A Portuguese man has submitted a claim to the Guinness Book of World Records last week after a downwinder of epic proportions. Kiting from Lisbon to Madeira Island, the record breaking distance of 472nm has been in the planning since 2013 when Francisco made a shorter journey of only 300nm from Foz Do Douro to Lagos.

This time, with a goal of 1000km, Francisco Lufinha set off on what would be more than 40 hours of straight line kiteboarding with nothing but some supplies, a custom made kiteboard and an Ozone Edge. Supported by Mini (the car company) he made it most of the way, almost 900km before being taken by boat to the finish line. The trip wasn't without incident however, Lufina lost is board at night, spending hours body dragging searching for it. Finally he signaled to the boat for a new board, and continued the journey. The next night however, he fell asleep while riding, crashing his kite and was subsequently dragged under the support boat. Luckily, they killed the motors in time, because according to those on the boat, he went between the two motors. In both incidents, he only received a couple of scratches!

During that incident, he damaged his kite and required a replacement from the support boat. His application to the book of records is still under review, but he's hoping for confirmation soon that he's beaten the current record held by Rimas Kinka with a distance of 446nm.

Check out the video of the start of what Francisco Lufinha hopes will be the longest distance covered by a kiteboarder in one session - 446nm.

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