Which is faster round the Isle of Wight, a multihull or a kiteboard? After an express lap this week, 15-year-old Guy Bridges is eyeing up the record Ben Ainslie set in a foiling cat
I’m not wishing to take anything away from Sidney Gavignet’s impressive performance around the Isle of Wight today on the MOD70 trimaran Oman Sail, in which he won the Artemis Challenge, but the fact is that he was just two minutes quicker than a teenager on a foiling kite board set earlier in the week.
On Monday Guy Bridges and his mother, Steph, scorched around the Isle of Wight. Guy completed the trip in 3hours and 34 minutes, beating his mum back to Gurnard Seafront in Cowes by 17 minutes.
So here are some numbers that might provide food for thought for the future.
Vessel 70ft trimaran Foiling kiteboard
Skipper Sidney Gavignet Guy Bridges
Age 47 15
Time 3hr 32m 1sec 3hr 34m 0sec
Boat cost £3million £2,000
But perhaps even more impressive is that when Guy got ashore he was already talking of having another crack the next day, convinced he could slash more time off his trip. Apparently, according to a friend who was photographing the exploit, Guy waited off the south side of the island for his mother to catch up then again off Ryde where he did some jumps and tricks to pass the time. Well, what else would you do?
Perhaps then it’s of little surprise that he thinks he can do better. In fact he’s already got his eyes on breaking Ben Ainslie’s record of 2hr 52min 15sec.
If you haven’t heard of the Bridges, Guy is the current British Foiling Race Champion. This is his first endurance challenge beating the current official record of 6hours and 14minutes set by James Meaning in 2008.
Steph Bridge, who is five time World Kite Racing Champion, has done endurance challenges before and has won the past two Red Bull Extreme Kite race events. However she said when she landed in at 13.38pm that kiting around the Isle of Wight was: “A lot harder than I thought, there were times when I didn’t think we were going to finish”.
Next year they hope to set an official Guinness World Record for fastest kitesurfer around the Isle of Wight.
Nice work all!