No watch, no camera, just a storm: Lewis Crathern jumped 42.6 metres on a kiteboard — a world record

Lewis Crathern went out in Storm Austen off Bracklesham Bay, West Sussex, in winds over 50 knots — and deliberately left his watch and camera behind. 'No watch, no GoPro, no thinking about filming or sharing everything on social media,' the 41-year-old British kitesurfer said later. 'Just me, the wind, and enjoying being out there.' On only his second session with a 7-metre Harlem Peak kite, a gust launched him 42.6 metres (about 140 feet) above the water — the highest jump ever recorded in big-air kiteboarding, beyond the 42.3 metres set by Dutch rider Jamie Overbeek in April. A board-mounted sensor recorded the jump on 23 October, and WOO Sports reviewed the data before confirming the record. Crathern, a four-time British champion, has ridden storms off this coast for more than two decades: 'I always believed I would find the magic gust around here somewhere.'