Francisco Lufinha (Lisbon, 9 August 1983) is a Portuguese kitesurfer and world record holder for the longest distance kitesurfing without stopping.
He is a completely passioned by nautical sportsman.
Taken aboard a boat by his parents only 15 days after he was born, he was never able nor wanted to let go of the sea again.
At age eleven, he started to compete in the dinghy class Optimist where he won several regional and national races and ended representing his country at the ’98 Europeans in Split, Croatia.
At age 15 he upgraded to the 420 (dinghy) (boats of two persons) where he raced until he was eighteen and won the national overall ranking.
While developing his sailing skills, he was always looking for the most recent extreme sport to try to learn how to do it.
Water skiing and wakeboarding were his first choices, then windsurfing and the latest, in 2002, was kitesurfing.
Francisco found in kitesurfing the most complete sport he has ever tried, because it is a mix of his favorite sports.
In 2005 he was national champion and in 2006 vice-champion.