Hi Salim. You had a difficult start to life. How did getting eye cancer affect you?
I had retinoblastoma as a baby, a rare type of eye cancer that can affect young children, that resulted in me losing vision in both eyes. It was a big part of my childhood, as treatment took a very long time. I spent the first two years of my life in hospital and even after that had many further surgeries as the left side of my face was really damaged. When you grow up as a child in hospital everyone tells you stories about heroes, for example comic book characters like Spider-Man, and these stories become a part of you. I think they helped make me feel more capable of doing things, as capable as any other child. I didn’t feel like I was different to any other child and that made me who I am today, up for trying new things with a can-do attitude.
And you proved that by becoming a very accomplished horse rider, perhaps the best blind horse rider in the world! Tell us more.
I was seven when I heard about horse riding and it sounded an amazing thing to do but seemed inaccessible to me. But when I was 10 or 11, I told my mother I wanted to try taking lessons. I thought she would say it’s impossible but luckily she said yes. I started horse riding lessons once a week and really enjoyed it. After a few years, I started doing para competitions as a blind rider and it became a big part of my life. I create content around horse riding and talk at conferences and on TV shows about it. I’m also currently training for the TV show Ninja Warrior, doing parkour and CrossFit. When I was younger I was self-conscious about my body and doing this training has helped me discover more about my body and what I’m capable of. I also feel it’s important to stay healthy. We only have one body and there is nothing more important in your life than your health.
And this is what you were trying to promote with the tandem challenge?
Yes, SkinEye is trying to promote eye and skin safety. The sun is a wonderful thing but wearing sunscreen is important (preferably suncream that won’t damage sea life) and so is wearing eye protection when you’re on the water and at the beach. Even though my eye cancer wasn’t caused by sun damage it’s still an important issue for me. I can still perceive light and I find bright sunlight painful and have to protect myself from it by wearing sunglasses. So I was happy to be a part of this tandem challenge.
Had you done any kiting before?
A good friend of mine is a para-surfer on the French team and she introduced me to surfing which I really enjoyed. And I had already flown a small kite on the beach. So when I spoke with Yann a few years ago and he asked if I’d like to try kiting with him of course I said yes. But I was quite busy at the time so we didn’t get round to it. Then Yann called me a few months ago about the idea of doing this challenge at the Prince of Speed event in September. We had hoped to get a couple of days practice in, but didn’t get the right conditions, so the big day itself was actually the first time I ever got on a kite board!
And what did you think?!
I loved doing the tandem challenge and actually enjoyed it more than I thought I would, that feeling of freedom and speed, although I didn’t expect it to be so intense. One thing that helped me enjoy it was the encouragement from the other kitesurf, windsurf and wingfoil competitors and speed record breakers like Antoine Albeau, Roger Örnvang, Heidi Ulrich and Vincent Valkenaers. They were very friendly and interested in what we were doing and helped push us to succeed.
