The team will start from Matthew Town, Great Inagua Island's only harbor in the Bahamas and finish in Baracoa, where Christopher Columbus landed more than 500 years ago when he discovered Cuba.

The athletes are determined to set a record by being the first in the world to complete the 122 km route from the Bahamas to Cuba in about 6-7 hours. Our kite crossing enjoys international support from public and commercial organizations. Among them are Cuba's Ministry of Tourism, as well as Cubadeportes and Gaviota Tours.

The team comprised a famous Russian kite surfer Konstantin Aksenov, traveler and Sodis Company director Vladimir Popov, and seasoned kiters Artem Senik and Ivan Moldavanov. The crossing safety is ensured by a professional crew of the support boat, and innovative technical gear. Each athlete is assigned a personal GPS tracker. It helps locate contestants for the entire course of the route. Each surfer will be provided with a walkie-talkie for seamless communication with the team and an aquapack with the necessary equipment for emergency rescue calls.

This will be the team's eighth kite crossing now, five of which being international. Three world records are now set in our athletes’ career. The first kite crossing was in 2018 on the Mauritius - Reunion route across the Indian Ocean. Outstanding kite crossings were the Bahamas to Miami via the Straits of Florida in 2022, and Cuba to Mexico via the Yucatan Straits in 2023.

"Each crossing is not merely a sporting achievement, but a result of the huge preliminary arrangements as well. After all, we are talking about transborder crossings through straits and seas, which are handled following different rules. The start and finish points are usually onshore in a hard to reach place with no border guard post. To agree and then work out all border and customs procedures; to provide a good support boat that will guarantee safety on water; to keep oneself in excellent physical shape - this is just a fraction of the tasks in preparing any crossing. Overcoming these challenges, we gain invaluable experience that helps us in arranging future kite crossings. Each crossing is unique, and the problems we have to face are always unexpected", - said Vladimir Popov, Sodis Travel Company Director and organizer of this kite crossing.
This will be a very special one: kite surfing is going to debut on the 2024 Summer Olympics program in France. And it's a big step towards promoting kiting in the world sporting arena. That is why international kite crossings help raise the sporting community's awareness of the new Olympic sport and make kite surfing part of the global sporting culture.

"The Olympic movement should be an open contest for the strongest. In Russia, kite surfing is already very popular and growing fast. One can find interesting spots and great coaches. Hopefully, Russian athletes will have an opportunity to show their exceptional skills. Coming up at this Olympics are speed racing on parafoils and hydrofoils, aka Formula Kite. We are in the job of arranging open ocean kite crossings as, for any kiter, an open ocean crossing is a challenge to his physical strength and technical skills. These are extremely difficult crossings, they are for endurance, stamina and fortitude," emphasized Konstantin Aksenov, a unique athlete who set a world record when crossing the Bering Strait from Chukotka to Alaska on a kite in 2011.