2 Jul 2012

Kite surfing record for Branson

9:44 pm on 2 July 2012

Sir Richard Branson has entered the record books as the oldest person to kite-surf the English Channel.

Branson, 61, crossed from Kent to northern France in three hours and 45 minutes.

He was followed to shore by eight friends and relatives who entered the record books as the fastest group of kite-surfers to make the Channel crossing, for which there was no previous record.

In 1987, Branson's hot -air balloon Virgin Atlantic Flyer crossed the Atlantic, setting the record as the first such balloon to do so, PA reports.

In January 1991, he was in the first balloon to cross the Pacific from Japan to Arctic Canada.