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The Russian
Beach Bum  
Member #: 679 Posts 19
Registered: 30-4-2004 Member Is Offline Mood: throw me a frikken bone
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| posted on 5-10-2004 at 21:58 |
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First Return Channel Crossing
We did the first non-stop crossing of the English Channel today!
see the below for the story... and I'm spent
Congratulations, Its confirmed, just had a call from the Russian. Today, they have successfully completed the first non-stop return
kitesurf of the channel to raise funds for Great Ormand Street Childrens Hospital.
The return crossing to raise funds for Great Ormond St. Children's Hospital was successfully completed today by Chris Bull, Andy John,
Rob Campbell and Michel Carnet.
We launched just before 10am from Dungeness after various interviews with the local TV and lots of discussion and debate over forecasts
and kite sizes. In the end, Chris went for a 12m V4, Rob a 12m X4, Michel 11.8 Wippika and Andy discovered a leaking bladder in his 16m
V4 and was forced to use his 17M Fuel.
We set off in nicely powered conditions with a small swell with the wind steady Beaufort force 5. We crossed all shipping lanes keeping
nicely together posing for the camera man on board the ribs (supplied Ocean Active of Rye). I got a little ahead of the others and was
asked to slow down. so needing to cool off, dunked my kite and myself in one of the shipping lanes. After reaching the right
temperature I relaunched and shortly afterwards, it was Michel's turn to do the same thing. This was largely because we were running
straight down wind and sometimes the kites were losing power with slack lines in the large rolling swell.
We were very lucky with all shipping lanes on the way over, having a straight run without having to take any avoiding action. As we
passed throught the last lane, we had to go downwind to land just to the southwest of Cap Gris, as there's no beach at Cap Gris, just
cliffs & rocks. We landed in France at a small beach, with the sea relatively flat and still powered on 12m.
On the way back, we were lucky as the sea cat was just passing. The sea cat is fast and difficult to get out the way of. The first two
eastbound shipping lanes were empty, then the wind picked up and we were very powered up, having to depower the kite totally. I was the
last to leave the beach, but as I caught up with Bully, I heard a loud bang, Itried to look around, but didn't see anything. It
transpired that one of Michel's front lines had detached itself from the bar, causing his kite to hit the water hard. Ian the cameraman
helped Michel out in the water and they were able to re-rig his bar. It was a bit of a lash up, but after 20minutes, he was back on his
way.
All this time I was with Bully, with Andy a little further behind. As we had two support boats, one was able to stay with Michel, with
the other boat keeping with us. We were heading towards the Westbounf sea lane and the wind picked up again. We were solidly powered up
and I started feeling knackered. Bully was maintaining an upwind course back to Dungeness, but with the sea state picking up with the
wind to approx 10-12ft (trough to crest), I decided to bear off on a direct course towards Folkestone.
At this point I saw a large tanker approx 3 to 4 miles away, and given that they move fast (approx 25knots) and take 6 miles to stop, I
decided to go on a broader reach, to cross the shipping lane and the path of the tanker at 90 degrees. The wind remained constant and
after a few nervous glances to check the progress of the tanker, I was relieved when I could see the other side of the bow.
The wind remained strong and the sea state was getting lumpier. Upwind I could see dark clouds, so made more effort to pick up my
boardspeed and keep control. Then in the distance, I could see a coatguard vessel with all its front lights on, steaming in my
direction. Not wanting to get stopped mid-channel, I continued making my way direct into Folkestone, as by this time I could make out
the harbour and the hotel. This meant that I knew there was a safe landing point and headed in to the beach.
On arriving at the beach I felt totally shagged and was able to get a passer by to catch my kite. Then a coast watch person came up and
checked out our story to verify we were not illegal immigrants. Bully and Andy were next to arrive and after 20mins, Michel came in.
All in all, it was a great day and the time for the return crossing was 3 hours 45 mins, including 10 minutes in sunny France.
A big thanks again to all of those involved, including: Ocean Active for providing their awesome Camel Trophy ribs and superb crew;
Ian, Casey & John the cameramen; Harry; Michel for all his technical help and expertise, Bully for keeping it real and lastly but
by no means least, Andy for his incredible efforts and dedication in making this happen.
If you would like to make a donation to the Great Ormond Street, please see the following link
Note: http://www.gosh.org/donate/index.html
[Edited on 5-10-2004 by The Russian]
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dunk
A Force-of-Nature *** 
Member #: 570 Posts 606
Registered: 2-3-2004 Member Is Offline Mood: Spaced out
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| posted on 6-10-2004 at 09:57 |
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Respect !!!!!!!!!
Well done guys !
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bucski
A Force-of-Nature *** 
Member #: 275 Posts 622
Registered: 8-7-2003 Member Is Offline Mood: i'm never in a mood
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| posted on 6-10-2004 at 10:11 |
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impressive stuff, quite fancy a go at a one way crossing myself, anyone else fancy it?
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AndyW
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| posted on 6-10-2004 at 11:01 |
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Congratulations...
Nice one guys :-)
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shem
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| posted on 6-10-2004 at 20:01 |
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Id Love to try a decent lengh crossing, we should arrange our own Ynys las version. A few of us have chatted about a mission up to
North wales at some point, if its going to be this year we should do it soon, before the mega cold kicks in. We should sit around a map
and discuss it at some point. Whos keen?
Well done boys!!
Kite & SUP wales
Caravan decking wales
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leonardo
A Force-of-Nature *** 
Member #: 634 Posts 613
Registered: 8-4-2004 Member Is Offline Mood: Chillin' ya bloodclot mahn
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| posted on 7-10-2004 at 06:41 |
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oooooh uuu bastud..this will get messy!
LEN10 LOOPING..
www.sskiteboarding.com
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