(WSVN) - Former President Barack Obama appears to really be enjoying his first vacation after leaving the White House.
“Michelle and I are off on a quick vacation, then we’ll get back to work,” Obama tweeted just after President Donald Trump was sworn in on inauguration day.
Now we know what part of that vacation entailed, as billionaire Sir Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group, posted on his website that he invited the couple to the British Virgin Islands.
That’s where the two reportedly took part in a friendly competition, where Obama would kitesurf as Branson would foilboard, to see who could stay up the longest. Branson said Obama won the challenge, going over 100 meters (or 328 feet) while Branson went 50 meters (164 feet).
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vqhw8kxVd2o&w=480&h=270]
“After all he has done for the world, I couldn’t begrudge him his well-deserved win,” Branson wrote, saying the two are already planning another competition for his next visit.
The pictures provided the public the first glimpse of the former president after leaving office, and Branson said it was a chance for Obama to enjoy water sports for the first time in eight years.
“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,” Branson wrote. “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.”
Branson said the former president enjoyed the opportunity of “being a child again.”
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