Over the last few years a new segment of kiteboarding has evolved with a few adventurous souls delving into the unknowns of long distance kite travel. Seth Warren and Kirk Harris embarked on the KUZI Project”” a 500-mile self-supporting journey up the coast of East Africa and Jesse Richman led a team 621 miles across the Great Barrier Reef for a charity fundraiser. While these journeys are filled with epic stories of challenge and heroism, the inconvenient truth of adventure kiteboarding travel is that while the experience is king, the logistics of striking out and exploring large swaths of terra firma with kites is anything but easy or comfortable. Often plagued with risk and uncertainty, long distance kiting is often fraught with time-consuming yet necessary logistical tasks; countless months of preparation, learning navigational skills, purchasing safety equipment, organizing support teams, developing contingency plans with access to boats and vehicles in the event of injury and preparing for equipment malfunctions or weather delays. These are all crucial elements when planning a trip into the unknown and come at an astronomical cost in terms of time, effort and money that limits the experience to only a few. For this simple reason, a small company by the name Surfin Sem Fim in the northeast corner of Brazil has created a turnkey kitesurfing adventure that delivers the challenge of distance kite travel with the amenities of a five-star vacation.
It began when Italian windsurfer Marco Dalpozzo relocated to Brazil to continue his corporate career managing human resources in multinational corporations. Marco soon discovered a local crew of windsurfers along the north coast of Brazil who were organizing point to point races. Looking at a map, they’d pinpoint their start and finish destination, introducing navigational aspects as a new skill to their already challenging race course. Inspired by this theory, as soon as Marco learned to kitesurf on the beach of Preá in Ceará, he took this idea and explored the far reaches of Brazil, pushing his endurance, challenging his mental state and attempting distance travel with his kite. “Kiting alone towards the infinite without knowing what I would find moved me and reconnected me with nature,” he recalls. With a sense of ecstasy, it occurred to Marco, “other people need to have the opportunity to experience this emotion.” After a few initial trips including a successful 71- mile expedition from Cumbuco to Flexeiras and then a three-day trip all the way to Jericoacoara, the concept of kite expeditions along the diverse and beautiful northeast coast of Brazil was born. During one late night expedition guided by the reflection of moonlight on the sea, Marco reveled in the infinite ”˜Sem Fim’ aspect of their seemingly endless travel, while his friend Vincent Daubagna gushed about the endless surfing potential in the waves they had found””thus the name ”˜Surfin Sem Fim’ came to be. With the intent of sharing their experiences with others, the idea soon developed into a team of passionate kite professionals tasked with streamlining the logistics for a trouble-free vacation that seamlessly melds kite exploration with ease and comfort.
