Myself and ocean rower Sarah Outen travelled 150 miles across the UK by Stand Up Paddleboard, from Bath to London, reaching Tower Bridge on Tuesday 8th June.
Dave, a world-record breaking skateboarder and endurance kayaker, is currently exploring the boundaries of distance Stand Up Paddleboarding with one eye on a world record journey in 2011. Sarah is preparing for a two and half year global circumnavigation starting in London in April 2011, her first major expedition was a 4000 mile solo row across the Indian Ocean in 2009, which earned her three world records.
As passionate supporters of Blue’s aims, Dave and Sarah decided to undertake this expedition to celebrate the inland waterways of Britain, concluding their journey beneath London’s Tower Bridge on World Oceans Day. Throughout their journey they were joined by paddlers, cyclists and walkers, amassing a total of 875 Blue Miles (miles travelled on or by the water) during their week-long paddle.
Along the length of the Kennet & Avon Canal and the latter section of the River Thames Dave and Sarah faced a number of obstacles. Remarkably, an early June heat wave took its effect on the pair, and as expected 115 portages in the shape of locks and weirs turned this effort from a mere paddle into a true endurance event. Without doubt, though, the greatest difficulty was standing up for an average of 11 hours a day!
On their approach to London a deserved climax beneath Tower Bridge seemed to be in jeopardy as the Harbour Master ordered them out of the water just three miles from the end. Dave and Sarah hoisted boards onto shoulders and marched alongside the Thames past Westminster and the London Eye, determined to reach their destination even if it was on dry land. Thankfully, the Harbour Master had a change of heart and sent out a boat to escort them between Waterloo and Tower Bridge.
It was a truly iconic finish to the longest Stand Up Paddleboarding journey seen by the UK to date.
Read more on www.thegreatbigpaddle.com
Meet Dave @ www.davecornthwaite.co.uk
Meet Sarah @ www.sarahouten.co.uk
Between June 2nd and June 8th 2010 Dave Cornthwaite and Sarah Outen will take to the water and Stand Up Paddle between Bath and London, a distance of 150 miles. The two are not strangers to this sort of journey, last year Sarah rowed over 4000 miles across the Indian Ocean, and in April 2011 will begin a global circumnavigation from London to London, Via the World! Dave had paddled the length of Australia’s longest river and in 2006 he broke the world record for skateboarding further than anyone else, ever! He’s also planning a world distance record on a Stand Up Paddleboard in 2011.
The pair’s journey will start at Bath’s Top Lock at 10am on Wednesday 2nd June, following the length of the Kennet & Avon canal via Devizes, Pewsey, Hungerford and Reading, before paddling onto the Thames and making their way to London. They will finish at lunchtime by paddling underneath Tower Bridge.
Commuting to work along the Kennet & Avon Canal
We’d like to invite members of your club to join Sarah and Dave for a stretch of their journey as we pass through your neighbourhood. You could paddle in canoes, kayaks or on Stand Up Paddleboards, or even walk, run or cycle alongside. We’d like everyone joining us to help us raise some funds for our charities.
Dave and Sarah are big supporters of The Blue Mile project. A Blue Mile is a mile travelled on or by the water. If each paddler aims to raise £10 per Blue Mile paddled with Dave and Sarah this would be absolutely wonderful. We are aiming for a total of 1000 Blue Miles and if we achieve our target, this will mean we’ve raised at least £7000 for our charities, which would be amazing!
All donations and sponsorships should be donated online at www.justgiving.com/greatbigpaddle
Finally, Dave and Sarah will be supported by a small and very fun team who will be making a documentary and taking photos of the event. We’d love to hold fundraising events each evening and if you’d be interested in organising one, please take a look at the schedule on www.thegreatbigpaddle.com and get in touch. We’re also organising where can stay each evening, so any help with this would be greatly appreciated!
This event is all about getting people on the water and promoting exercise, water sports and a passion for the environment, so the more people who take part, the better!
We hope you can be involved, and look forward to hearing back from you.
Best wishes
The Bath2London 2010 Team
Email: hello@thegreatbigpaddle.com
Tel: 07872 986084
For full details of the event, please visit www.thegreatbigpaddle.com
To find out more about Sarah, visit www.sarahouten.co.uk
And to learn more about Dave, visit www.davecornthwaite.co.uk
Along with a friend, Sebastian Terry (who happens to be ticking off a bucket list of 100 things before he dies) I spent a couple of days in late April Stand Up Paddleboarding across Lake Geneva.
Last year I paddled from Source to Sea along Australia’s Murray River and along with Seb am now planning a much longer journey on Stand Up Boards, so the Lake Geneva Crossing was basically a warm-up!
So, without further ado, here are the four parts of a short documentary about the trip. If this doesn’t give you an itch to go Stand Up Paddleboarding, nothing will! Check 0ut www.thegreatbigpaddle.com for more tales of my paddling adventures.
Episode 1
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6z9KDehTlcE
Episode 2
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzXjDF1ZbsA
Episode 3
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6zmSsEyYY0
Episode 4
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFlgxpePY4Y
