September
SUP Marathon
For this challenge I will be attempting the impossible! Myself and several other paddlers from Jericho Sailing Center will be attempting to paddle a full marathon distance on a stand up paddle board in one day. Thats right 42kms!!!
Write Up
Well the weather gods were clearly on our side for this one. We had a clear sunny day with little to no wind, which allowed us to complete the whole thing. That’s right, 7.30hours 42kms completed!!!
The day started early with sunrise at Jericho Sailing Center. Brancao, Marcelo, Dan and I prepared our gear and headed out as the sun was coming up over the city behind us. First destination was the red bell out in the bay. This is a shipping marker used to warm ships of the shallow waters. From here we headed over to wreck beach round the corner of the headland. A misty sun was just showing through the trees on the cliffs gave this location an almost mystical feel.
After a short break here to take on some refreshments, we headed back to Jericho. The tide was with us for this leg and we sailed back with too much effort. At Jericho we said goodbye to Brancao. Thanking him for joining us for this leg, we headed off towards Science World in False Creek. Before getting to Kits beach we picked up Kristoffer, who would be joining for the stint into False Creek.
Getting into False Creek felt pretty hectic with many boats around. Also at this time the tide was against us and made for hard work making progress so our midway stop at Adler Bay Dock was a welcome one. After plenty of refreshments here we continued up False Creek to Science World at the end of the creek. At the end here there was a dragon boat race happening so we had to be careful where we went to avoid disrupting the race.
From here we made our way back out of False Creek and up to Third Beach in Stanely Park. At this point we were getting into the 30kms and fatigue was really starting to set in. Rounding the corner at the end of Stanely Park, there were some tricky waves to deal with and we were struggling to stay on our boards. So a stop at the beach for another round of refreshments was well needed.
From the beach we took a detour to Siwash Rock before heading back to Kits beach. The crossing of English Bay to kits beach was possibly the hardest part of the journey. It was choppy, difficult swell and lots of boats around to navigate so getting to kits beach felt like an eternity. So a quick stop at Kits beach was needed before we headed home for the final leg.
The last leg to Jericho was definitely the slowest. All energy had gone by this point and we were running on fumes. But made it back we did nonetheless. Hitting that beach at the end, I was awash with so many emotions. This has been an epic journey, not only in helping to raise awareness of some money for Mental Health but also in my own self development.