Michel ‘Titi’ Macquet and his wife Blandine broke three world records on their Swiftmax 2 earlier this year. Titi tells us about this adventure:

“This year, we returned to Kenya to attempt to break new records. This time, we tackled the 200 km out-and-return speed records, as well as the declared and free out-and-return distances.

But all these planned records almost failed to materialize for several reasons…

On the second day after our arrival, during a makeshift landing after completing 213 km, we tore off both wingtips of our Swiftmax 2... This raised serious questions about how to proceed, as we thought our adventure was already over before it had even begun.

Due to a lack of materials and professionals to repair the glider in Kenya, we wasted a lot of time waiting for the raw materials to repair all the holes and tears.

Joanna Di Grigoli and Romain Beaugey arrived a few days later and provided us with enough ripstop to repair all the holes. I already had thread and a needle to repair all the torn stripes and torn reinforcements. After all the repairs were done, the first flight for our record attempt was successful, and the repairs seemed to hold up well during the flight.

We flew part of the flight with Joanna for the 200 km speed record, and we both completed the circuit. Our average speed in the tandem was 36.2 km/h, just 0.02 km/h shy of the world record in the general category. My wife Blandine and I regained our spirits, and the adventure could continue.

Two days later, we took off from Nyaru again, this time attempting a 250 km out and return. We were starting to know the route well, so everything went relatively smoothly.

Our only concern was turning back early enough to make it back to the goal, as cloud cover was forecast for the end of the day. So, after tagging our 250 km turnpoint, we played it safe and turned back just 1 km further on. We flew as fast as possible on the way back, keeping a clear head nonetheless.

Back in Iten for the last 40 km, we just needed to glide to the turnpoint, but as it turned out, the difficulty was in this supposedly easiest part. Cloud cover arrived and blocked the convection. The lack of dynamic support on the ridge forced us to slow down considerably as we had to circle in the shade.

The emotional roller coaster was intense, and we took everything we could find. We gained altitude, saw the turnpoint, then left the thermal and sank again... We went below the ridge, lost sight of the turnpoint, and so on. We finally reached our goal, mentally and physically exhausted, as we had to remain calm and patient.

We left Kenya once again with a full heart, and three new world records in the flight log.

Thank you to Ozone, as well as to everyone who supported us on social media and everyone who enabled us to attempt these new records.”

Check out Titi’s flights here.