Gold and whatnot diggers go out on a treasure hunt - be it gold bars, ostrich feathers or miniature screws, but very few of them settle on the beach to wait out the wind. Wind hunters, on the other hand, patiently sit on the sand and when the winds call out on them, they rush into an airy dance somewhere on the horizon - while waves paint humps and lines on the big blue’s surface.

The 23-year-old Alexander Bachev belongs to the breed of wind hunters. For 11 years now he has been befriending the wind and riding waves on his kitesurf, flying with the seagulls and testing his power of will in regattas. He has a special connection to the sea, which he hopes to never lose.

“Freedom is important for me, I am not used to being tied down. Even in sports, I have found a way to be free and this gives me great pleasure,” he says. He is therefore sorry for not being able to join his thousands of peers protesting in Sofia.

“I approve of this young and also not so young people’s protest because our country is not governed in a democratic manner and this model needs to be replaced,” Alexander states. “I empathize with them and protest whenever and however I can. But since I am currently preparing for the European championship in mid-August, I am on the seaside, not in the streets.”

Alexander went windsurfing for the first time on the “Gradina” camping site on the southern Bulgarian Black Sea coast and immediately after that, during the same season, joined a competition in the town of Primorsko nearby. Observing his father and other kite surfers, however, he wished to kitesurf himself. And just like that, he abandoned the windsurf and went onto dedicating himself to kitesurfing. Today, he is competing in the kitefoil racing discipline - a classic sailing regatta, but with a surfboard instead of a boat.

“What I use in the water is called hydrofoil or an underwater wing,” he explains. “There is a device under the board that resembles an aeroplane with a big front and a small rear wing, which works on the same principle as in the air. When a person moves, the wings create a lifting force and raise the board above water. It that way its surface has less contact with water, resistance is lower and thus speed is higher, and adrenaline is plentiful.”

All of this allows the kite surfer to raise 30 centimetres above water level and fly with a speed of nearly 70km/h.

Alexander enters the top 10 in almost all of his competitions. His biggest accomplishments were in the World cup where he qualified 5^th and in the World Beach Games where he took 4^th place. His close aim is to perform well on the current European championship in Poland, while his remote aim is to get qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games when his sport will debut on the biggest sports forum.

Apart from reaping the benefits from his endeavours in the sea, Alexander has graduated in Physics from the Munich Technical University - which is another reason why he is excelling in a sport based on hydro and aerodynamics. For now, he has no intentions of dedicating himself to physics, since he hopes to practice his sport actively for at least 4 or 5 more years. In the far future, he rather sees himself as an IT specialist.

“I want to live in Bulgaria and contribute to its development,” he says with certainty. “I hope that in the future we will have a sound political and economic system so that we can thrive as a nation and a country.”

Also, why not hang the desired Olympic medal in his office someday? And every time he would take a glance at it, he would feel the wind, salty air and watery splashes in his face once again.

English version Boris Totchev