Billionaire Richard
Branson has shared photos from a Kite-surfing competition he had with former
U.S. President, Barack Obama. He narrated the experience in an article
shared
on his website this afternoon.
"It was a huge
honour to be able to invite President Barack and Michelle Obama down to the
British Virgin Islands for a complete break after Barack finished his second
term as President and the family left the White House.
"One of the
first stories Barack told me when he and Michelle arrived on Moskito Island was
how, just before he became President, he had been surfing on a dangerous break
in Hawaii. When he came in from an exhilarating session, the new head of his
security team turned to him and said: “This will be the last time you surf for
eight years.” For the next eight years he didn’t have the chance to surf, enjoy
watersports or do many of the things he loved.
"So it was
tremendous to offer him the chance to learn to kitesurf. The sport has really
taken off in the past decade and we have the perfect conditions and team to
help anyone learn. I have also wanted to learn foilboard surfing. So we decided
to set up a friendly challenge: could Barack learn to kitesurf before I learned
to foilboard? We agreed to have a final day battle to see who could stay up the
longest.
"Barack started
learning to kitesurf on the beach on Necker for two days solid, picking up the
basics and flying a kite as if going back to being a child again. Then he went
into the water, standing up and getting a feel for the kite. Finally, he put
the board at his feet and gave it a go. Being the former president of America,
there was lots of security around, but on the next stretch of water, I soon
learned that foilboarding, even if you can kitesurf, is a completely new sport.
You come shooting out of the water, crashing down at high speed, and very much
need a helmet and body armour for safety. But I slowly got the hang of it.
"As you can see
in the video, Barack and I both fell many times, but we kept trying again and
again and made progress over the days. We were neck and neck until the last run
on the last day, when I got up on the foilboard and screamed along for over 50
metres, three feet above the water. I was feeling very pleased with myself,
only to look over and see Barack go 100 metres on his kiteboard! I had to doff
my cap to him and celebrate his victory.
"After all he
has done for the world, I couldn’t begrudge him his well-deserved win. Now he
has left, I’m going back into the water to practice for the next challenge. On
his next visit, we plan to do the long kite over to Anegada together. Next
time, may the best (British) man win!"
"
Photo Credit: Jack
Brockway
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