A Ukrainian, Russian and Finn have broken the world kitesurfing distance group crossing record. The trio sailed non-stop across the Gulf of Finland for 12 hours in challenging weather conditions, ultimately covering 279.46km between Helsinki and St Petersburg.
Stanislav Kulikov (Ukraine), Maxim Ivanov (Russia) and Juuso Tilaeus (Finland) entitled their challenge “Sport Is Above Politics.”
In the video, published on Sept. 18, Ivanov says “We expect that this will be a small brick in building a more peaceful situation on the planet. We want to show that people from different sides unite with one impulse, one desire, a single action.”
“For us it is not only a sports mission,” Ivanov continues. “We want to say: “Look what we are doing, we are people from different countries, which are now not in good relationships, but we are friends and do good, interesting and beautiful things.”
The challenge attracted the support of devoted kitesurfer Sir Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin group. Ivanov, who is the president of Galactika Group, joined Branson on his July 1 world-record Channel crossing in 2012, when Branson became the oldest person to have kitesurfed from England to France.
Branson congratulated the trio on his website. “What a courageous feat!” he wrote. “Having travelled to Ukraine a couple of times in the past year, and Russia the previous year, I know there are many, many people who share Maxim, Stanislav and Juuso’s desire for peace and friendship.”
Sandra MacKenzie can be reached at [email protected]
