if you do it now you are going to be ahead of the game because I think it is going to be around for a while and in the next few years it will probably be one of the most popular sport in the world of water sports,” the athlete said.
Winds as high as 30 knots were recorded on Tuesday.