Scilly News contacted Andreya Wharry to find out some more about ‘The Crossing’.
|How much money was raised?| Not sure yet … the auction at the gala dinner last night raised a fantastic ?1400.
|Did the kitesurf go smoothly?| Not entirely. We had a little trouble getting off the islands: the wind was a little fluky and we had to change our route. Once out, we were crusing. The shipping lane passed with no incidents. There were some amazing boats and a huge huge cruise liner. (The World, the largest sea-going vessel, people simply live onboard.)
|Were there any hiccups on the journey?| We were past St Ives and in my head home and dry: 6 kites still up, all comfortable, not cold and still smiling. Then it went awfully wrong: we hit a small patch of no wind, it just stopped, we all dropped into the water and were desperately trying to keep the kites in the air. The worst moment for me was seeing 4 kites falling into the water. If it wasn’t for Adam and Steve, our safety officers, it may have been worse! Cindy and I managed to work our way out the other side. Laurel and Claire re-launched Suzy only to suffer a ripped kite in the re-launching process.
|Did any support boats attend the crossing?| We had a fantastic crew in support, without whom nothing would have been possible. Simon in “No1”. Steve in Buggy’s Malone. Jim and Andy in the “Lady Mary II”. Mark (Spotlight) and Nick and Bryony (from our fabulous guest house, Mincarlo), in a local RIB. They came on board at the last minute and helped tremendously with the crossing of the shipping lanes.
|What are the details for the World Record?| They are splitting the distance crossing into a men’s and lady’s category so only one of us will hold the record and I was lucky enough to gain this honour.
|Anything else interesting come from the event?| We were all inspired to do more similar events as the team feeling was the best thing about the event.
|Any good quotes to use?| On the flight over we were all happy and enjoying the view. As we passed over Lands End and journeyed on and on it became very quiet on the plane - the distance involved dawned on us all. A little voice then piped up and said: “That’s a awful lot of water!”
|Was the event just a crossing, or in the form of a race?| We wanted to do something Silke would have been proud to have been a part of, so we wanted something that was non competitive but still a huge challenge.
|Are the organisers intending to make this a regular event?| Definately. Where to and from next who knows!!
(The responses have been edited slightly.)