Obama Went Surfing For The First Time In 8 Years Thanks To Richard Branson And His Private Island

In early February, photos and videos surfaced on Twitter depicting a content, backwards hat-wearing President Barack Obama on vacation with Michelle Obama somewhere in the Virgin Islands. They were accompanied by British billionaire (and Donald Trump survivor) Richard Branson, who was playing host to the former First Couple on his very own private island, according to Esquire and other outlets. As Huffington Post’s Philip Lewis put it, “Obama’s on vacation with the hat backwards. He’s never coming back.”

However, the 44th President of the United States will undoubtedly return the ever so frighteningly unreal real world eventually. After all, he and Michelle have a brand new foundation to run — not to mention a rekindled hunger for kite-surfing to gloat about now that he effectively beat the adventurous Branson at the leisure activity.

“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,” wrote Branson on his personal blog. “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.”

Therefore they challenged each other to learn two new water sports — kite-surfing for Obama, and foilboarding for Branson. After a few days of learning and practice, the pair recorded the above video of themselves trying to attain greater distances with their respective sports before crashing back into the water. Obama won, reaching double the length of Branson’s total runs with 100 meters.

Meanwhile, President Trump hasn’t deviated from his rigorous physical exercise routine of gesticulating wildly while yelling at the press. May the best man… at least be decently healthy?

(Via Richard Branson and Esquire)