Trans-Pacific 'Kite-Surfing' Bid Abandoned

Failed Kite-Powered Vessel Attempt to Cross the Pacific

Anne Quemere Kite Surf Boat

Kite surfing is a sport that uses wind power to pull a rider through the water on a small surfboard. Kitesurfing is taking on many forms- snow, land, and sea. Kite-powered sailing is being explored by cargo ships, in wish to save on petrol voyage costs.

French kite-surfing adventurer Anne Quemere prepared her kite boat in the San Francisco Bay, California, in October.
She set off on November 4 and had traveled some 3,500 kilometers, according to her team.

Anne was aiming to become the first person to make a kite-powered vessel crossing of the Pacific Ocean, but she has abandoned her bid after becoming stuck in the Doldrums.

Anne told reporters it was one of the most difficult decisions taken in her lifetime, to ask for rescue.
She now awaits rescue from her powerless kite-surf powered craft by a cargo ship due to pass through the area.

The brave kite surfer sailor said her decision was taken after she struggled to make any significant progress following her arrival in the Doldrums, the area near the equator where winds are often calm or non-existent for long periods.  She said: "I've lost confidence in my equipment as well as in myself. It's not pleasant but, its obvious. Without wind, one goes nowhere…"

Even worse, the little wind that there had been was simply blowing her off track. Anne says that in one night she lost all the mileage she'd gained in one week. Well, that's something to make anyone lose faith and feel downhearted, especially alone at sea like brave Anne was.

42 YO Anne, the only woman to have rowed solo across the Atlantic Ocean in both directions without assistance, had been bidding to steer her 5.5-meter (18 foot) vessel some 7,000 kilometers (4,350 miles) from San Francisco to French Polynesia.

Good on you, Anne! Maybe next time you steer away from no wind locations…

Kite surf