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There’s no reason to mince words here. You’re about to watch a kitesurfer jump over a whale.
Dutch professional freestyle kitesurfer Lasse Walker was ripping around off the coast of South Africa when, at the precise moment he caught a little air, a whale breached underneath him. Lucky for him (and us!), he was wearing an action cam. Walker tossed the vid up on Instagram, where it quickly racked up 331,235 views and counting. Check it out.
The 27-year-old kitesurfer‘s reaction is pretty much what you’d expect — pure adrenaline and jubilation. As for what kind of whale it was? Well, apparently, those waters play home to some 37 species of cetaceans, and we aren’t biologists. In any case, Walker has a good story to tell as he continues to train for events like the upcoming Red Bull King of the Air.
Kitesurfers, wing foilers, and windsurfers often find themselves in open water on downwind runs, or even just out and backs. So it isn’t unusual for them to come in contact with very large sea creatures. In 2017, kitesurfer Andrei Grigoriev posted video of him actually running over a whale in San Francisco Bay. You can see that video below.
Regardless, it seems that both kiters now have what we call, a whale of a tale. Sorry, couldn’t help it.
