--- title: Barack Obama Learned to Kitesurf on Vacation description: The former president looks like he's enjoying life as a private citizen canonical: https://time.com/4662331/barack-obama-richard-branson-necker-island/ author: Zamira Rahim article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-02-07T13:04:47.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:59:05.946Z article:section: Politics og:title: Barack Obama Learned to Kitesurf on Vacation og:description: The former president looks like he's enjoying life as a private citizen og:url: https://time.com/4662331/barack-obama-richard-branson-necker-island/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt73135701b6a104e0/6988b9157cdbacee9bd570e7/obama-virgin-islands3.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: obama-virgin-islands3 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Barack Obama Learned to Kitesurf on Vacation twitter:description: The former president looks like he's enjoying life as a private citizen twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt73135701b6a104e0/6988b9157cdbacee9bd570e7/obama-virgin-islands3.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Barack Obama Went from the White House to Whitecaps on Billionaire Richard Branson's Private Island by [Zamira Rahim](https://time.com/author/zamira-rahim/) ## Zamira Rahim Feb 7, 2017 1:04 PM UTC  Jack Brockway/Virgin.com by [Zamira Rahim](https://time.com/author/zamira-rahim/) ## Zamira Rahim Feb 7, 2017 1:04 PM UTC [Former President Barack Obama is having the time of his life on vacation.](https://www.virgin.com/richard-branson/richard-vs-barack-kiteboard-and-foilboard-challenge) As Washington grapples with [President Donald Trump](http://time.com/4662315/trump-travel-ban-supreme-court-lawyers/?iid=sr-link5), the former Commander in Chief has been learning how to kitesurf with Richard Branson. The Obamas have been enjoying their time off on Necker Island, the Virgin founder’s luxury island in the Caribbean, according to Branson’s blog.  Jack Brockway/Virgin.com Branson writes that Obama could “relax” as he learned to kitesurf on the island while Branson himself learned to foilboard. The former president beat his host in a battle to see who could be the first to master their sport.  Jack Brockway/Virgin.com Obama had earlier been pictured strolling on a beach on Necker, [wearing a backwards facing baseball cap.](http://time.com/4656707/barack-obama-vacation-photos/)  Jack Brockway/Virgin.com ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4662331/barack-obama-richard-branson-necker-island/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4662331/barack-obama-richard-branson-necker-island/"},"headline":"Barack Obama Went from the White House to Whitecaps on Billionaire Richard Branson's Private Island","datePublished":"2017-02-07T13:04:47.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:59:05.946Z","description":"The former president looks like he's enjoying life as a private citizen","url":"https://time.com/4662331/barack-obama-richard-branson-necker-island/","keywords":["Barack Obama","Richard Branson","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt73135701b6a104e0/6988b9157cdbacee9bd570e7/obama-virgin-islands3.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Zamira Rahim","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/zamira-rahim/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt73135701b6a104e0/6988b9157cdbacee9bd570e7/obama-virgin-islands3.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"obama-virgin-islands3","caption":"","creditText":"Jack Brockway/Virgin.com","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4662331/barack-obama-richard-branson-necker-island/","name":"Barack Obama Went from the White House to Whitecaps on Billionaire Richard Branson's Private Island"}}]}] ```