First windsurfer around Guadeloupe!
During January of 2020 Caribbean Severne rider Tristan Algret was plotting something which hadn’t been done before. A windsurfing tour around the island of Guadeloupe. Severne got in touch with him to get his account of the experience.
The first windsurfer to round the island. In Tristan’s own words
I am the first windsurfer doing the round of Guadeloupe nonstop… there are a few guys in the past who tried and someone did it step by step. I have had this idea for many years even before the upcoming of the foil, but it was simply impossible to achieve this long-distance on regular windsurfing gear.
The project came before the winter of 2020 as now foiling is fully included and mixed in with slalom racing in the PWA world tour. And for me, the only solution to get better was to be in the water and practice. Between all of the training and this challenge around the island, I have done almost 1000km in two months in Guadeloupe.
We managed to reach the last and hardest point (southwest Guadeloupe) after 6 hours in total. This was a good performance. Once we passed this point, we knew that the tour around Guadeloupe was almost done.
The luck was on our side for the last part of the journey with the wind switching from east to southeast… a huge gift from mother nature to us which allowed to get to the finish in one reach.
In total, it took us 8 hours 37 minutes to cover a distance of 243 kilometers.
A challenge to remember
This was indeed a challenge for us as it was something no one had done before. And also, I’m not sure if anyone has ever been foiling for more than 8 hours non stop.
I did the rounding with a friend who’s one of the best kite foilers in Guadeloupe, he is the first guy who started super long distances on the island. His name is Fabien Delporte, and he had the same idea of using the foil to do this famous rounding of Guadeloupe.
The plan was to do the project together first of all because we share the same vibes, but also to show people how windsurfing and kitesurfing can function perfectly together.
Next on the schedule
At the time of writing this story, I am in Barcelona waiting for the plane to Tenerife. where I will spend the next three weeks at the TWS Pro slalom training. Tenerife is still the best place for training in real racing conditions with the PWA boys/girls.
After this, I will organize all of my life around La Ciotat (near to Marseille) where I will live and stay all year. I have a new sailing club that supports me and helps me to train and work on promotional events during the season.
You can stay up to date with the latest from Tristans’ world by following his social media accounts:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tristanalgret/
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