page_title: Francisco Lufinha
section_title: MINI Kitesurf Odyssey 2013
hierarchical_section_title: Francisco Lufinha / Extreme challenges / MINI Kitesurf Odyssey 2013
caption_attribution_description: English: Francisco jumping at the beginning of the MINI Kitesurf Odyssey. JFF / João Ferrand
context_page_description: Francisco Lufinha is a Portuguese kitesurfer and world record holder for the longest distance kitesurfing without stopping. He is a completely passioned by nautical sportsman. Taken aboard a boat by his parents only 15 days after he was born, he was never able nor wanted to let go of the sea again.
  At age eleven, he started to compete in the dinghy class Optimist where he won several regional and national races and ended representing his country at the ’98 Europeans in Split, Croatia. At age 15 he upgraded to the 420 where he raced until he was eighteen and won the national overall ranking.
  While developing his sailing skills, he was always looking for the most recent extreme sport to try to learn how to do it. Water skiing and wakeboarding were his first choices, then windsurfing and the latest, in 2002, was kitesurfing.
  Francisco found in kitesurfing the most complete sport he has ever tried, because it is a mix of his favorite sports. In 2005 he was national champion and in 2006 vice-champion.
context_section_description: This challenge consisted of kitesurfing from the city of Porto to Lagos, Portugal, covering more than 500 km of the Portuguese coast non-stop. This had never been done before and was an idea that Francisco had in his mind for some years, after sailing the Portuguese coast several times in his family boat or with his sailing expert friend Francisco Lobato. In 2013 he dedicated his time and effort to make this adventure happen and he understood that it could be possible to do it kitesurfing without stops, with a good wind forecast for the entire course.
  Francisco trained for this highly demanding challenge that has taken his limits to an extreme test, both physical and mentally.
  
  He made it till the end and kitesurfed 564 km in 28 hours and 53 minutes, always on the board, setting a new world record for longest distance kiteboarding without stops.
caption: Francisco jumping at the beginning of the MINI Kitesurf Odyssey
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