A KITE surfer has flown into the record books sailing from France to Ireland.

Bruno Sroka took off from the Penn Enez beach at l'Aber Wrac'h in Brittany at 6.25am yesterday morning and hit land in Co Cork late last night.

The 240 nautical mile (444km) kite surf challenge saw him reach Crosshaven at 10.02pm on Friday.

Sroka is the first man to complete the feat and did it in a time of 16 hours and 37 mins.

"It was very difficult but today I feel proud of what I have done. I had rather good wind during the biggest part of the crossing and the last part of it was the hardest one," he said.

"The wind was dying rapidly and I was obliged to change the boards that I was riding. No matter what, all that counts is to arrive to the finish line.

"I do feel pain in most of the parts of my body but this is something temporary that I will forget about, meanwhile the glory of victory - never."

A dozen local boats were in Cork harbour as light faded to greet the kite surfer.

Online Editors