Sertões is a name synonymous with Brazil’s (you’ve guessed it…) biggest “petrol-head” rally, and this is where you can find the roots of the XP Sertões Kitesurf event. The Rally dos Sertões began in 1993 and has grown exponentially to now welcome competitors from across the rallying world, competing in categories of Car, ATV, Quad and Motor-cycle over a brutal nine-day event (with competitors, support teams and organizers numbering over 2000). This year the event covered 3800 kilometers across some of Brazil’s toughest terrain… Its reputation and popularity is built on its 10/10 difficulty rating: it’s as tough as it gets in the rallying world. So when it came to expanding the Sertões ‘rally’ franchise into the water, it had to be true to this philosophy and be the toughest kiting event on the planet.
I was invited to participate in some stages of the event, and then to spend the remainder of the time exploring this part of Brazil and being more generally shown around. I know, tough gig. Shamefully, in
