{"id":48937,"date":"2017-02-07T15:26:12","date_gmt":"2017-02-07T15:26:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/viconsortium.com\/?p=48937"},"modified":"2017-02-07T20:32:16","modified_gmt":"2017-02-07T20:32:16","slug":"obama-living-it-up-kitesurfing-and-all-in-british-virgin-islands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?p=48937","title":{"rendered":"Obama Living It Up &#8212; Kitesurfing And All &#8212; In British Virgin Islands"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>How far away is the British Virgin Islands from the United States Virgin Islands? A mere ferry ride away. That&#8217;s how close former President Barack Obama and his family are from the U.S. territory, where they&#8217;ve already spent two weeks on vacation on\u00a0Sir\u00a0Richard Branson\u2019s Necker Island.<\/p>\n<p>And what a time they&#8217;ve been having.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Branson, the Virgin Group founder and billionaire, said he invited the Obamas to his private island in the BVI, and that one of the first stories they told him was how Mr. Obama, just before he became president,\u00a0had been surfing on a dangerous break in Hawaii. When he came in from an exhilarating session, the new head of Mr. Obama&#8217;s security team turned to him and said: \u201cThis will be the last time you surf for eight years.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to Mr. Branson, for the following eight years, the former president didn&#8217;t get a chance to surf, enjoy watersports or do many of the things he loved.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;So it was tremendous to offer him the chance to learn to kitesurf,&#8221; Mr. Branson <span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><a style=\"color: #3366ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.virgin.com\/richard-branson\/richard-vs-barack-kiteboard-and-foilboard-challenge\" target=\"_blank\">wrote.<\/a><\/span> 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 foilboard? We agreed to have a final day battle to see who could stay up the longest.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/viconsortium.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/vacay_mr.president-obama.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-48939\" src=\"https:\/\/viconsortium.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/vacay_mr.president-obama.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"882\" height=\"589\" srcset=\"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/vacay_mr.president-obama.jpg 882w, http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/vacay_mr.president-obama-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 882px) 100vw, 882px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The story goes on to tell of how Mr. Obama wound up winning the competition: &#8220;After all he has done for the world, I couldn\u2019t begrudge him his well-deserved win,&#8221; Mr. Branson wrote.<\/p>\n<p>Watch the video above, and enjoy the full serving of pics from the link atop.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>Pictures courtesy Jack Brockway<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How far away is the British Virgin Islands from the United States Virgin Islands? A mere ferry ride away. That&#8217;s how close former President Barack Obama and his family are from the U.S. territory, where they&#8217;ve already spent two weeks on vacation on\u00a0Sir\u00a0Richard Branson\u2019s Necker Island. And what a time they&#8217;ve been having. Mr. Branson, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":48938,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3108,11,2308,191,2474,147],"tags":[4804,4564,121],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Obama Living It Up - Kitesurfing And All - In British Virgin Islands - V.I. Consortium<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Find Virgin Islands new, opinion, politics, lifestyle, business and more\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?p=48937\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ernice Gilbert\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?p=48937\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?p=48937\",\"name\":\"Obama Living It Up - Kitesurfing And All - In British Virgin Islands - V.I. Consortium\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-02-07T15:26:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-02-07T20:32:16+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d227a4a2478d096447391f7d05afcb51\"},\"description\":\"Find Virgin Islands new, opinion, politics, lifestyle, business and more\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?p=48937#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?p=48937\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?p=48937#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Obama Living It Up &#8212; Kitesurfing And All &#8212; In British Virgin Islands\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/\",\"name\":\"V.I. Consortium\",\"description\":\"Uniting the Caribbean\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d227a4a2478d096447391f7d05afcb51\",\"name\":\"Ernice Gilbert\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/2.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50e9900b9c4e146fd5fb7b811fb4a06e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/2.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50e9900b9c4e146fd5fb7b811fb4a06e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Ernice Gilbert\"},\"description\":\"I wear many hats, I suppose, but the one which fits me best would be journalism, second to that would be radio personality, thirdly singer\/songwriter and down the line. I've been the Editor-In-Chief at my videogames website, Gamesthirst, for over 5 years, writing over 7,000 articles and more than 2 million words. I'm also very passionate about where I live, the United States Virgin Islands, and I'm intent on making it a better place by being resourceful and keeping our leaders honest. VI Consortium was birthed out of said desire, hopefully my efforts bear fruit. Reach me at ernice@viconsortium.com.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/ernicegilbert.com\/\"],\"url\":\"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Obama Living It Up - Kitesurfing And All - In British Virgin Islands - V.I. Consortium","description":"Find Virgin Islands new, opinion, politics, lifestyle, business and more","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?p=48937","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ernice Gilbert","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?p=48937","url":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?p=48937","name":"Obama Living It Up - Kitesurfing And All - In British Virgin Islands - V.I. Consortium","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-02-07T15:26:12+00:00","dateModified":"2017-02-07T20:32:16+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d227a4a2478d096447391f7d05afcb51"},"description":"Find Virgin Islands new, opinion, politics, lifestyle, business and more","breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?p=48937#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?p=48937"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?p=48937#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Obama Living It Up &#8212; Kitesurfing And All &#8212; In British Virgin Islands"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/#website","url":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/","name":"V.I. Consortium","description":"Uniting the Caribbean","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d227a4a2478d096447391f7d05afcb51","name":"Ernice Gilbert","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en","@id":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"http:\/\/2.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50e9900b9c4e146fd5fb7b811fb4a06e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"http:\/\/2.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50e9900b9c4e146fd5fb7b811fb4a06e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Ernice Gilbert"},"description":"I wear many hats, I suppose, but the one which fits me best would be journalism, second to that would be radio personality, thirdly singer\/songwriter and down the line. I've been the Editor-In-Chief at my videogames website, Gamesthirst, for over 5 years, writing over 7,000 articles and more than 2 million words. I'm also very passionate about where I live, the United States Virgin Islands, and I'm intent on making it a better place by being resourceful and keeping our leaders honest. VI Consortium was birthed out of said desire, hopefully my efforts bear fruit. Reach me at ernice@viconsortium.com.","sameAs":["http:\/\/ernicegilbert.com\/"],"url":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48937"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=48937"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48937\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/48938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=48937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=48937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=48937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}