Dave Cornthwaite | The Creative Explorer

Little did I know it when I jumped on a longboard for the first time in 2005 that my life was about to change quite dramatically. I was a shabby graphic designer with no ambition, no aspirations, no direction and no idea what was about to happen.

We all have a little pilot light burning inside us, waiting for ignition, all it takes is for someone or something to push the button. After that, the fire is ours, it’s up to us to keep it burning.

After my first adventures my flame flickered for a couple of years. It burned strongly when I wrote my first book, BoardFree, and then dimmed for a while before I decided to try and date 100 women in 100 days to try and find a girlfriend. And then the flickering commenced throughout 2008 as I tried to understand myself and where I was going. I needed another expedition to get me back on track, so I bought a narrowboat and lived on a canal in Wiltshire for the best part of a year, before walking and kayaking the length of Australia’s Murray River, an expedition which well and truly got me back on track.

Since then, I’ve felt pretty warm inside, I know who I am, I know where I’m going. I finally understand why a little voice used to tell me I had potential, back when I was a teenager no-hoper with love for very little other than a football!

I now make a meagre living without having a job. I have a long-term focus that glues together an existence based purely on belief and hard work. I’ve struggled for a few years, earning barely anything, building my wealth in experience, not money. Things started to gel only when I began to think beyond the simplicity of ‘what’ I was doing, it was when I considered ‘why’ that I started to understand.

I trusted how I felt, decided to combine my loves of sport and travel and the inner workings of the human mind and now, where once my friends and family would question my motives and my bank balance and my future, now they accept it, because suddenly I seem to be doing okay on all fronts and that makes it socially acceptable!

I think the world would be a better place if everyone was content with themselves. Happiness filters down, it’s delightfully infectious, and I’ve been privileged enough to spend the last three weeks touring around Australia with my friend Sebastian Terry discussing the nature of our life choices. We’ve presented to audiences in Adelaide, Perth, Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney, and although there is so much more to come it truly feels as though the hard work of the last six years has finally come to fruition.

I sit here in my hotel room, looking out over the Sydney Harbour Bridge. In two days I fly back to the UK, and two weeks after that I head to Minneapolis in the United States, from where I will drive out to Lake Itasca, Minnesota, and begin a three-month journey along the Mississippi River by Stand Up Paddleboard. Had you asked me six years ago what I’d be doing in 2011 I wouldn’t have been able to tell you, but if you’d informed me that I’d be doing this, I can unequivocally say that I would have been very happy indeed.

Onwards, it’s time for a brand new chapter.

Official Website: www.davecornthwaite.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/DaveCorn
Facebook: www.facebook.com/expedition1000

On Saturday 3rd July the old paddleboarding double-act links up again, when Sarah Outen and I deliver a joint lecture at this year’s Blue Mile: Race For The Environment. Come along folks, you’ll dig it.

Well, we made it. A few ‘that’s not very far!’ suggestions were tongue-in-cheekily thrown in Sarah and my direction when we announced that we were going to Stand Up Paddle between Bath and London, and in all fairness, the 150 miles didn’t seem to offer any stature alongside some of our past trips.

But, you know what, I’m knackered! Almost as soon as you start paddling with endurance in mind two catchwords become regular visitors to your vocabulary. ‘Flow’: the speed at which the water travels, and ‘Portage’: where you must leave the water and carry your craft around an obstacle.

So with that in mind, we set out on our early June venture, with three days of paddling along the Kennet & Avon canal which seemed proud to offer no flow and over 90 portages, and then we scuttled onto the Thames with our hearts-a-bounding and our hopes were quickly dashed, for the water levels were down and the river crept slowly towards the Channel. In other words, we had a fair bit of work to do.

Let me introduce my paddling partner, Ms Sarah Outen. She has more world records than Mr Guinness, single handedly rowed across the Indian Ocean in 2009, consumes more chocolate bars per hour than any human I’ve ever met, and amongst all this still manages to be quite a nice person. Sarah and I went to the same school - Stamford in Lincolnshire - although we didn’t know each other due to the fact I’m an old fart and she’s a young whippersnapper, but at some point the establishment must have dished up some brussel sprouts laced with steroids and enthusiasm, because we’ve both ended up choosing a life of adventure. That was certainly not on the curriculum.

Although this expedition was raising funds for our selected charities, the AV Foundation and CoppaFeel, we were embarking on this cross-UK paddle as Ambassadors for the Blue Project, a Climate and Oceans initiative designed to encourage passion for the environment through sport. Both Sarah and I share very similar beliefs to Blue and push their message of participation and engagement and every step, Jaques Cousteau said ‘People protect what they love’ and that is especially eveident here. We Blue’s flagship community project, the Blue Mile, asking people to travel a mile without a motor on or beside the water.

Supporting us on the way were George, Sarah’s cousin in law, with us the whole way driving our Spaceship Campervan and making good use of her camera. Also involved for a good dea of the trip was Simon, who has followed me with his camera on previous trips, my lady Em with her clipboard and phone, Ann Slator who was official supplier of lads from Devizes Canoe Club(!) and polar explorer Alex Hibbert, who caught the all important pics on the final day.

Our path through southern Britain was touched on several occasions, ironically, by serendipity (also the name of Sarah’s boat when she rowed the Indian Ocean). On the Henley Straight a cruising boat broke down and we exchanged our paddles for a £20 donation. Past Newbury a schoolteacher who had written to Sarah the evening before appeared from a wood bearing gifts in the form of a bag of Percy Pigs(!), but most importantly an envelope full of paddle signs and good luck messages from Class 3K, to whom Sarah spoke a while back. Finally, on Day 5 dusk was falling and we just happened to be passing when a lady fell off her boat. The banks were high and she was struggling to reach the edge. It took Sarah and I three minutes to lift her out, we daren’t think what might have happened had we not been there. Wonderfully, the lady found us online later and made a £20 donation.

On our Blue Bath2London venture we invited members of the public to join us for a Blue Mile (or fifty) and had a marvellous response. Kayakers from Devizes Canoe Club (special mention here to Edd Dobson who totted up 50 Blue Miles including the last bouncy stretch into London), Stand Up Paddlers (thanks very much to Felipe Allard and Gerard Gray for paddling well over 20 Blue Miles and raising over £350 between them), the official Bath2London support team clocked up endless miles between them and plenty of others joined us en route.

Despite Charley Boorman popping down to wish us good luck, we were nearly denied a triumphant finale. As Sarah and I (and Edd and Mike in their K2 Kayak) approached central London on schedule, the Thames Harbour Master made it clear he wasn’t happy with us paddling in the choppy conditions, which had been made worse by construction work on the bridges and therefore required boats to pass closer to each other. Devastated, Sarah and I pulled over, Westminster and the London Eye already visible. We hauled our boards onto our shoulders and began a three mile walk towards Tower Bridge - if we weren’t going to paddle, we were sure as hell going to walk!

Thankfully, by the time we reached the London Eye the Harbour Master had changed his mind and sent out a boat to escort us - on the water- to our designated finish line. Our delight was quickly masked with the realisation that yes, the Thames in central London is hideously choppy. How neither of us plunged into the grey is beyond me, but I suspect it had something to do with Tower Bridge, lurking a mile down the straight when we began our final leg and finally sucking us beneath its beautiful span. The resulting images, I’m sure you’ll agree, were worth the wait, stress, and yes, even all of the standing up!

Between June 2nd and June 8th 2010 British Adventurers 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.

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

Our Charities

The AV Foundation boosts the quality of school education in several African countries. Funds raised through The Great Big Paddle will be used to install solar and drinking water projects into these schools and their communities.

CoppaFeel works hard to ensure that breast cancer is detected sooner, rather than later. The disease knows no age and has no discrimination, and CoppaFeel encourages healthy conversation and awareness about breast cancer and surrounding issues.

Hi there,

If you’re in the UK I hope you’re lapping up this gorgeous weather. And if you’re in Australia…well, you get it all the time and I’m quite jealous. Either way, I’m a bit red.

I thought I’d drop you a line with progress of the Great Big Paddle, 2010 is proving to be quite fruitful.

1) I’m working hard on a documentary about the Murray River Expedition, and expect it to be complete in time for some film festivals later this year. As always, I shall keep you posted.

2) I’m quite excited about the completion of another documentary, a 4-part 25 minute short about the Lake Geneva Crossing, a mini-expedition I paddled alongside an inspirational friend of mine, Sebastian Terry (who is also in the middle of his own project, called 100 Things - check out http://www.100things.com.au). Although a version of the documentary will find its way onto a DVD later this year, we’ve decided to make it free for all and put it online. We’d love to hear your thoughts, so without further ado here’s the link to all four episodes http://www.greatbigpaddle.kk5.org/#/geneva-crossing-documentary/4541155352

3) Finally, another mini-adventure is almost upon us! Between June 2nd and 8th I’ll be joined by a rather salty lady named Sarah Outen (who only went and rowed solo across the Indian Ocean last year) in a 150 mile Stand Up Paddle across the UK from Bath to London. We’re doing this for two charities, the AV Foundation and CoppaFeel, and also to promote the beauty of the UK and the fact that the spirit of adventure can exisit within these fine borders. We’re making a big deal of inviting people to join us on the way and raising a bit for our charities, too, so if you’ve been telling yourself to have an adventure and do some good things for charity, then maybe this is the chance! Take a look at our schedule on www.thegreatbigpaddle.com and if you can join us, please do. The weather’s looking tasty

Thanks as always for your support, if you’re planning your own adventure soon please let me know and I’ll help where I can. Last week I heard a quite inspirational blind man speak and he said something that seemed quite appropriate: The last time you did something new was the last time you grew as a person.

And with that in mind, cheerio!

On Tuesday 27th April Sebastian Terry and I jumped on our 12″ Nidecker SUP boards in Villeneuve, a small village at the eastern end of Lake Geneva, Europe’s largest natural body of fresh water. Our aim: to become the first chaps to Stand Up Paddle across the lake, notorious for its high winds and dramatic scenery.

Sebastian is living life on a high, chasing a list of 100 Things he wants to achieve before he dies. Number 43 on his list is ‘Learn French’, hence his current placement in Geneva. Number 85 on his list: Go on an Adventure. I run a sport and environment project called the Great Big Paddle and have my eye on a 3000 mile SUP journey in the near future, so we’ve fused our plans. For both of us, this is a first time attempt at travelling Stand Up style.

Dry bags strapped to the front, within half an hour we’ve reached the striking Chateau de Chillon, a 900 year-old architectural wonder built away from the shore.  Pedestrian tourists go all green eyed as we slip around the back of the castle, only accessible by those able to walk on water.

Sightseeing done, it’s time to cover some of the blue stuff. Geneva, at the other end of the lake, is some 75km away as the seagull flies, we’ve got three days to get there in time for flights home. The surface is kind for two miles and then the wind strikes up. We’re surrounded by snow capped mountains and the weather has turned like it does at altitude, barely any warning of the waves to come. We battle in vain for three hours at less than 2km per hour, and the turbulent junction of the Upper Rhone with the Lake rounds off our day. My bag is swept from my board and floats for a minute before I can collect. How we didn’t come off I’ll never know, but as we quietly pitched tent at the bottom of a private school’s grounds our 9.9km haul in 5 hours of paddling didn’t bode well. Geneva seemed a long way off.

The next morning we were up early, praying for calm. Prayers answered. We hugged the shore from point to point, paddling over glass between quaint Swiss then French villages. We’d chosen the rural south side over the built-up opposite shore, and the larger towns of Montreux, Vivey and Lausanne are hazy 15km across the water to our right. Compared to yesterday, we’re flying. What a feeling, our possessions on board, sitting down to navigate and rest, feet dangling in 8 degree water. The sun is blazing and we’re Energizer Bunnies, paddling almost non-stop for ten hours. By 7pm we’ve made up for Day One, 48.6km in the bag since morning and the mission now more possible than not.

We sleep beneath the jetty of a village surely designed for Disney, woken at 4pm to the spotlights of a ferry scaring the bejesus out of this pair of hobos in sleeping bags. The sun rises from the Alps as we turn south west, confusing fisherman with our transport. We’re paddling on glass, and are told later that two April days this flat and warm haven’t been seen for two decades. Our luck takes us through to noon by when we’re on the final straight, Geneva’s miraculous Jet D’eau perfectly visible, a 200 metre skywards burst of water. By 1pm we’re paddling beneath it, emerging from the spraying water with full circle rainbows surrounding our boards. 86.9km covered in a total of 47 hours, 20 of those paddling. I’m not sure two days could be any more rewarding than this, what a trip.

As always, more paddling pictures, video and stories on http://www.thegreatbigpaddle.com

Hello everyone,

I trust you’re well and that the onset of Spring (if you’re in Australia, frown, then substitute ‘Spring’ for ‘Winter’) is breathing some wind into your sails.

I’m glad to announce that 2010 has been absolutely super so far, and it promises to get even better. I’ve been hard at work staring at a computer, writing about last year’s Murray River Expedition and editing together the documentary in time for an early summer launch.

Next week I’m going to Switzerland to paddle 75km across Lake Geneva on a Stand Up Paddle board, alongside my good friend Sebastian Terry – who is currently ticking off a list of 100 Things to do before he turns 30 (see http://www.100things.com.au). Naturally, I was very happy to help him “smash” a world record last month when he broke 24 eggs in 30 seconds using nothing but his big toes. It was quite messy. Afterwards we made omelette.

Then, in early June I’m embarking on another Stand Up Paddling mission, this time alongside the wonderfully salty ocean rower Sarah Outen, who spent four incredible months at sea last year rowing solo between Australia and Mauritius (http://www.sarahouten.co.uk). Sarah and I will paddle between Bath and Bristol, climbing over 100 locks on the way, and we’re inviting people to join us on the way to help raise money for the AV Foundation and CoppaFeel.

A brand new website is now live, covering all of these shenanigans: take a look at http://www.thegreatbigpaddle.com and if you’d like to support us somehow, please get in touch.

Should you be scratching at your brow in confusion over this ‘Stand Up Paddling’ lark, take a look at this video taken on the London canals last week – using inflatable boards! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HU2beOGrPk

A quick plug for a London-based Night of Adventure on May 17th, when I’ll join another 14 adventurous souls in talking about our work at Leicester Square’s Vue Cinema. I daresay you’ll never again see 30 metre images of gross blisters, inspirational polar journeys and a bloke skating across Australia. More info and ticket details on my blog @ http://www.davecornthwaite.co.uk/blog/?p=280

Charity news: Using just the funds raised during my 2009 Murray River Expedition two schools in Kenya and Uganda are currently installing several thousand litres of rainwater capturing equipment through our supercool charity, the AV Foundation. Although we won’t say no to the odd online donation, I’d personally prefer that y’all get directly involved with making our little journeys successful and then donating because only if you feel connected with the project. With that offer in mind, I’ll remind you once more about http://www.thegreatbigpaddle.com – these things don’t happen without you guys.

I’m off to paddle across a lake. As always, thanks very much for your support.

Dave Cornthwaite
http://www.davecornthwaite.co.uk
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/DaveCorn

Having spent much of 2009 firmly planted on my buttocks I’m quite excited about this year’s upcoming adventures. Commercially, Stand Up Paddling is a growing sport boasting more potential than most, but beyond the obvious benefits of an activity that develops balance, core fitness and a general enjoyment of your watery surroundings, I’m rather interested in exploring the touring ability of Stand Up Boards.

You might have seen very un-Dave like images of me paddling along on a stand up board last year, dressed in a suit. Yes yes, shameless publicity-seeking, but with an aim! I’ve fallen in love with SUP, it’s such a super way to get around and if you’re a bit weedy like me you’ll appreciate anything that can make your shoulders bulge. I’d like to try and spread the word about Stand Up Paddling, and also plan on setting up a SUP in London, too. Last week my brother and I took some inflatable Red Air boards out on Regents Canal near Camden, see below:

Next year I plan on paddling quite far on a Stand Up board, but before that a couple of warm-ups are in order. Next week, assuming the European skies are ash-free, I’ll be joining my good friend Sebastian Terry in a 75km paddle across the deliciously scenic Lake Geneva. It’s just a little jaunt, but perfect to test out the kit-carrying ability of a Stand Up board as well as spending time - and making a documentary - with a man who is able to break 24 eggs with his big toes in thirty seconds. Seb and I will be raising money for the AV Foundation and Camp Quality, so any pennies would be very welcome and can be donated right here.

Then, in early June, I’ll be joined by the ever-salty Sarah Outen, who last year became the first lady to row across the Indian Ocean. We’ll hop on some Stand Up Boards and paddle over 150 miles between Bath and London, taking in the length of the Kennet & Avon Canal, a good deal of the Thames and also climbing over 100 obstacles - or ‘portages’, as they’re know in paddling terms - like locks and weirs.  Sarah and I are inviting members of the public to join us for a stretch between the 2nd and 8th June, and also to raise funds for the AV Foundation and CoppaFeel.

So, please tune into our lovely brand spanking new website @ www.thegreatbigpaddle.com and follow this year’s adventures, if you like. I’ll be reporting back in a week or so with news of the first ever Stand Up Paddling journey across Lake Geneva, I can’t wait!

Always a privilege to be published by a magazine in the ‘Geographic’ family. This month I’ve got a four page spread talking about the kit used on last year’s Murray River Expedition. Pop along to a reputable newsagent and grab a copy if you’re thinking of paddling along a river.