A Fun Family Day out - Whose Great Idea was this??

Ralph Crathorne (aged 51) and his two daughters Lucy (21) and Polly (16) think they have just broken 3 records in Kite surfing across the channel from Dungeness to Boulogne in 3 hours and 40 minutes:-.

1. Lucy and Polly are the first Women to kite surf the channel to France
2. Polly is the youngest person at 16 to have kite surfed across and
3. Ralph is the oldest.

Despite less than perfect conditions the family dodged ships in the busiest shipping lane in the world – The Dover Straits. Having joked about going for a family crossing for some months – the dream became a reality when a friend offered to provide a support boat.

“It was all a bit last minute. Dad glued a compass onto his kiteboard and suddenly we were off – it wasn’t until the half way point and I saw France in the distance that it really sank in that we were going to make it – I just looked at my sister and laughed it seemed so ridiculous” says Polly.

“We aimed to go from Dungeness to Wimereux but the currents and light winds forced us further south – we reckoned we had covered about 30 miles before we made it to the Boulogne Harbour walls where my wife hauled us on board under the noses of the French Police waiting menacingly on the beach.” ** said Ralph Crathorne.

The family used Cabrinha Kites and Wizard kite boards to make their crossing – Polly Crathorne who finished second overall in the Ladies Amateurs’ freestyle section of the BKSA UK 2009 kitesurf tour and is currently lying second in this year’s tour said I am really excited to have just been invited to become a UK team rider for Cabrinha”

**Editors note; the family notified the HM Coastguard and kept them informed throughout, however by order of the Maritime Prefect of the Channel and the North Sea (number 14/93) the French Maritime Authorities prohibit crossings of the Pas de Calais by unconventional means and/or in unorthodox craft