Katikati wing foiler Jeremiah McDonald recently returned home from breaking two endurance records in Norway in his sport. Already, his sights are set on a higher goal.

In a 24-hour attempt off the coast of Nordstranda on July 17, McDonald covered 501.7km within 12 hours – eclipsing the previous mark – before continuing through the night to complete 804.8km in 23 hours and 37 minutes, becoming the first person to surpass 800km under wind power.

The distance was recorded using the Trace app, which showed he averaged 20.9 knots (38.7km/h) throughout.

McDonald said he chose Norway for the attempt because it’s somewhere he’d wanted to go but mostly because of the Gulf Stream, a fast, warm ocean current.

Jeremiah McDonald during his 24-hour attempt at two records. Photo / Chantelle Middleton

He also took advantage of the extended daylight in Giske, a small village about seven hours northwest of Oslo, where the sun stays for about 18 hours a day during summer.

Katikati News caught up with McDonald and his partner, Chantelle Middleton, who helped organise the challenge with the Giske IL Vannsport Club, which assisted with preparations and recruited volunteers to support it.

How did he end up wing foiling on the world stage? “I got into kitesurfing and and some water sports around here [Katikati] and in Tauranga when I was a kid. I learned to windsurf at age 12 in Tauranga, then I learned to kitesurf.”

McDonald was a kitesurfing instructor when wing foiling became popular at about 2019. “I switched to wing foiling pretty early and I saw some competitions in Europe and I was going to have a gap year in 2020 but it got ruined by Covid-19.”

He ended up working in Rarotonga during the lockdowns – “I was on the last flight out of New Zealand” – and with no tourists he gave free lessons.

To wing foil, McDonald said, “You have to be fit, strong and really well balanced ... and really good at judging the wind”.

During the last four years Jeremiah McDonald has been competing in professional competitions, yoyoing between Europe and Katikati. Photo / Chantelle Middleton

By the start of 2022 he was in Leucate, France, competing in the Global Wingsports Association’s Wingfoil World Tour thanks to open qualification.

“I ended up coming 9th in the freestyle. I was not expecting much and that went really well … I got a bit of brand notice and that helped a lot and for confidence.”

During the last four years he’s been competing in professional competitions, going back and forwards between Europe and Katikati. “When I’m here, I’m based mostly in Katikati, but I train in Tauranga.”

McDonald said he got into wing foiling because he loved the freedom of it.

“I think that’s a big part of it. I also love being on the water and this is super high adrenaline, it’s really fast but easy to do ... it’s easy to pack up in your car, and it’s not so expensive.

“A lot of other sports like that are either dangerous, or they’re expensive.”

McDonald said he’d wondered for the last few years how far he could push it. “I always liked endurance challenges and stuff like that.”

Then last year, he got Lyme disease, which Kiwis, if they get the bacterial infection, usually catch abroad.

“I got fatigue and was really struggling for six months. That was really hard and it screwed up my last season.”

Jeremiah McDonald back at home, at Katikati’s Uretara River. Photo / Merle Cave

Even now his fitness is not 100%, he said. “That was a big knock and was a big reason to pursue a record because I thought, ‘I’ve got over chronic illness, how much harder can doing something like this be if you’re not fatigued all the time?’.

“I felt like I’d been locked up and it gave me a wake-up call of just do what you want to do …”

McDonald said he still hadn’t received official ratification for his two records “but it’s completely blown out any other records, so the industry has recognised it”.

He said the global body of wing foiling had strict rules on how long a world record attempt had to be watched, which was difficult considering the length of his challenge, so he was not sure whether his records would be ratified. “We’re not sure if we’ve done it 100% right or not, but we’re seeing how it goes.”

If his records don’t get ratified, McDonald said it doesn’t really matter “because in the industry it’s essentially been officially done”.

McDonald said the attempt was tracked live by New Zealand company Trace for the entire 24-hour period.

His first record of 501.7km within 12 hours was achieved with minutes to spare. “I had one stop on the land because something broke and I had to change it. The rest of the time I kept going.”

McDonald had a support crew on a boat beside him all night to ensure he was safe.

The coast off Nordstranda gave him four hours of darkness in 24. “It was not a lot, but it meant that it was really cold. In the night-time I really, really struggled.

“I was crashing with things. There was seaweed in the water and I couldn’t see it. Because I’m flying above the water, if you hit something, you just stop and get catapulted and it’s kind of scary and you don’t know what you’ve hit ...”

A very exhausted but stoked Jeremiah McDonald after breaking two wing foiling endurance records in Norway. Photo / Chantelle Middleton

Once the sun started to rise, McDonald said he was completely exhausted.

“I was kind of out of it and near hypothermia because my body just stopped reheating. For that first 12 hours, the end was really hard because I wanted to get this goal of 500km, but I was behind target the whole way .... so I had to go faster than most people can go. The last 5.5 hours I just sent it.”

In his second 12 hours, McDonald said at first the challenge was extremely physical but the last six hours turned into a tough mental struggle.

His parents Simon McDonald and Maniisha Wiessing supported him via a headpiece connection from New Zealand, where they sang karaoke songs over a number of hours to spur him along.

McDonald said he’d trained here and abroad in the lead-up to the attempt and had had a few mentors along his journey. Kiwi Olympic windsurfing champion Bruce Kendall was one, “especially with the mindset side things”.

“I also have to say my rowing coaches at high school in Hamilton. Those guys helped me get confident that I was tough enough to do something like this.”

He also noted his father Simon, who got him into sailing sports. “We’ve been sailing on Tauranga Harbour in optimist sailing boats all my life and with the equipment side too he taught me how to make a sail.”

McDonald said he had gained sponsorship to make a YouTube video on his 24-hour attempt with Middleton, a videographer and photographer, capturing it. People can now view it online. “The video really shows the story of actually how it happened and was the reason we were able to do it.”

Still racing on the GWA Wingfoil World Tour series, McDonald said wing foiling could soon become an Olympic sport. “I’d like to get to the Olympics. This year it will be decided if the sport goes Olympic.”

McDonald said he was elected the riders’ representative of his class, so he will put forward the views of international riders to the world organisation.

“Then we’re also in contact with that body between the Olympic Committee and stuff, so I’m excited because I’d really like to push it to go Olympic and I’m in a super exciting spot to be actually part of making it happen.”