Surfing across the ocean: Howell grad sets out on epic journey
By Wayne Peal, Daily Press & Argus From Livingston daily
Eric Little is going surfing — across the Atlantic Ocean.
Little, a Howell native, will be part of next month’s HTC Atlantic Kite Challenge, whose members will kite surf from the Canary Islands to the Caribbean.
Selected in an online contest, he’s the team’s final member and only American.
“It’s pretty cool,” the 2001 Howell High School graduate said.
Little, an insurance and retirement planning consultant, took up kite surfing about five years ago and said the sport’s pull is irresistible.
“They say there’s no part-time riders, and it’s true,” he said. “It really does take over your life.”
The three-week November journey over the South Atlantic represents the ultimate challenge for any kite surfer, he said.
It is designed as an around-the-clock relay. Each of the six-member international team will surf for two hours each day and two hours each night, while teammates follow in a 50-foot catamaran.
In addition to the online vote, Little had to pass muster during Skype interviews with teammates.
Though he kite surfed with team leader Filippo van Hellenberg Hubar last summer under San Francisco’s famous Golden Gate Bridge, Little didn’t find out about his selection until a few days ago.
“It’s happening fast. In fact, he’s leaving Monday,” said his mother, Diana Little of Howell.
Unlike wind surfing, where a sail is attached to the board, kite surfing requires participants to hang on to an object floating as high as 75 feet above their heads.
That makes it perfect for an Atlantic crossing, Little said.
“With wind surfing, the sail is close to the water,” Little said.
That makes them more vulnerable to shifting winds and rising tides.
Kite surfers can instead take full advantage of wind currents, even those well above the water, and won’t be slowed by waves.
But hanging on to a kite while keeping your balance also requires a great deal of strength and stamina. To build both, Little works out at a gym four days a week and practices yoga.
He kite surfs on Union Lake, near his West Bloomfield home, and in the Tawas area, which he dubbed the “best place in the world” for the sport.
PHOTO: Howell High School graduate Eric Little is embarking on a three-week kite-surfing journey across the Atlantic Ocean, from the Canary islands to the Caribbean. / Submitted photo
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