The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

ISLAY Symonette didn’t set off to make the Guinness World Records.

She and her partner, Stewart Edge, just had a daring plan to kite-surf around Great Britain.

But last Friday their personal feat became an internationally recognised world record after they completed the longest kite-surfing journey in history.

The journey was more than 2,800 miles and took place from May 2 to August 12.

“We’d be miles out and we wouldn’t see land,” Ms Symonette told The Tribune on Sunday. “We were always moving. We set off in Cleethorpe and we only ever moved forward but it depended on the wind how much we spent on the sea. If there was wind, we go and sometimes we’d try and wouldn’t get anywhere because there wouldn’t be any wind.”

One day, the pair travelled 107 miles on sea for eight and a half hours, ending the day tired and hungry.

To succeed, they spent a year and a half preparing for the journey.

“Before we set off we didn’t know how to foil, “ she said. “We used two different types of boards, one was a foil board which levitated above the waters. It has a 90cm shaft on the bottom so it’s like riding a magic carpet, there’s three dimensions, there’s obviously forward, left and right, but it’s also up and down. Before the trip we never knew how to ride those boards. I’ve been kite surfing for 14 years. Foil boards were super important because they allowed us to go much faster. When travelling we wore a lot more stuff, like radio and safety equipment, more than what we would normally wear if we were just sailing off the beach.”

Kitesurfing did not take a toll on their muscle groups, Ms Symonette said, noting she runs to work every day so she is in good physical shape.

The pair kite surfed for 51 of the 103 days of their journey for a total of 250 hours.

“The weather in England this summer, it was the best summer they’ve had on record,” Ms Symonette said. “It was a beautiful sunshine so everyone was very happy, except for us because that meant there was no wind.”

They found much to do on land when the weather wouldn’t permit them to take to the sea, she added. “We got to explore. Wherever we were, we’d stop, we’d explore, we’d go to a local museum, we’d meet people.”

In addition to the fun and thrill of kite-surfing, Ms Symonette and her partner were raising awareness about kite-surfing and helping a marine conservation society that is trying to reduce single use plastics.

“I took part in the Nassau Yacht Club sailing school when I was younger and I know they have a big programme there right now and for me getting people into my first love which was sailing was really what sparked my journey through life because that led me to travel and I was like wait a second, sailing is not the only way to get on water, you can also get more people into kite sailing,” Ms Symonette said. “The second charity was the marine conservation society which tries to reduce single use plastics. Often we’d do beach cleanups. We were on the south coast of Ireland and Kilmore Quay and we got one of those big industrial bins, we filled one of those in two hours. We did lots of beach clean-ups.”

Ms Symonette said her next ambitious adventure will be closer to home.

“I always wanted to sail around the Bahamas,” she said. “I’ve seen a lot of the islands but my dream is to see every island which for me is very ambitious. I’d love to kite-surf around the Bahamas.”

Ms Symonette is the daughter of Financial Services and Immigration Minister Brent Symonette and his wife, Mrs Robin Symonette.