EDP Atlantic Mission - Francisco Lufinha will cross the Atlantic solo towards the Caribbean
The sailor wants to set a new world record and is preparing the boldest mission of his career with the help of EDP.
Francisco Lufinha has revamped a boat with a traction kite, powered by renewable energy for a sustainable mission.
Kitesurfing world record holder Francisco Lufinha has just announced the biggest challenge of his career: he wants to travel solo from Portugal to the Caribbean on a boat powered by a kite - a 6,700-kilometer-journey with an estimated duration of three to four weeks.
The EDP Atlantic Mission is his boldest mission ever, as he wants to cross the Atlantic without a support boat, and powered by wind energy only. All the technology on board will be powered by solar panels and a hydro generator, and he won't be using any fossil fuels throughout the journey.
Francisco Lufinha has been planning this ambitious challenge over the past three years, studying and developing innovative systems while searching for, and then adapting, a fast boat for this mission.
Following today's presentation of the prototype boat to journalists in Lisbon, Lufinha will be testing navigation off the Portuguese coast and in high sea, under more demanding conditions.
“During the crossing I will test my limits, from controlling the kite in the air day after day, to overcoming exhaustion by sleeping only 20 minutes at a time, making my own drinking water with a desalinator, and eating dehydrated meals - all this while I try to stay on course and navigate the winds and tides until I see land again,” Francisco Lufinha said.
“For EDP, sponsoring this Atlantic Mission means investing in a Portuguese sailor who, much like the company, uses wind power to achieve his goals. EDP is the world's fourth-largest wind power producer and intends to double its wind energy production by 2025. We are also concerned about the sustainability of the planet and the ocean,” said EDP Brand Director Catarina Barradas.
The EDP Atlantic Mission is one of the four projects that materialize EDP's ambition of becoming a fully green company by 2030 - i.e. to produce energy only from water, wind and the sun. This commitment to Changing Tomorrow Now is being advertised and implemented in the 22 countries where the company operates.
It should be pointed out that from 2013 to 2017 Lufinha kitesurfed for no less than 3372 kilometers during four extreme challenges in which he connected Portuguese territory by sea; this mission, on the other hand, will cover about 6,700 kilometers - almost twice the total distance he traveled to date.
