"Ian Young served 22 years in the Australian Army and knows very well that many veterans come back from serving with a variety of health issues.
Ian decided to do something about it and has embarked on a wild, windy adventure in the hope to raise funds and awareness for Soldier On, a charity which assists wounded soldiers.
I met with Ian in Port Gregory, half way through his journey toward the North West Cape of Western Australia.
In a straight line, the distance from Perth to North-West Cape is around 1300 kilometers, however Ian says he will be travelling a further 600-700 kilometers due to tacking and weaving in and out of strong winds, predominately coming from the south.
Prior to this big adventure, Ian's longest distance traveled by kite surfing was 120 km from Fremantle to Lancelin. On the first day of this trip, the ex-SAS soldier left from the Perth suburb of Scarborough and made it to Jurien Bay which is around 200 kilometers. It was his new personal best.
"I found those 200 kilometers a lot tougher that anything I've ever done before," he says.
"The last few days, the conditions are becoming tougher with the swell picking up. So I try not to go anymore than 400 meters off the beach. But, I'm dealing with beach breaks and sometimes overhead waves."
Ian says he's been planning this trip for the last two to three years and has a support crew travelling up the coast with him.
"A lot of the coastline is very inhospitable where you can't just land on the beach because of ledges and cliffs.
"But I have a very able support crew with me who are ex-SAS mates of mine and they've been a fantastic help to me. It gives me a great deal of confidence to know that they are not to far away."
Ian is wearing a GPS tracker that shows where he has been on his journey which you can view.
"There are many veterans who suffer a variety of health issues and I would like to use this adventure to increase the awareness of these problems.
"The realty is, is that soldiering is not normal business and the psychological and physical traumas that people suffer are unique. The government does provide some support but it's just not enough." "
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