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Barack Obama Retirement Update: Ex-POTUS Filmed Kitesurfing, Wins Competition

By Bradley Ryder
Published on: 09:10 PST, Feb 7, 2017

It’s been three weeks since President Barack Obama became the former POTUS in retirement. Since then, Barack and Michelle Obama have been vacationing with Sir Richard Branson. Footage recently emerged that shows President Obama kitesurfing — and wiping out like a boss.

Barack Obama’s retirement began the moment he waved goodbye to throngs of staff and well-wishers. As sources point out, the moment was bittersweet on many levels: On the one hand, a popular president was leaving the White House for the last time, and on another, he was leaving politics behind and beginning the retired life of past presidents.

According to a Yahoo News update on Obama’s retirement, readers learned the former senator from Illinois picked up a new hobby: the art of kitesurfing.

When the 44th president of the United States boarded Marine One, he and the former first lady headed to Palm Springs, California, for a short stay. Next, the couple boarded a plane owned by Branson and took a flight to one of the Virgin Group founder’s private islands in the British Virgin Islands.

As the Inquisitr previously reported, the retired couple joined their host and his daughter, Holly, for lunch, laughs, and relaxation. Barack was seen wearing a Nike shirt, matching shorts, flip-flops and a hat turned to the back. Michelle was seen looking like a beach princess. The former FLOTUS wore Daisy Duke shorts, a beach hat, sunglasses, and surfside sandals.

Barack Obama is known in the media circuits as a hardwired competitor. Often, he’d challenge friends and White House staffers to a game of hoops during his travels. So, it makes perfect sense that he and his vacation host engaged in a friendly competition in retirement: foil boarding versus kitesurfing, as Branson explained in a statement.

“One of the first stories Barack told me when he and Michelle arrived on Moskito Island was how, just before he became president, he had been surfing on a dangerous break in Hawaii. When he came in from an exhilarating session, the new head of his security team turned to him and said: ‘This will be the last time you surf for eight years.’ For the next eight years, he didn’t have the chance to surf, enjoy watersports or do many of the things he loved.

“So it was tremendous to offer him the chance to learn to kitesurf. The sport has really taken off in the past decade, and we have the perfect conditions and team to help anyone learn. I have also wanted to learn foilboard surfing. So we decided to set up a friendly challenge: Could Barack learn to kitesurf before I learned to foil board? We agreed to have a final-day battle to see who could stay up the longest.”

According to CNN, kitesurfing is a type of water sport that involves a rider using a surfboard attached to a kite to ride the waves. On the other hand, a foil board is a surfboard that has a hydrofoil, which allows it to rise above the surface and is not affected by wakes.

Pictures of Barack Obama in retirement show him horsing around with his BFF in ways you’ve never seen before. With no entourage of Secret Service agents regulating his every move and limiting many of his thrill-seeking activities, Obama looked like a teenager on spring break.

The Obamas are reportedly wrapping up their post-presidency vacation and will be heading back to Washington, D.C. There, they will reside in a friend’s home until their daughter Sasha Obama completes high school. Meanwhile, Malia Obama is in New York through the spring on an internship at the Harvey Weinstein Company.

On who won the challenge between Barack Obama and Richard Branson, the billionaire host provided an update. Apparently, the former commander-in-chief took the honors.

Not everyone was convinced; there’s suspicion that Branson let Barack win.

“We were neck and neck until the last run on the last day, when I got up on the foil board and screamed along for over 50 meters, three feet above the water. I was feeling very pleased with myself, only to look over and see Barack go 100 meters on his kiteboard! I had to doff my cap to him and celebrate his victory.”

Are you in the least bit jealous of Michelle and Barack Obama’s retirement and lavish vacation update?

https://rumble.com/v33v1x-obama-richard-branson-go-kiteboarding.html

[Featured Image by Pete Souza/The White House/Getty Images]

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