An extreme sports enthusiast from Switzerland made history last week by becoming the first person to kitesurf across the Taiwan Strait.
Geza Scholtz, 43, said he set out from Taiwan’s Dongju Island (東莒島), one of the Matsu Islands, on Wednesday last week and headed to Yongan Fishing Port in Taoyuan.
Standing on a surfboard and holding onto his kite, pushed forward only by the wind, he traversed 165km in 10 hours.
Photo courtesy of Geza Sholtz’s team
He said he wanted to conquer the Taiwan Strait after learning about the demise of windsurfing pioneer Arnaud de Rosnay, who disappeared during a similar attempt across the Strait in 1984.
“That’s exactly what drove me,” Scholtz said.
Scholtz said he initially wanted to kitesurf from China to Taiwan, but given the complicated application procedure that would entail due to political tensions across the Strait, he settled for the next best thing. However, that also meant surfing an extra 40km.
The weather that day was calm, and northern winds were blowing instead of the southern winds that were prevalent during summer, providing him with what seemed like a perfect window of opportunity to kitesurf southbound from Dongju to Taiwan proper, Scholtz said in an interview on Wednesday.
The stars seemed to have aligned, but little did Scholtz know that the expedition would test his limits.
He had taken an hour-long boat ride from Nangan Island (南竿) to the starting point, during which he became seasick. The nausea persisted during his kitesurfing journey.
“After half an hour, I still felt really ill... I decided to stop for a moment, as I had just vomited twice into the ocean,” he said.
Frustrated, Scholtz said he began to criticize himself.
“It took me two years [of preparation] to get to this point. The weather, the wind, everything is correct. And now you feel ill?” he recalled saying to himself.
Nevertheless, he forged ahead, and he felt better after about an hour.
However, he had to face another challenge, which nearly jeopardized his journey.
“We suddenly had 2.5m waves and 20 to 25 knots [37kph to 46kph] of winds, which were quite strong,” Scholtz said.
To surf at high speeds, Scholtz said he had picked a 12m2 kite, the second-biggest in his arsenal, but it was being overpowered by the strong winds.
“It was at its limits... If the wind speeds had been one or two knots higher, it would not have been possible anymore,” he said.
Asked why he did not stop to change the kite, Scholtz said he decided to keep going, rather than navigate through the potential pitfalls associated with a kite swap that could cut the journey short, including pulling in the kite amid strong winds and roaring waves without getting the line caught in the propeller, and launching a new kite in that condition.
“I just switched my mind off and continued, continued and continued,” he said.
Scholtz said he felt very “emotional” and exhausted when he finally reached the shores of Taoyuan, and that he was glad he had achieved his goal.
“Not a day passed over the past two years that I did not think about this day. ‘Where will I arrive?’ How will it look like?’” he said.
Scholtz had a message to young people after he set the record.
“I want to show that life does not happen on screens — it happens outside,” Scholtz said. “I hope my project inspires young people, in particular, to believe in their dreams, plan them and make them a reality.”
Asked what his impressions of Taiwan were during the two-and-a-half weeks he spent in the country before and after the expedition, Scholtz said: “Taiwanese people are some of the kindest, warmest and most heartfelt people I’ve met in this world.”
Scholtz said he would like to thank all the “little helpers” who voluntarily assisted him with logistics throughout his project.
“I’ve traveled to somewhere between 80 and 90 countries. I have been everywhere in the world, and I have to say that the support and the help I got from the Taiwanese people was just amazing,” he said.
The Taipei Summer Festival is to begin tomorrow at Dadaocheng Wharf (大稻埕), featuring four themed firework shows and five live music performances throughout the month, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said today. The festival in the city’s Datong District (大同) is to run until Aug. 30, holding firework displays on Wednesdays and the final Saturday of the event. The first show is scheduled for tomorrow, followed by Aug. 13, 20 and 30. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Disney Pixar's movie Toy Story, the festival has partnered with Walt Disney Co (Taiwan) to host a special themed area on
BE CAREFUL: The virus rarely causes severe illness or death, but newborns, older people and those with medical conditions are at risk of more severe illness As more than 7,000 cases of chikungunya fever have been reported in China’s Guangdong Province this year, including 2,892 new cases last week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday said it is monitoring the situation and considering raising the travel notice level, which might be announced today. The CDC issued a level 1 travel notice, or “watch,” for Guangdong Province on July 22, citing an outbreak in Foshan, a manufacturing hub in the south of the province, that was reported early last month. Between July 27 and Saturday, the province reported 2,892 new cases of chikungunya, reaching a total of 7,716
STAY VIGILANT: People should reduce the risk of chronic liver inflammation by avoiding excessive alcohol consumption, smoking and eating pickled foods, the physician said A doctor last week urged people to look for five key warning signs of acute liver failure after popular producer-turned-entertainer Shen Yu-lin (沈玉琳) was reportedly admitted to an intensive care unit for fulminant hepatitis. Fulminant hepatitis is the rapid and massive death of liver cells, impairing the organ’s detoxification, metabolic, protein synthesis and bile production functions, which if left untreated has a mortality rate as high as 80 percent, according to the Web site of Advancing Clinical Treatment of Liver Disease, an international organization focused on liver disease prevention and treatment. People with hepatitis B or C are at higher risk of
FINE PRINT: Parents should carefully evaluate offers from cram schools that are designed to lower the amount they have to refund later, a New Taipei City official said New Taipei City Consumer Protection Office Director Wang Chih-yu (王治宇) urged parents to check contract content and institutional operations before sending children to cram schools, enrichment classes or day care centers during summer vacation. Closures and refund problems most commonly occur in cram schools, especially language cram schools, many of which have been facing difficulties due to the popularity of online learning apps and studying abroad, Wang said. Cram schools that closed due to financial issues were often unable to refund tuition fees, he said. Under Article 24 of the Rules for the Establishment and Management of Short-term Supplementary Learning Centers (短期補習班設立及管理準則), cram