Francisco Lufinha is a Portuguese kitesurfer and world record holder for the longest distance kitesurfing without stopping. He is a completely passioned by nautical sportsman. Taken aboard a boat by his parents only 15 days after he was born, he was never able nor wanted to let go of the sea again. At age eleven, he started to compete in the dinghy class Optimist where he won several regional and national races and ended representing his country at the ’98 Europeans in Split, Croatia. At age 15 he upgraded to the 420 where he raced until he was eighteen and won the national overall ranking. While developing his sailing skills, he was always looking for the most recent extreme sport to try to learn how to do it. Water skiing and wakeboarding were his first choices, then windsurfing and the latest, in 2002, was kitesurfing. Francisco found in kitesurfing the most complete sport he has ever tried, because it is a mix of his favorite sports. In 2005 he was national champion and in 2006 vice-champion.
Studies and career
In parallel with his sportive life, Francisco graduated from a master's degree in engineering and industrial management at Instituto Superior Técnico in 2007, which lead to jobs as auditing at Deloitte, strategy marketing analyst at BES bank, co-manager of the Portuguese offshore sailor ’s project, CTO at ConsultaClick.com, general manager at Dakhla Attitude resort in Morocco, private yacht skipper and manager and in 2014 was co-founder of +Mar in which he is President, nautical events organizer and speaker at conferences and company private events.
Extreme challenges
MINI Kitesurf Odyssey 2013
This challenge consisted of kitesurfing from the city ofPorto to Lagos, Portugal, covering more than 500 km of the Portuguese coast non-stop. This had never been done before and was an idea that Francisco had in his mind for some years, after sailing the Portuguese coast several times in his family boat or with his sailing expert friend Francisco Lobato. In 2013 he dedicated his time and effort to make this adventure happen and he understood that it could be possible to do it kitesurfing without stops, with a good wind forecast for the entire course. Francisco trained for this highly demanding challenge that has taken his limits to an extreme test, both physical and mentally. He made it till the end and kitesurfed 564 km in 28 hours and 53 minutes, always on the board, setting a new world record for longest distance kiteboarding without stops.
Transat 650
From 2009 to 2011, Francisco was co-manager of the solo sailor Francisco Lobato's campaign, in which they have won the extreme Transat 6.50 race from France to Brazil in 2009 and several other races in the Figaro solo sailing class.
3rd Corona European Champion at Alacati/Turkey ;2005 Portuguese National Kiteboard Tour Champion ;2006 Portuguese National Kiteboard Tour Vice-Champion
7th KPWT event at Paros/Greece ;2007 6th at PKRA Racing, in Portugal
Events
III Feira Náutica do Tejo
Francisco was head of the organization of the 3rd edition of the "Feira Náutica do Tejo", the biggest nautical show in Portugal in 2014.
Movies
Francisco directed the first Portuguese kitesurf movie "KitePróTuga", in 2006.
Francisco directed the documentary "Ocean Adventures", about the Transat 650 sailing race and Francisco Lobato's journey in 2009.
Francisco directed the documentary "MINI Kitesurf Odyssey", about his own kitesurf world record attempt in 2013.
