KiteSurfing

Maurice Lacroix Pontos Chronographe Réctangulaire Full Black Watch & Their Bering Strait Expedition

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches, Sports

Maurice Larcroix is now sponsoring kiteboarding. It is like surfing, only you have a large kite that pulls you across the water. It can be dangerous on many levels. The Swiss luxury watch brand is sponsoring "The Bering Strait Expedition." During which, two athletes, Geza Scholtz and Troy Henkels, attempted to set a few new world records by kiteboarding across the Bering Strait? Why? Well just to see if they can. This was in July, and I think the brand will continue to work with kiteboarders in the future - "Maurice Lacroix, choice watch for windy water sports!"

Maurice Lacroix fitted the kiteboarders with their new Pontos Chronograph Rectangulaire Full Black watch (which I previously wrote about here). Not exactly an "extreme sports watch, but not too bad as matched to their outfits. It was a great endurance test for the timepieces as well. Seeing if they could put up with the water, wind, and potential shock. The watches also proved to be good timing instruments of the kiteboarders. Not my first choice but they did make without failure. The watch itself is in a special ceramic black coating over steel case with a rubber strap. Not too large at 38mm wide, and it contains a Swiss ETA 7750 chronograph automatic movement. We will see what other bouts of harshness Maurice Lacroix can put their timepieces through next!

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch reviews site aBlogtoRead.com.

Tags: bering straight, black, KiteSurfing, Maurice Lacroix, pontos, watch

Branson Bails On Kitesurfing Attempt, Plans To Try Again

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Few people embody the saying "if at first you don't succeed, try, try again" more than British entrepreneur Richard Branson. Branson is as famous for his daredevil stunts as for his Virgin branded companies including Virgin Galactic and Virgin America. But often his record-setting feats take a few attempts. The AP reports that Branson had to give up his attempt to kitesurf across the English Channel on Tuesday because of rough seas and high winds.

The stunt was an event to celebrate Branson's 60th birthday last month. He was five miles out to sea when his support boats were forced to turn back. Branson and his his fellow kite-surfers, including his children, Holly and Sam and nephew Ivo along with a support team, relatives and friends, were over an hour into the four-hour journey. They were headed for northern French port of Boulogne. According to the AP story, Branson said that while it was great conditions for kitesurfing it was bad conditions for the boats and too dangerous for them to continue. Writing on Twitter Branson said that he plans to try again on Wednesday adding that "I don't think I've ever done an adventure where I've succeeded the first time. I'm looking forward to getting the job done tomorrow." Should he succeed he will be the oldest person to cross the Channel by kitesurfing. He's also hoping to set a record for the fastest crossing by a kitesurf team. Kitesurfing is a sport that has risen rapidly in popularity during recent years. It is similar to windsurfing but with a smaller board and instead of mast and sail, there is a large kite which can be steered.

Tags: KiteBoarding, KiteSurfing, richard branson