Crossing the Cook Strait might not sound like much these days but foiling it is a whole other story.
Just ask South African-born hydrofoiler Justin Groblar.
“It's something I've been wanting to do for years,” Groblar told 1 NEWS.
“Kiting in Wellington, you've got the Cook Strait on your back door with the South Island just looking to you.”
Groblar was one of the first people to bring kite foiling to the region and it didn't take long to convince fellow South African Brian Walters on the idea of tackling the strait.
“If we get the right opportunity, the right conditions, it's actually not a particularly long journey,” Walters said.
Regardless of Walters’ confidence, a 60-kilometre round trip is hardly a walk in the park either, which is why it's taken more than a year's worth of planning for the pair to actually take on the challenge.
“We've just got to be patient and not let our excitement cloud our judgment.”
That's easier said than done, but on a brisk February morning on Wellington's south coast the pair got their first shot.
But for all the preparation and best intentions, the wind didn’t quite oblige – something a few syndicates in Auckland will know all too well about.
However, the pair took lessons from the failed attempt and it finally paid off on the weekend as they took on Mother Nature for round two.
Almost 70 kilometres of foiling later — from Wellington's Makara Beach to Perano Head and back — and they had done it.
Although the historic hydrofoil crossing was matched just a few days later with Manta5 product manager Hayden Reeves becoming the first person to do it on a hydrofoiling bike.
You can't help but wonder who, or what, is next.
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