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Swedes windsurf to Germany in record time

The Local Sweden
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Swedes windsurf to Germany in record time

Two Swedish men have broken what they believe is a world record by windsurfing from Sweden to Germany in under five hours.

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“It wasn’t easy and it was a very different challenge, but we’re really happy we made it,” a jubilant and exhausted Johan Ekstedt told The Local.

Ekstedt and his friend Markus Robèrt took to the seas at 5am on Sunday after three years of careful planning and waiting for the ideal wind conditions.

“We got off to a flying start and the winds were perfect, but when we were 17 nautical miles from Germany's northernmost cape, the wind died down and it was gruelling work,” he said.

However, the pair landed on German soil at 9.25am for a time of 4 hours and 25 minutes, which they consider to be a world record for the 90 kilometre journey.

“No one has told us otherwise and we’ve never even heard of someone else doing it,” he explained.

Upon landing, the surfers were ecstatic, raising a Swedish flag before hightailing it off the scene as the area they landed in was a protected nature reserve.

“We got straight back on the safety boat that had followed us in and came back to Sweden. Then we slept. My body is still aching,” Ekstedt chuckled.

The pair, who completed a journey to the Swedish island of Gotland in 2008, have set their sights high for their next adventure - although remain unsure of which direction they’ll take.

“We haven’t planned anything yet, but we’ve been discussing the possibility of doing a trip that could go through the night.”

“If we could include sleep time into the journey, imagine how far we could get,” he told The Local.

Oliver Gee

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