Kite Surfing Event ‘Raalhu Gudi’ is Starting on June 2019

Sports in The Maldives

May 13, 2019

The biggest kite surfing event ‘Raalhu Gudi’ is set to return for its fourth edition starting on June 18th, 2019. This year’s edition will go as 23 legs and participants will have the option to traverse the entire length of the tropical archipelago, or just join one of the 23 legs. In previous years the event was focused around the kitesurfing hub of Maafushi island, 16 miles from the capital, Male’.

This year’s Raalhu Gudi will begin in Gan in the far south (Addu Atoll). The kiteboarders will then proceed north and cross the equator as they follow an exciting route divided into 23 bite size legs. The event will conclude at Thuraakunu Island in the Haa Alif Atoll – approximately 500 miles north of the starting point. Participants can jump in to join a leg of the route wherever they like, or take part in the entire, epic trip across the Maldives.

Raalhu Gudi founder and co-organiser, Asim ‘Simbe’ Mohamed, says: “We had the idea after organising a trip between Male’ and Maafushi Island at Raalhu Gudi 2018. It was so successful that this year we wanted to do it even bigger and better.”

World champion kiteboarder, Youri Zoon, is a co-organiser and will be joining participants for the entire route, giving people a chance to marvel at his skills and maybe even learn a thing or two from the Dutch pro. “Every kitesurfing session in the Maldives is magical,” says Youri. “The lagoons are just perfect for kitesurfing. I can’t wait for Raalhu Gudi 2019, it’s going to be an incredible experience.”

Slingshot has teamed up with Raalhu Gudi as the event’s main sponsor for this year. The US-based enterprise is renowned as an innovative producer of kites and foils.

Environmental awareness will be one of the main themes of the event, as well as inspiring young people to get involved in kitesurfing. Participants will have opportunities to join reef and beach clean-ups along the way, while the team will be spreading a message to the islands they pass about the importance of keeping the oceans clean and not littering.

For more information about Raalhu Gudi, visit Raalhu Gudi on Facebook .

Over a million tourists from across the globe visit the Indian Ocean island nation every year to holiday in one of the 140 plus resorts and over 500 guesthouses located in all corners of the country. The multi-billion dollar tourism industry, which is the country’s main economic activity, relies heavily on the domestic transport infrastructure, especially air travel.

Maldives, the most dispersed country on the planet with 1,192 islands spread over roughly 90,000 square kilometres, already has 12 airports, including three international airports. The government has contracted both local and international companies to develop additional domestic airports across the archipelago in a bid to boost tourism.

Meanwhile, a USD 800 million mega project has been launched to expand and upgrade the main Velana International Airport. The project involves building a brand new runway, an international passenger terminal and a seaplane terminal as well as other support facilities, including a fuel farm that can store 45 million litres and a 120,000 tonne cargo facility.

Seats are now available for purchase through Manta Air’s authorised Passenger Sales Agents (PSAs) and direct booking from the Manta Air website: www.mantaair.mv. For more details, please visit the official website or call the airline’s reservations number 3314477 or 7994405 during business hours.

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