The Why

In 2018 Dave descended into a year of pain after back pain on a trip to Italy. The 18 hour journey home was agony. Days later he couldn’t get out of bed. A month followed where trips to the bathroom, rest and copious amounts of watching old Love Island seasons was his only remedy. Yes, it got that bad! Over the years the back pain has been diagnosed as a pre-cursor to Osteoarthritis of the hip. Now Dave has problems with Hip and Knee pain, especially on his left side, and is waiting for Total Hip Replacement surgery. The surgery is postponed till absolute necessary as having to have the operation in your thirties is quite unusual.

In 2020, he found coping mechanisms with daily yoga and paddleboarding to strengthen his core strength. Despite his ailments, he decided to start climbing the Seven Summits. Kilimanjaro was already complete by 27^th December 2019 when he departed for the second – Aconcagua at 6962 metres. Dave spent New Year 2020 on the mountain, successfully summitted and knew that 2020 was his year. Three further summits were lined up and then Covid-19 became a worldwide phenomenon.

Since then Dave has been looking for a new challenge. He took up paddleboarding in Summer 2020, enjoying the peace on the water and the way it develops core strength. Within weeks of buying an All Round board, he upgraded to a Touring Board. He researched demanding trips, Land’s End to John o’Groats, being one of them, and the SUP It & Sea Expedition was born (though at that point it had no name!)

Dave hopes that the journey will re-affirm his faith in himself, prove to himself that he can still have amazing adventures and life opportunities. He wants to stop blaming his injury and instead embrace the things that he can still do.

This year has also enabled Dave to look for adventures closer to home, to embrace the British people, landmarks and areas of stunning natural beauty, and to prove that a life outdoors can heal almost all ills. By undertaking a SUP journey of LEJOG, he hopes to entice people out to their local areas and make people realise how nurturing and rehabilitating time in nature and on the water can be.

Despite organising SUP It & Sea, Dave see himself very much as an “Everyman”. He spent over a decade working in Retail & Hospitality Management before making taking a break, then changing jobs significantly to Ski and Festival Operations. Safety will be a top concern on LEJOG but he wants to prove that adventures aren’t just the product of the elite and they are accessible to the “Everyman” if you put your mind and heart to it. Anything is possible and you could do it too.

He will also be helping to raise over £24,000 for good causes. Dave has chosen RNLI as his individual charity because getting out into the outdoors and the sea is great, but things do happen. The RNLI, almost wholly volunteer based, are there in times of imminent need when things do go wrong. Nature is formidable, the sea needs to be respected. The RNLI doesn’t just help people – they actually save people from death. There is potentially no greater gift that a second chance to live.

As a team, Dave and Sophie have jointly decided to support our community charity Frontline Children, a charity who help kids across the world have access to education. Jordan Wylie is a patron for Frontline and has raised almost £100,000 in his own attempt to circumnavigate the UK by Paddleboard in 2020. His support and the SUP Community support in general has lead us to want to reach out and support an organisation dear to the people around us.

Finally, he expects this adventure to be – as cliched as it sounds – an adventure of a lifetime. The scale and logistics of LEJOG outmanoeuvre anything he has done to date, whilst being a logical next step up from previous journeys.

To stand at the John o’Groats sign after 1600kilometres of paddling through the UK and achieving these goals would be an outstanding triumph.

Ask any of my friends and family and they will tell you that I love to talk about big dreams, ideas of big trips to remote destinations and all the adventures I want to have. In fact, most of them will tell you that I want to hike the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) as I have bored practically everyone I know about the PCT and tell most new people I meet about it and about my favourite YouTube PCT series. Over the years I have devoured books and sat mesmerised watching countless Banff films of incredible expeditions which kept myself and my walking group (Berkshire Walkers) entertained over lockdown. Yet despite all of this passion I had not yet embarked on a big expedition.

A firm believer in experiencing as much as possible in life, I am truly thankful for all the wonderful and not so wonderful experiences I have had to date. Yet for a long time I have felt that there was something missing. We are often led to believe that adventures are only for a select few who are somehow extra special, superhuman or a league above the rest. Although I don’t for one second underestimate the achievements of thousands of amazing adventurers and I know that there are a million and one things that I could not do myself and will forever be in awe of, I do firmly believe that everyone has the ability if they wish to embark on an incredible adventure and we should stand together to inspire each other and help each other achieve our dreams. I am lucky to be surrounded by an incredible team that do exactly that.

In saying all of this, I know that taking that leap is not always a simple thing to do. In fact, despite my love of the outdoors and desire for all these experiences, I have only recently truly begun to believe that it is possible for me to do. I was continually frustrated by narrative from others who felt that the PCT or taking months out of your life were not the correct things to do even in this day an age. However, the biggest barrier to living my dreams were the ones within me.

Having lived with Depression and Anxiety for many years even some of the most basic everyday actions seemed impossible let alone taking on an adventure. However, over the last few years through hard work in therapy and through taking my first steps (quite literally) when heading out on a walk on January 4^th, 2020, with my local Ramblers group I’ve learnt that it is never too late, too big or impossible even when it is not easy. My Motto for myself became “Just Try” and this has led me to become part of three wonderful communities and take up three amazing outdoor activities that never fail to deliver a mini adventure. For me Hiking, SUP and Wild Swimming with my local BlueTits group have become a major part of my life making me happier and healthier but above all they have helped me be me.

For anyone who has also experienced their own mental health challenges or any challenges in life (we all have them) we all know that things don’t disappear overnight. In fact, they often remain within us in some shape or form even if their impact lessens at times. For me fear is often the factor that clings on tightest within me … that’s not to say that I am scared of things or the expedition well OK parts of the expedition are scary and must be treated with respect. Rather it is fear a fear that is often unfounded, but which manifests itself in procrastination, in trying to get every minute detail perfect and not doing one simple task because there are a million ones bigger to be done.  It would be all too easy to sit here as I write this and tell you all that I am now hunky dory and nothing impacts me but that is not true. The fact of the matter is that I am a happy and healthy person who has a fantastic life but one where I put effort and energy into managing my mental health. I will be posting (hopefully) some incredible photos of an exciting expedition and sharing my story over the coming months which will hopefully inspire others to get out and adventure, but these would not have been possible without every little seemingly insignificant “Just Try”

So, at this point you may be saying to yourself (well hopefully you are) that’s all great stuff but Why are you attempting to Stand-Up Paddle the length of the UK and raise money for charity and my answer is this …

I am SUPing LEJOG to celebrate the fact that I am in a place where I can live the life that I want to and say YES to adventure or more accurately let’s SUP it and Sea.

To give back and help give others the opportunity to embrace the spirit of adventure. My individual Charity Wilderness Foundation UK is a charity I wish I had known about for those many years sat on my sofa in a dark place. To be able to do something to raise funds for a charity that helps give people hope and access to therapy and adventures is almost indescribable. As I think back to my desperation to move to get out and to experience the world whilst feeling trapped in my mind, I only wish I had known about their wonderful Wilderness Therapy programs sooner.

And finally, to give thanks for community. Living with Mental Health conditions can be extremely isolating and although we as individuals work hard to manage our Mental Health having access to wonderful communities is invaluable. To reference my favourite YouTube PCT Series (OK it might be a slight addiction) created by the amazing Elina Osborne … It Is the People. For me I have found myself embraced by wonderful people from various communities and I want others to feel the same way. Our three chosen charities all help to bring communities together and so it is a true privilege to be able to raise money to continue their incredible work.