316 Kilometres, across the Baltic Sea, from Sweden to Finland
Three Finnish kitesurfers Juuso Tilaéus, Otso Ahvonen and Pekka Rintala broke the previous 279,46 km world record by kiteboarding together, non-stop! This press release just in!
Juuso Tilaéus, Otso Ahvonen and Pekka Rintala
The trio began their journey on Monday 19th August, from Sandhamn, Sweden at 07.08 am. They were aiming to surf across the Baltic Sea to Finland and break the world record of three surfers’ simultaneously kitesurfing. Despite of the Baltic Sea’s challenging waves and extremely long execution time the three kiteboarders landed at Hanko, Finland on the same day at 8.23 pm
Sharing his feelings right after the record, Juuso Tilaéus said, “This feels amazing! I am tired and my body aches but I am so happy at the moment. We wanted to show how far it’s possible to come with the power of the wind. And, well, it took us quite far!”
The journey across the Baltic Sea did not go quite as planned. In the beginning there was a light breeze and it took a while for the kiteboarders to get into a better wind zone and the group found themselves working their kites hard until the end.
Keeping on keeping on!
“At first I was a bit nervous whether or we could manage our way to Finland or not with this kind of wind. When the wind started to blow stronger I felt excited. Passing some landmarks kept me going. After that my body started to ache a lot so I just had to focus on surviving with the waves.” Juuso Tilaéus commented.
Ocean and watersports mean the world to these kitesurfers who completed this epic and physically challenging journey. All of them have been kitesurfing for years and Pekka and Juuso are co-founders of water sports center Laguuni, which is located in Espoo, Finland. Behind all of their actions are communality and sustainable values.
The World Record came true with the help of Fortum.
“Congratulations to Juuso, Otso and Pekka for this extremely tough accomplishment. It was awesome to be making this World Record possible. And thanks to wind power, which brought men from Sweden to Finland!” said Jussi Mälkiä from Fortum.
